sneak around

sneak around

1. To move around (some place) in a quiet, sneaky, inconspicuous, or furtive manner. Why are you sneaking around the back yard like that? Are you trying to hide something? I hate sneaking around like this, but I don't want Sarah to know what I'm planning for her birthday.
2. To move past or attempt to move past someone or something in a sneaky, furtive manner so as not to be noticed. We need to get into that warehouse, but I don't know how we're going to sneak around those guards.
3. To bypass or attempt to bypass the control or authority of some person, group, or thing. The giant corporation has been accused of sneaking around local and international tax laws through the use of illegal shell companies in tax havens around the world. They've been sneaking around the approval of the board with their research.
See also: around, sneak
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sneak around (some place)

to move about a place in a sneaky or stealthy fashion. Please don't sneak around the house. It makes me nervous. Please stop sneaking around!
See also: around, sneak

sneak around someone or something

 
1. Lit. to creep around or past someone or something. The cat sneaked around Molly and ran out the door. We had to sneak around the corner so we wouldn't be seen.
2. Fig. to circumvent the control or censorship of someone or some group. I think we can sneak around the board of directors and authorize this project ourselves. Yes, let's sneak around the board.
See also: around, sneak
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

sneak around

v.
1. To move or operate in some place furtively or surreptitiously: The security guard caught the thief sneaking around the office after closing.
2. To do something without someone's knowledge, especially to engage in romantic relationships: I suspect her husband has been sneaking around. I think his wife was sneaking around on him.
See also: around, sneak
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • find way around
  • bomb around
  • go around and around
  • get (someone) around the table
  • get around the table
  • around (one's) ears
  • chippy around
  • fling (someone or something) around
  • fling around
  • crouch around
References in classic literature
He may think he can sneak around because you're a woman and stall you.
Dust
'my idea is to sneak around on the other side and take them in flank.
South Sea Tales
You can hide bodies, use disguises, pick up almost any object and sneak around the perimeter to find your prey.
Game Hitman 2 PS4, Xbox One, Windows; Staying in; Don't forget today is Stir-Up Sunday, the day make your Christmas pud
The correspondent added that the authorities also uncovered a 70-meters-long tunnel extending from al-Waer to a hospital and the criminal security department which terrorists had used to sneak around and attack locals and army checkpoints, adding that 23 mm rounds, a mortar launcher, and 14.5 mm machineguns scuttled by the terrorists before leaving were also found in the 7th block in the neighborhood.
Authorities uncover large amounts of weapons and explosives left behind by terrorists in al-Waer neighborhood
Elsewhere, Tracy makes Tony sneak around the ginnel for her.
WE LOVE SOAPS
Elsewhere, t racy makes tony sneak around the ginnel sneak around the ginnel tf or her.
WE LOVE SOAPS
If you do meet someone special and that person is a girl, then maybe that's the time to think about telling them so you don't feel you have to sneak around and can live your life freely.
SHOULD I REVEAL I'M BISEXUAL?
London, March 25 ( ANI ): David Beckham now wants to buy a London black taxi so that he can sneak around incognito, it has been revealed.
Becks eyeing London 'black cab' to sneak around incognito
The new sanction orders are the latest step in an ongoing game of whack-a-mole in which Iran finds new ways to sneak around US sanctions that operate until the US Treasury uncovers them and slaps them down.
US raps 10 for hiding oil sales
ECO Scott Steingart, accompanied by K9 "Buck," was checking anglers at a public fishing access site along the Neversink River when he noticed a man wearing a backpack sneak around a gravel bank and disappear from sight.
"Buck" Bests Burglar--Sullivan County
Her widowed attorney dad, however, still sees her as a child, forcing her to sneak around to help him solve a missing person case.
Lost and found
It's horrible to think that we were asleep upstairs when they came in to sneak around the house and just helped themselves to our things."
Christmas gifts stolen in burglary
The MIT staff who called the police would have been served better by calling the chancellor to ask, "How have we created a system that forces 24 year-olds to sneak around in the basement, hiding hard-drives in closets in order to ask basic and important questions about our work?
'Stealing ideas'
Still, they are legal, and as such, customers should not be made to feel as though they must sneak around in order to indulge their vice.
It's legal; Less fuming from officials on smoking
It wasn't until 12 minutes from time that the Cumbrians finally cracked when Stuart Poulter managed to sneak around the back of a crowded defence to get to the back post and head home a cross for the winner.
Poulter grabs crucial winner; WEARSIDE LEAGUE