▪ I. cunning, n.
(ˈkʌnɪŋ)
Forms: 4–5 kunning(e, -yng(e, konning, -yng(e, konyng, 4–6 cunnyng(e, conning, -yng(e, coninge, -yng(e, 5 kunyng, (6 cooninng, coonning, counninge, -ynge), 5– cunning.
[Verbal n. from can v.1 (inf. OE. cunnan, ME. cunnen, connen) in its earlier sense ‘to know’, hence orig. = L. scientia, sapientia. Not recorded in OE. (which had however oncunning accusation, from the deriv. oncunnan to accuse), but like the cognate cunning a., common since the 14th c.]
† 1. Knowledge; learning, erudition. Obs.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2350 Clerkes of grete cunnyng. Ibid. 7207 ‘Flos Sciencie’ Þat es on Ynglys ‘þe flour of konyng’. c 1449 Pecock Repr. Prol. 2 Manie han zeel..but not aftir Kunnyng. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 93 The Carll had Cunning weill quhair the gait lay. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale 50 We be puft up with coninge. 1559 Morwyng Evonym. Pref., Ready to communicate..any cunning I had. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. ix. (1633) 27 The Barbarians highly honoured him for his cunning in all languages. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 13 He that would try his cunning in history when he was old. |
† 2. The capacity or faculty of knowing; wit, wisdom, intelligence. Obs.
| 1340 Ayenb. 115 One yefþe of þe holy gost þet is y-cleped þe yefþe of connynge. 1407 W. Thorpe in Exam., I..believe that all these three Persons are euen in power and in cunning, and in might. ? 1507 Communyc. (W. de W.) A ij, I made the also lyke unto me And gaue the connynge and free wyll. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. lxvii, They have scantly the cunning of a snite. 1532 Sir T. More Debell. Salem Wks. (1557) 1008/1 Great vertues, and great giftes of God, as chastitie, liberalitie..temperaunce, cunning. |
3. Knowledge how to do a thing; ability, skill, expertness, dexterity, cleverness. (Formerly the prevailing sense; now only a literary archaism.)
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 866 Cryseyde..Als ferforthe as she konnynge hadde or myght, Answerde hym. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 347 But for to medle medicyns in þis maner þer mote be miche kunnynge for to proporcioune hem. c 1500 Nottingham Rec. III. 447 The oath of the Common Councell. Ye shall well and truly, to your cunning and power [etc.]. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 15 Grievously diseased..incurable by Man's Cunning. 1611 Bible Ps. cxxxvii. 5 Let my right hand forget her cunning. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (ed. 2) 140 If such Brewers happen right..it is more by Chance, than Cunning. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe of Ryl. i. 94 High-ribbed vault..With perfect cunning framed. 1865 Rawlinson Anc. Mon. III. v. 384 As nature's cunning arranges lines in the rainbow. |
† b. transf. An application of skill; an ingenious device or means (quot. 1527). Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 142 Whiche settyng of stones..[is] ferre greater connynge than is y⊇ hewynge of stones. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters I vj, The same water is a very good connyng for to make the face clere and fayre. 1684 R. H. Sch. Recreat. 83 The first..Cunning to be observed in Bowling, is the right chusing your Bowl. |
† 4. A branch of knowledge or of skilled work; a science or art, a craft. In early times often = occult art, magic. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1611 Baltazar..Þat now is demed Danyel of derne coninges. 1340–70 Alisaunder 716 Þis King with his conning kithes his werkes With wiles of witchcraft. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 14 Þey haue maistris..to teche hem þat cunnyng of astronomye. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 49 Sadelarie and talarie ben ij dyuerse facultees and kunninges. 1539 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 158 Lycens to exercyse hys connyng withyn the libertyes of London. 1592 West 1st Pt. Symbol. §1 A, Symbolæography is an Art or cunning rightly to fourme and make written Instruments. |
5. Now usually in bad sense: Skill employed in a secret or underhand manner, or for purposes of deceit; skilful deceit, craft, artifice. (Cf. craft 4.) b. As a personal quality: Disposition to use one's skill in an underhand way; skilfulness in deceiving, craftiness, artfulness.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 45 Soom practis or oother Heere lurcks of coonning: trust not this treacherus ensigne. 1595 Shakes. John iv. i. 54 Nay, you may thinke my loue was craftie loue, And call it cunning. 1612 Bacon Ess., Cunning (Arb.) 434 We take Cunning for a sinister or crooked Wisedome. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 182 A piece of cunning, whereby he had couzened many. a 1718 W. Penn Maxims Wks. 1726 I. 828 Cunning borders very near upon Knavery. 1842 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life III. ix. 142 The perfection of cunning is to conceal its own quality. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Truth Wks. (Bohn) II. 52 Nature has endowed some animals with cunning, as a compensation for strength withheld. |
▪ II. cunning, a.
(ˈkʌnɪŋ)
Forms: 4– cunning; also 4–5 konyng, (north.) cunnand, connand, conand(e, -aunde, 4–6 kunnyng(e, -ing, konnyng, connyng(e, conyng(e, -inge, 5–6 cuning, cunnyng(e, 5–7 conning, 6 connninge.
[Orig. type *cunnende, pres. pple. of can v.1 (inf. OE. cunnan, ME. cunnen, connen), in its earlier sense ‘to know’; hence orig. = ‘knowing’. Not found in OE., but in regular use from 14th c. both in the northern form cunnand, and the midl. and south. cunning, connyng. The derivative conandscipe occurs in Cursor Mundi, Cotton MS.]
† 1. a. Possessing knowledge or learning, learned; versed in († of) a subject. Obs.
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 93 He wil that they..be cunnand in his seruise. c 1350 Will. Palerne 4810 [Þei] were hold..konyngest of kurtesie, and kowden fairest speke. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 378 Als as he were a connynge Clerke. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. x. 335 Myche kunnynger and better leerned. c 1450 Merlin 17 The Iuges seiden he moste be connynge of moche thynge. 1526 Tindale Matt. xiii. 52 Every scrybe which is coninge vnto the kyngdom of heven. 1667 H. More Div. Dial. i. x. (1713) 19, I perceive you are cunninger than I in that Philosophy. [1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiii. 128 Flambard and the other cunning clerks of the King's Chapel.] |
b. transf. Of things: Characterized by or full of knowledge or learning, learned.
| 1519 Interl. Four Elem. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 7 If cunning Latin books were translate Into English. 1534 Tindale 1 Cor. ii. 13 Which thinges also we speake, not in the connynge wordes of mannes wysdome, but with the connynge wordes of the holy goost. 1630 Davenant Just Italian Wks. (1673) 445 Stones of the cunningst soil. |
2. a. Possessing practical knowledge or skill; able, skilful, expert, dexterous, clever. (Formerly the prevailing sense; now only a literary archaism.)
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. xvi. 18 The sone of Ysaye Bethlemyte, kunnynge to harpe. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 46 An Aldirman able and konyng to reulen and gouern þe company. 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings Contents ch. v, Hiram..sendeth Salomon connynge craftesmen to buylde the Temple. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 312 And [= if] I thought he had beene valiant, and so cunning in Fence. 1690 Locke Govt. ii. xix, The tools of Cunninger workmen. 1718 Prior To C'tess of Exeter 37 While Luke his Skill exprest, A cunning Angel came, and drew the rest. 1843 Prescott Mexico v. vii. (1864) 322 Most cunning in the management of their weapons. |
b. transf. Showing skill or expertness; skilfully contrived or executed; skilful, ingenious.
| 1423 Jas. I. Kingis Q. xcvii, Fair-calling, hir vschere, That coude his office doon in connyng wise. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. ii. 14 To carue all maner of thinges, and to make what connynge thinge so euer is geuen him. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 133 The cook..made a cunning messe Of meate thereof. 1611 Bible Ex. xxxix. 8 He made the brestplate of cunning worke. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 68 They have a peculiar and wonderful cunning way of building..Their Nests hang down two or three Feet from the twigs. 1842 Tennyson Vision of Sin iv. xxxi, Joints of cunning workmanship. |
† 3. spec. Possessing magical knowledge or skill: in cunning man, cunning woman, a fortune-teller, conjurer, ‘wise man’, ‘wise woman’, wizard or witch. (Also hyphened cunning-man.) Obs. (or ? dial.)
| [c 1350 Will. Palerne 653 Ful conyng was sche and coynt, and couþe fele þinges, Of charmes and of chauntemens to schewe harde castis.] 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. i. 34 A cunning man did calculate my birth, And told me that by Water I should dye. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. ii. i, Going in disguise to that conjurer and this cunning woman. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 505 ¶4 How many Wizards, Gypsies, and Cunning-Men. 1797 Sporting Mag. X. 273 The wife..went to a cunning woman to discover the thief. 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. II. 342 A Cunning-Man, or a Cunning-Woman, as they are termed, is to be found near every town. |
4. Possessing keen intelligence, wit, or insight; knowing, clever.
| 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. vi. 106 Wiser heads, and cunninger wits. 1710 Philips Pastorals ii. 55 Against ill Luck all cunning Foresight fails. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xix, Your groom rides your horses because he is a cunninger animal than they. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 73 [These] provisions..have exercised the cunningest heads in a profession which never admits a fool. |
5. a. In bad sense: Skilful in compassing one's ends by covert means; clever in circumventing; crafty, artful, guileful, sly. (The prevailing modern sense.)
| [1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 1 That conning Architect of cancred guyle.] 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. ii. 111 Whatsoeuer cunning fiend it was That wrought upon thee. 1611 ― Cymb. i. iv. 100. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xvi. 54 Like cunning thieves, desiring that the prey..should not escape out of their hands. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 193 ¶1 The cunning will have recourse to stratagem, and the powerful to violence. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 173 He was not naturally either cunning or cruel. 1864 Kingsley Rom. & Teut. iii. (1875) 73 The stronger, if not the cunninger of the two. |
b. Of things: Showing or characterized by craftiness; crafty.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 17 Then he by conning sleights in at the window crept. 1611 Bible Eph. iv. 14 By the sleight of men, and cunning craftinesse, whereby they lye in waite to deceiue. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop iii, His black eyes were restless, sly, and cunning. 1872 E. Peacock Mabel Heron I. iii. 49 If I didn't know your cunning ways. |
6. U.S. colloq. Quaintly interesting or pretty, attractive, taking; as having attributed to it the qualities described in sense 2 b, or (as said of young children) in 4 or 5. (Cf. canny 9.)
| 1844 ‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. I. 220 ‘Why, that pair,’ sez she,..a burying her hands..down in the pocket of her cunning apron. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xvii. 216 Tea and coffee arrived (with sweet preserves, and cunning teacakes in its train). 1854 Mrs. Stowe Sunny Mem. I. 161 My eye had been caught by some cunning little tubs and pails in a window. 1885 G. Allen Babylon i, Ain't it a cunning little egg? 1887 Century Mag. Nov. 43 As a child, she had been called ‘cunning’ in the popular American use of the word when applied to children; that is to say, piquantly interesting. 1888 The Lady 25 Oct. 374/3 ‘Cunning’ little shelves for small bits of pottery. |
▪ III. ˈcunning, vbl. n.
Directing the helm: see under con v.2
| 1659 D. Pell Improv. Sea 418 The Helmsman..minded not the cunning of the ship. |
▪ IV. cunning
obs. form of cony, rabbit.