Word: craft Part of Speech: noun Etymology: 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”). Pronunciation: /ˈkɹɑːft/, /ˈkɹäːft/, /ˈkɹɐ̞ːft/, /ˈkɹæft/ 1. Strength; power; might; force . Labels: obsolete, uncountable Example: By the craft of nature. 2. Intellectual power; skill; art. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The Cyclôpes were Brontês, Steropês, and Argês,—formidable persons, equally distinguished for strength and for manual craft […] Example: 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. 3. Intellectual power; skill; art. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: […]and the chiefe Priests, and the Scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. Example: […] you have that Crooked Wisdome, which is called Craft […] 4. Intellectual power; skill; art. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable 5. A work or product of art . Labels: countable, obsolete 6. A work or product of art . Labels: collective, countable, obsolete, plural, uncountable Example: [Canton] has a large export trade in hand-made crafts, ivory and furniture. 7. A device, a means; a magical device, spell or enchantment . Labels: countable, obsolete Example: For your entente I shall a craft devise […] That ye shall haue your purpose euery dele. 8. Learning of the schools, scholarship; a branch of learning or knowledge, a science, especially one of the ‘seven liberal arts’ of the medieval universities . Labels: countable, obsolete Example: […] Þe seuen craftes all he can […] 9. Skill, skilfulness, art, especially the skill needed for a particular profession . Labels: uncountable Example: The craft of writing plays. Example: 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. 10. 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 . Labels: countable, plural Example: The carpenter's craft. Example: He learned his craft as an apprentice. 11. 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’ . Labels: countable Example: She represented the craft of brewers. 12. A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space . Labels: countable Example: 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. 13. A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space . Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Quite near could also be seen several ancient wooden warships, and always a variety of craft slipping up and down the tideway. 14. A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space . Labels: British-Royal-Navy, countable, uncountable 15. A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space . Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: “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. 16. Implements used in catching fish, such as net, line, or hook. Modern use primarily in whaling, as in harpoons, hand-lances, etc. . Labels: countable Example: 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,[…] Example: The whaling craft consists of harpoons, lances, lines, and sealskin buoys, all of their own workmanship.