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cunning |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Cunning \Cun"ning\ (k[u^]n"n[i^]ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know to be able. See 1st {Con}, {Can}.] 1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. ``A cunning workman.'' -- Ex xxxviii 23. ``Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on --Shak. Esau was a cunning hunter. --Gen xxv. 27. 2. Wrought with or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as cunning work Over 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. 4. Pretty or pleasing; as a cunning little boy. [Colloq. U.S.] --Barlett. Syn: {Cunning}, {Artful}, {Sly}, {Wily}, {Crafty}. Usage: 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. ``Acunning 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Cunning \Cun"ning\, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See {Cunning}, a.] 1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic] Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii 5. A carpenter's desert 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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: cunning adj 1: attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby" [syn: {cute}] 2: marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily old attorney" [syn: {crafty}, {dodgy}, {foxy}, {guileful}, {knavish}, {slick}, {sly}, {tricksy}, {tricky}, {wily}] 3: showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success""; "an ingenious solution to the problem" [syn: {clever}, {ingenious}] n 1: shrewdness in deception; "as cunning as a fox" 2: shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception [syn: {craft}, {craftiness}, {foxiness}, {guile}, {slyness}, {wiliness}] 3: drafty artfulness (especially in deception) From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: CUNNING, n. The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person from a strong one It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction and great material adversity. An Italian proverb says: "The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses."
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