Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Skill in doing or making something, as in the arts; proficiency. synonym: skill.
  • noun Skill in evasion or deception; guile.
  • noun An occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or skilled artistry.
  • noun The practitioners of such an occupation or trade considered as a group.
  • noun A boat, ship, or aircraft.
  • noun Items made by craftspeople.
  • transitive verb To make or construct (something) with care or ingenuity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Scotch form of croft.
  • To play tricks.
  • To use skill upon; manipulate.
  • Specifically, to build.
  • noun Strength; power; might.
  • noun Ability; dexterity; skill; especially, skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs; adroitness; practical cunning.
  • noun Specifically, cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety.
  • noun A device; a means; an art; art in general.
  • noun A trade, occupation, or employment requiring the exercise of special skill or dexterity, especially of manual skill; a handicraft.
  • noun The members of a trade, collectively; a guild.
  • noun Nautical, a vessel; collectively, vessels of any kind.
  • noun See the extract.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Strength; might; secret power.
  • noun Art or skill; dexterity in particular manual employment; hence, the occupation or employment itself; manual art; a trade.
  • noun Those engaged in any trade, taken collectively; a guild.
  • noun Cunning, art, or skill, in a bad sense, or applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; skill or dexterity employed to effect purposes by deceit or shrewd devices.
  • noun (Naut.) A vessel; vessels of any kind; -- generally used in a collective sense.
  • noun small vessels, as sloops, schooners, ets.
  • transitive verb obsolete To play tricks; to practice artifice.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete Strength; power; might.
  • noun uncountable Ability; dexterity; skill, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs; adroitness; practical cunning.
  • noun uncountable Cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety; shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception.
  • noun obsolete A device; a means; an art; art in general.
  • noun countable The skilled practice of a practical occupation.
  • noun The members of a trade collectively; guild.
  • noun nautical Implements used in catching fish, such as net, line, or hook. Modern use primarily in whaling, as in harpoons, hand-lances, etc.
  • noun nautical Boats, especially of smaller size than ships. Historically primarily applied to vessels engaged in loading or unloading of other vessels, as lighters, hoys, and barges.
  • noun nautical, British Royal Navy Those vessels attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, and gun-boats, generally commanded by lieutenants.
  • noun countable A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space.
  • noun countable A particular kind of skilled work.
  • verb To make by hand and with much skill.
  • verb To construct, develop something (like a skilled craftsman): "state crafting", "crafting global policing".

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make by hand and with much skill
  • noun the skilled practice of a practical occupation
  • noun a vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space
  • noun shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
  • noun people who perform a particular kind of skilled work
  • noun skill in an occupation or trade

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English cræft.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old English cræft ("physical strength, might, courage, science, skill, art, ability, talent, virtue, excellence, trade, handicraft, calling, work or product of art, hex, trick, fraud, deceit, machine, instrument"), from Proto-Germanic *kraftaz (“power”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with Eastern Frisian craft ("strength"), West Frisian krêft ("strength"), Dutch kracht ("strength, force, power"), German Kraft ("strength, force, power"), Swedish kraft ("power, force, drive, energy"), Icelandic kraftur ("power").

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Examples

  • Throughout the previous part of the world's history art and craft have been one and the same, at the utmost distinguishable only from a different point of view: _craft_ from the practical side, _art_ from the contemplative.

    Laurus Nobilis Chapters on Art and Life Vernon Lee 1895

  • More of a marketing slogan than a brewing style, the term craft brewery was chosen to replace micro-brewery just as the segment began to grow six or seven years ago.

    CBC | Top Stories News 2011

  • For many people the phrase "craft and design" might conjure up images of hand-thrown porcelain tableware, avant-garde jewelry, studio furniture and "fiber art," and indeed the art fairs, museums and galleries that focus on contemporary craft and design present quite a lot of this kind of work.

    Sarah Archer: The Material Is the Message Sarah Archer 2011

  • For many people the phrase "craft and design" might conjure up images of hand-thrown porcelain tableware, avant-garde jewelry, studio furniture and "fiber art," and indeed the art fairs, museums and galleries that focus on contemporary craft and design present quite a lot of this kind of work.

    Sarah Archer: The Material Is the Message Sarah Archer 2011

  • For many people the phrase "craft and design" might conjure up images of hand-thrown porcelain tableware, avant-garde jewelry, studio furniture and "fiber art," and indeed the art fairs, museums and galleries that focus on contemporary craft and design present quite a lot of this kind of work.

    Sarah Archer: The Material Is the Message Sarah Archer 2011

  • That's the term craft brewers use for regular American lagers, because the only time they would drink them is after mowing the lawn.

    www.appeal-democrat.com - News : 2009

  • I believe the craft is the most important element in any artist's work, and

    An Interview with Carlos Ruiz Zafón about The Shadow of the Wind 2010

  • For some time I sat upon a bench, what she called a craft table, and waited with other scraps of this and that.

    Where is Love? Juno Verse 2010

  • This craft is the first of its kind, and will require an almost windless day to successfully cross the channel.

    Stephane Rousson’s Zeppy « Skid Roche 2008

  • This craft is the first of its kind, and will require an almost windless day to successfully cross the channel.

    Stephane Rousson’s Zeppy « Skid Roche 2008

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