light-fingered vs sly

light-fingered

adj
  • Having quick, light and nimble fingers. 

  • Having nimble fingers, especially for stealing or picking pockets (pickpocketing), given to thievery or shoplifting. 

sly

adj
  • Light or delicate; slight; thin. 

  • Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle 

  • Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily. 

  • Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice 

adv
  • Slyly. 

How often have the words light-fingered and sly occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )