craft (English, noun)
Pronunciation: tags: Received-Pronunciation
ipa: /kɹɑːft/
rhymes: -ɑːft
tags: General-American
ipa: /kɹæft/
rhymes: -æft
tags: General-Australian
ipa: /kɹɐːft/
Etymology: 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 German Kraft (“strength, power, force, energy, employee”) and Danish kraft (“strength, power, force”).
Definitions: examples: text: By the craft of nature.
ref: 1526, William Bonde, Pylgrimage of Perfection:
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glosses: Strength; power; might; force .
tags: obsolete
uncountable
examples: text: The Cyclôpes were Brontês, Steropês, and Argês,—formidable persons, equally distinguished for strength and for manual craft […]
ref: 1846, George Grote, A history of Greece:
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text: 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.
ref: 2016 June 11, Phil McNulty, “England 1-1 Russia”, in BBC Sport:
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glosses: Intellectual power; skill; art.
Ability, skilfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning; ingenuity in constructing, dexterity .
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: […]and the chiefe Priests, and the Scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 14:1:
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text: […] you have that Crooked Wisdome, which is called Craft […]
ref: 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC:
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text: We have not the strength with which to fight this man; we must dissimulate, and win, if win we can, by craft.
ref: 1904, Jack London, The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:
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glosses: Intellectual power; skill; art.
Cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety; shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception .
synonyms: craftiness
cunning
foxiness
guile
slyness
wiliness
tags: countable
uncountable
glosses: Intellectual power; skill; art.
Occult art, magic .
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
glosses: A work or product of art .
tags: countable
obsolete
raw_tags: in the general sense
examples: text: [Canton] has a large export trade in hand-made crafts, ivory and furniture.
ref: 1911 January 9, Timberman:
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glosses: A work or product of art .
Handmade items, especially domestic or decorative objects; handicrafts .
tags: collective
countable
obsolete
plural
uncountable
raw_tags: in the general sense
examples: text: For your entente I shall a craft devise […] That ye shall haue your purpose euery dele.
ref: c. 1440, Generydes. A royal historie of the excellent knight Generides:
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glosses: A device, a means; a magical device, spell or enchantment .
tags: countable
obsolete
examples: text: […] Þe seuen craftes all he can […]
ref: a. 1325, Cursor Mundi, page 272:
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glosses: Learning of the schools, scholarship; a branch of learning or knowledge, a science, especially one of the ‘seven liberal arts’ of the medieval universities .
tags: countable
obsolete
examples: text: The craft of writing plays.
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type: example
text: 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.
ref: 1640, Ben Jonson, Timber: or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter, page 213:
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text: 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.
ref: 1678, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises, or The doctrine of handy-works:
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synonyms: craftsmanship
workmanship
glosses: Skill, skilfulness, art, especially the skill needed for a particular profession .
tags: uncountable
examples: text: The carpenter's craft.
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type: example
text: He learned his craft as an apprentice.
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type: example
text: […] For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations, / Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the people.
ref: 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, page 281:
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text: Fond as William was of the craft of the woods, he was the least likely of all men to let his sport stand in the way of his interest.
ref: 1871, Edward Augustus Freeman, The history of the Norman conquest, page 250:
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text: The great preachers were masters of their craft.
ref: 1991, James Munson, The Nonconformists: In Search of a Lost Culture, page 113:
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text: This was billed as the battle between Kane and his Poland opposite number Lewandowski but this was a game where it was possible to simply enjoy two masters of their craft at work.
ref: 2021 September 8, Phil McNulty, “Poland 1-1 England”, in BBC Sport:
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topics: arts
crafts
hobbies
lifestyle
synonyms: art
trade
handicraft
business
profession
glosses: 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 .
tags: countable
plural
examples: text: She represented the craft of brewers.
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type: example
glosses: 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’ .
tags: countable
examples: text: Quite near could also be seen several ancient wooden warships, and always a variety of craft slipping up and down the tideway.
ref: 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 705:
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topics: nautical
transport
qualifier: plural craft
glosses: A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space .
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.
tags: countable
uncountable
topics: nautical
transport
qualifier: plural craft
glosses: A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space .
Those vessels attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, and gunboats, generally commanded by lieutenants.
tags: British-Royal-Navy
countable
uncountable
examples: text: “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.
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
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qualifier: plural craft
glosses: A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space .
A woman.
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: text: 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,[…]
ref: a. 1784, T. Green, “An Act for encouraging and regulating Fiſheries”, in Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut, in America, page 79:
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text: The whaling craft consists of harpoons, lances, lines, and sealskin buoys, all of their own workmanship.
ref: 1869 April 27, C. M. Scammon, “On the Cetaceans of the Western Coast of North America”, in Edward D. Cope, editor, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, volume 21, page 46:
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text: From the mate’s boat they removed, at his direction, all whaling gear and craft except the oars and a single lance.
ref: a. 1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, “A Boy Who Went Whaling”, in The Highest Hit: and Other Selections by Newbery Authors, Gareth Stevens Publishing, published 2001, →ISBN, page 47:
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text: […]Temple, a negro of New Bedford, who made ‘whalecraft’, that is, was a blacksmith engaged in working from iron the special utensils or ‘craft’ of the whaling trade.
ref: 1950, Discovery Reports, volume 26, Cambridge University Press, page 318:
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text: The men raced about decks collecting the whaling craft and gear and putting them into the boats, while all the time the lookouts hollered from above.
ref: 1991, Joan Druett, Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820–1920, University Press of New England, published 2001, →ISBN, page 55:
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topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: Implements used in catching fish, such as net, line, or hook. Modern use primarily in whaling, as in harpoons, hand-lances, etc. .
tags: countable
Forms: form: craft
tags: plural
form: crafts
tags: plural
Derived terms: 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
craft service
craft services
craftsmaster
craftsome
craftsperson
craft store
craftswoman
craftsy
craftwork
craftworker
craftworking
crafty
fellowcraft
fibrecraft
flightcraft
flycraft
folkcraft
gardencraft
gentle craft
ghostcraft
goldcraft
gypsycraft
handcraft
hobbycraft
homecraft
housecraft
hovercraft
hydrofoil craft
Klankraft
knifecraft
landing craft
landing craft tank
minecraft
Minecraft
mooncraft
multicraft
nanocraft
novelcraft
papercraft
personal water craft
pistolcraft
pleasure craft
popcraft
recraft
roadcraft
rotorcraft
sailcraft
schoolcraft
sense of craft
shuttlecraft
silvercraft
small craft
smallcraft
smithcraft
soulcraft
spacecraft
spellcraft
spycraft
stagecraft
starcraft
statecraft
stonecraft
strawcraft
subcraft
sugarcraft
the craft
tradecraft
undercraft
warcraft
watercraft
wildcraft
witchcraft
writercraft
yarncraft