Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Cunning
1.
Knowing; skillful; dexterous.
“A cunning workman.” Ex. xxxviii. 23.
“Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
Nature’s own sweet and
Nature’s own sweet and
cunning
hand laid on. Shakespeare
Esau was a
cunning
hunter. Gen xxv. 27.
2.
Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious;
as,
. cunning
workOver them Arachne high did lift
Her
cunning
web. Spenser.
3.
Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.
They are resolved to be
– cunning
; let others run the hazard of being sincere. South.
These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for attaining some end by peculiar and secret means. Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device. Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed; as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a wily politician. A cunning man often shows his dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty. Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack and defense.”
Crabb.
1.
Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity.
[Archaic]
Let my right hand forget her
cunning
. Ps. cxxxvii. 5.
A carpenter's desert
Stands more in
Stands more in
cunning
than in power. Chapman.
2.
The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.
Discourage
cunning
in a child; cunning
is the ape of wisdom. Locke.
We take
cunning
for a sinister or crooked wisdom. Bacon.
Webster 1828 Edition
Cunning
CUNNING
,Adj.
1.
Knowing; skillful; experienced; well-instructed. It is applied to all kinds of knowledge, but generally and appropriately, to the skill and dexterity of artificers, or the knowledge acquired by experience.Esau was a cunning hunter. Genesis 23.
I will take away the cunning artificer. Isaiah 3.
A cunning workman. Exodus 38.
2.
Wrought with skill; curious; ingenious.With cherubs of cunning work shalt thou make them. Exodus 26.
[The foregoing senses occur frequently in our version of the scriptures, but are nearly or quite obsolete.]
3.
Artful; shrewd; sly; crafty; astute; designing; as a cunning fellow.They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.
In this sense, the purpose or final end of the person may not be illaudalbe; but cunning implies the use of artifice to accomplish the purpose, rather than open, candid, or direct means. Hence,
4.
Deceitful; trickish; employing stratagems for a bad purpose.5.
Assumed with subtilty; artful.Accounting his integrity to be but a cunning face of falsehood.
CUNNING
,Noun.
1.
Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity.Let my right hand forget her cunning. Psalm 137.
2.
Art; artifice; artfulness; craft; shrewdness; the faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose. Hence in a bad sense, deceitfulness or deceit; fraudulent skill or dexterity.Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom.