slippery as an eel

Idioms  

1. Elusive, devious, as in When it comes to talking about his investments, Jim's slippery as an eel. This simile, first recorded about 1412, alludes to the eel's skin, which has tiny scales and is quite slippery when wet.

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Example Sentences

Memory may seem to be a guarantor of memoir's authenticity, but when pressed into service for a more general kind of food history, it can be become as slippery as an eel.

From The Guardian • Jun. 18, 2010

To these complexities, Philosopher Ortega adds the paradoxical, ironical peculiarities of his own original mind�which is as slippery as an eel and as full of springy checks and balances as a cat's legs.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Dashew 83 is as slippery as an eel below the waterline.

From Time Magazine Archive

But somehow or another Master Bob Dimsted seemed to be as slippery as an eel.

From Quicksilver The Boy With No Skid To His Wheel by Dadd, Frank

I have fairly haunted your house, and seen the whole lot of your sisters, especially Imogen, but somehow or other you have been as slippery as an eel.

From The Copy-Cat and Other Stories by Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins