craft

To make by hand and with much skill.

Noun

  1. Strength; power; might; force .
    • By the craft of nature. - 1526, William Bonde, Pylgrimage of Perfection:

    Synonyms: potence strength authority disposition craft force might potency power virtue

  2. Intellectual power; skill; art.
    • The Cyclôpes were Brontês, Steropês, and Argês,—formidable persons, equally distinguished for strength and for manual craft […] - 1846, George Grote, A history of Greece:
    • England should have had enough against a very ordinary Russia to complete the job but Rooney's removal robbed them of his craft and guidance and now increases the pressure on Thursday's meeting with Wales in Lens. -...

    Synonyms: technique proficiency ability aptitude capacity craft capability competency competence cunning dexterity ease facility hand knack list prowess moxie potential skill talent tekkers touch

    1. Ability, skillfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning; ingenuity in constructing, dexterity .

    2. Cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety; shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception .

      • […]and the chiefe Priests, and the Scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 14:1:
      • […] you have that Crooked Wisdome, which is called Craft […] - 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke,...
      • We have not the strength with which to fight this man; we must dissimulate, and win, if win we can, by craft. - 1904, Jack London, The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:

      Synonyms: technique proficiency ability aptitude capacity craft capability competency competence cunning dexterity ease facility hand knack list prowess moxie potential skill talent tekkers touch craftiness

    3. (obsolete) Occult art, magic .

      Synonyms: technique proficiency ability aptitude capacity craft capability competency competence cunning dexterity ease facility hand knack list prowess moxie potential skill talent tekkers touch black art

  3. A work or product of art .

    1. (collective or plural) Handmade items, especially domestic or decorative objects; handicrafts .

      • [Canton] has a large export trade in hand-made crafts, ivory and furniture. - 1911 January 5, Timberman:
  4. A device, a means; a magical device, spell or enchantment .
    • For your entente I shall a craft devise […] That ye shall haue your purpose euery dele. - c. 1440, Generydes. A royal historie of the excellent knight Generides:

    Synonyms: charm talisman dwimmer hex amulet craft fetish juju lucky charm madstone mascot mojo periapt phylactery protection telesm token wanga cantrip chantment enchantment incantation magic magic spell

  5. Learning of the schools, scholarship; a branch of learning or knowledge, a science, especially one of the ‘seven liberal arts’ of the medieval universities .
    • […] Þe seuen craftes all he can […] - a. 1325, Cursor Mundi, page 272:
  6. Skill, skilfulness, art, especially the skill needed for a particular profession .
    • The craft of writing plays.
    • A poem […] is the work of the poet; the end and fruit of his labour and study. Poesy is his skill or craft of making; the very fiction itself, the reason or form of the work. - 1640, Ben Jonson, Timber: or Discoveries...
    • It is counted […] good workmanship in a Joyner, to have the craft of bearing his hand so curiously even, the whole length of a long Board. - 1678, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises, or The doctrine of handy-works:

    Synonyms: craftsmanship workmanship

  7. A branch of skilled work or trade, especially one requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill, but sometimes applied equally to any business, calling or profession; the skilled practice of a practical occupation .
    • The carpenter's craft.
    • He learned his craft as an apprentice.
    • […] For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations, / Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the people. - 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, page 281:

    Synonyms: art trade handicraft business profession

  8. A trade or profession as embodied in its practitioners collectively; the members of a trade or handicraft as a body; an association of these; a trade's union, guild, or ‘company’ .
    • She represented the craft of brewers.
  9. A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space .
    • Thanks to British designer Ross Kemp, the world has been graced with a solar-powered watercraft that costs just a third of the price of your average powered water craft. - 2013 August 6, Monique Rivilland, “This ski and...

    1. (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.

      • Quite near could also be seen several ancient wooden warships, and always a variety of craft slipping up and down the tideway. - 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 705:

    2. (nautical, British Royal Navy) Those vessels attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, and gunboats, generally commanded by lieutenants.

    3. (figurative) A woman.

      • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. - 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers,...
  10. Implements used in catching fish, such as net, line, or hook. Modern use primarily in whaling, as in harpoons, hand-lances, etc. .
    • And whereas the continual Interruption of the Courſe and Paſſage of the Fiſh up the Rivers, by the daily drawing of Seins and other Fiſh-Craft, tends to prevent their Increaſe,[…] - a. 1784, T. Green, “An Act for...
    • The whaling craft consists of harpoons, lances, lines, and sealskin buoys, all of their own workmanship. - 1869 April 27, C. M. Scammon, “On the Cetaceans of the Western Coast of North America”, in Edward D. Cope,...
    • From the mate’s boat they removed, at his direction, all whaling gear and craft except the oars and a single lance. - a. 1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, “A Boy Who Went Whaling”, in The Highest Hit: and Other Selections...

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *krafjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *kraftuz Proto-West Germanic *kraftu Old English cræft Middle English craft English craft Inherited from Middle English craft (“strength, skill”), from Old English cræft (“strength, skill”), from Proto-West Germanic *kraftu, from Proto-Germanic *kraftuz (“strength, power”); further origin obscure. Cognate with Dutch kracht (“strength, power, force”), German Kraft (“strength, power, force, energy, employee”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish kraft (“strength, power, force”), Faroese and Icelandic kraftur (“strength”).

Forms

craft crafts

Derived

aerocraft aircraft arts and crafts authorcraft boarding craft campcraft CardCraft countercraft craftaholic craft beer craft brewery craft brew craft centre crafternoon craftful craftist craftivism craftivist craft knife craftless craftlike craftmaking craftman craftmaster

Verb

  1. To make by hand and with much skill.
  2. To construct, develop something (like a skilled craftsman).
    • state crafting; the process of crafting global policing
  3. To combine multiple items to form a new item, such as armour or medicine.

Forms

crafts crafting crafted

Derived

craftable crafter uncrafted undercraft