n. [ AS. cræft strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, from the root of E. cramp. ] 1. Strength; might; secret power. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Art or skill; dexterity in particular manual employment; hence, the occupation or employment itself; manual art; a trade. [ 1913 Webster ] Ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Acts xix. 25. [ 1913 Webster ] A poem is the work of the poet; poesy is his skill or craft of making. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ] Since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations,
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Those engaged in any trade, taken collectively; a guild; as, the craft of ironmongers. [ 1913 Webster ] The control of trade passed from the merchant guilds to the new craft guilds. J. R. Green. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. Cunning, art, or skill, in a bad sense, or applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; skill or dexterity employed to effect purposes by deceit or shrewd devices. [ 1913 Webster ] You have that crooked wisdom which is called craft. Hobbes. [ 1913 Webster ] The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. Mark xiv. 1. [ 1913 Webster ] 5. (Naut.) A vessel; vessels of any kind; -- generally used in a collective sense. [ 1913 Webster ] The evolutions of the numerous tiny craft moving over the lake. Prof. Wilson. [ 1913 Webster ]
Small crafts, small vessels, as sloops, schooners, ets. [ 1913 Webster ]
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