Definitions

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

  • noun Dishonest or crafty dealing.
  • noun An instance of trickery or mischief.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The action or character of a knave; dishonesty; deception in dealing; trickery; petty villainy; fraud.
  • noun Roguishness; waggishness; tomfoolery.
  • noun Narthecium ossifragum, the bog-asphodel.

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

  • noun The practices of a knave; petty villainy; fraud; trickery; a knavish action.
  • noun Roguish or mischievous tricks.

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

  • noun The (mis)behaviour of a knave, boyish mischief.
  • noun Deceit, an unprincipled action.

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

  • noun lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From knave + -ery of Germanic origin.

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Examples

  • And then came Black Leclère, to lay his heavy hand on the bit of pulsating puppy life, to press and prod and mould till it became a big bristling beast, acute in knavery, overspilling with hate, sinister, malignant, diabolical.

    BÂTARD 2010

  • Leclère, to lay his heavy hand on the bit of pulsating puppy life, to press and prod and mould till it became a big bristling beast, acute in knavery, overspilling with hate, sinister, malignant, diabolical.

    Batard 1904

  • And then came Black Leclère, to lay his heavy hand on the bit of pulsating puppy-life, to press and prod and mold it till it became a big, bristling beast, acute in knavery, overspilling with hate, sinister, malignant, diabolical.

    Diable - A Dog 1902

  • Cairo is a sharper and a past master in knavery, and he will certainly slay the Jew and bring hither the dress.’

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Then a certain wanton slave of his belly, lamenting the prohibition against drink, adopted a deep kind of knavery, and found a new way to indulge his desires.

    The Danish History, Books I-IX Grammaticus Saxo

  • Now, I think that the longer we preserve that abhorrence for knavery which is the generous instinct of youth, why, the fairer will be our manhood, and the more reverend our age.

    My Novel — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • Now, I think that the longer we preserve that abhorrence for knavery which is the generous instinct of youth, why, the fairer will be our manhood, and the more reverend our age.

    My Novel — Volume 09 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • What strange confusion will the spectacle of that knavery which is universally practised through all the existing classes of society produce in the mind?

    Enquiry Concerning Political Justice 1796

  • This is just the latest punch in a long fight against Google: last year the alliance compared the settlement to John D. Rockefeller's "knavery" in colluding with railroads in the 19th century.

    National Business News - Local Business News | bizjournals 2010

  • This is just the latest punch in a long fight against Google: last year the alliance compared the settlement to John D. Rockefeller's "knavery" in colluding with railroads in the 19th century.

    National Business News - Local Business News | bizjournals 2010

Comments

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  • Citation on fandango.

    September 6, 2008