craftly
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Forms: form: more craftly
form: most craftly
Etymology: From Middle English craflike, craftli, craftliche, craftly, creftly, from Old English cræftlīce; equivalent to craft + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: Now cryſt [i.e., Christ] our comely creature clerer thã cryſtal clene / That craftly made euery creature by good recreacyon / Saue all this company that is gathered here bydene / And ſet all your ſoules in to good ſaluacyon
ref: c. 1500–6, […] [T]he Worlde and the Chylde / otherwyse Called [Mundus ⁊ Infans] […], London: […] wynkyn de worde, published 17 July 1522, →OCLC, signature C.iiij., verso; reproduced in facsimile as The World and the Child otherwise Mundus & Infans (The Tudor Facsimile Texts), London; Edinburgh: […] T. C. & E. C. Jack, […], 1909, →OCLC:
text: The Pen Becomes a Clarion / When we write about this gracious Hillsborough home. 8 rms. in all, craftly decorated as only large high-ceiling rooms can be, some beautifully beamed.
ref: 1959 September 23, Coldwell, Banker & Co., “The Pen Becomes a Clarion”, in San Mateo Times, volume 59, number 228, San Mateo, Calif., page 26, column 6:
text: Due to considerations of brevity, we mention only a few of these craftly written works.
ref: 1981, Marjorie Agosin, “Edla Van Steen, ed., O conto da mulher brasileira. Sao Paulo: Vertente Editora, 1978. 251 p.”, in The Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, volume 35, number 1, Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, →DOI, →ISSN, page 83:
text: They also have an aqua-section which is brightly lit with bue^([sic – meaning blue]) lights and is craftly decorated with marine artifacts.
ref: 2017 November 5, “Fab 15 – These Are The Best Themed Restaurants In Delhi-NCR”, in India Chronicles, New Delhi, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2024:
glosses: Skillfully, expertly.
examples: text: In the quhylkis war nocht, bot bꝛokyn leiffis and few of thaym bꝛaider than the palme of ane mannis hand, wꝛittin craftly on rude and hard parchement.
ref: [[1540?], Hector Boece, translated by Johne Bellenden, “Of Ethodius brothir to Eugenius afore rehersit. Of his gouernance in Denmark and of his successioun. Hovv Rome vvas tane be Gothis, and hovv syndry spulzeis thairof fell to Fergus the secund.”, in […] [T]he Hystory and Croniklis of Scotland (in Scots), Edinburgh: […] Thomas Dauidson, […], →OCLC, seventh book, folios [lxxxii], verso – lxxxiii, recto:
text: […] of ſo high a Science they haue made a certaine Logomachie, that is, an vndiſcreate altercation, goinge from ſchole to ſchole, mouinge queſtions, foꝛging opinions, and wꝛong the Scriptures with intricate wooꝛdes geuinge them a contrarie ſence, redier craftly to deceiue, then plainely to trie out the truthe, […]
ref: 1569, Henrie [i.e., Heinrich] Cornelius Agrippa, translated by Ja[mes] San[dford], “Of Scholasticall Diuinitie”, in Of the Vanitie and Vncertaintie of Artes and Sciences, London: […] Henry Wykes […], →OCLC, folio 169, recto:
text: If a man then opened his lips, respecting religion, ten to one, but it cost him both his life and property; and it is an awful fact, that if a Protestant New Testament had been found in a man’s premises, in a Roman Catholic Country, not anything could have saved himself and family from utter ruin. And how much better would our lordly priests treat us if they yet had the use of the sword? which that mighty engine, they so craftly wished to set to work, National Education under their jurisdiction, might have given them. They are determined enemies to any popular system.
ref: 1845, James Crozer, A Glimpse of All the Denominations of the Priesthood, […], Newcastle upon Tyne: […] W. B. Leighton, […], →OCLC, page 17:
text: Beginning with the late, great comedian Ted Healy, Gard drew virtually all of the top ones. He drew them craftly, coldly, violently and he called them “All Gard’s Chillun.” He made many women cry; […]
ref: 1953 December 10, Mel Heimer, “My New York”, in The Journal-News, volume 64, number 183, Nyack, N.Y., page eleven, column 3:
glosses: Craftily, cunningly.