▪ I. craft, n.1
(krɑːft, -æ-)
Forms: 1–3 cræft, (1 creaft, 3 creæft), 1–4 creft, 3 (Ormin) crafft, 4–6 crafte, 5–6 Sc. crafft, 6 Sc. craifft, 3– craft.
[Com. Teutonic: OE. cræft masc. = OFris. creft (mod.Fris. craft, cräft); OS. craft m.f. (MDu. cracht f., Du. and LG. kracht), OHG. chraft f., MHG. and G. kraft, ON. kraptr (Norw., Sw., Da. kraft). The ulterior etymology is uncertain, though connexion with mod.Icel. kræfr adj. ‘strong’, is possible; relationship to crave v., OE. crafian, has also been suggested, through intervention of the sense ‘compel, force’. The original meaning preserved in the other langs. is ‘strength, force, power, virtue’. The transference to ‘skill, art, skilled occupation’, appears to be exclusively English; with the nautical applications in branch V cf. analogous uses of G. kunst.]
I. Originally.
† 1. Strength, power, might, force. Obs.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. xii. 52 On þæm ᵹefeohte Meða cræft & heora duguð ᵹefeoll. a 1000 Sal. & Sat. 394 (Gr.) Nydaþ cræfte tid. a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia IX. 260 Mid hlafordes creafte and mid folcrihte. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3900 Ðurȝ godes bode and godes craf[t]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 357 Who þat deleþ wiþ hem nedeþ more to be war more of gile þan of craft. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxx. 305 Though he cryede with all the craft that he cowde in the hyeste voys that he myghte. 1474 Caxton Chesse ii. v, Thou hast vaynquisshed them..by subtilnes..But I that am a romayn shal vaynquisshe them by craft and strength of armes. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 37 b, By the crafte of nature. |
II. Intellectual power; skill; art.
In these and the following senses, art and craft were formerly synonymous and had a nearly parallel sense-development, though they diverge in their leading modern senses: cf. art.
2. a. Skill, skilfulness, art; ability in planning or performing, ingenuity in constructing, dexterity; = art 2. archaic (or contextual).
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxiii. §4 Wundorlice cræfte þu hit hæfst ᵹesceapen. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 235 And don us mid his mihte þat stef creft ne mihte. c 1200 Ormin 18809 Þatt iss þatt crafft tatt tæcheþþ þe Off tre to wirrkenn arrke. a 1300 Cursor M. 21197 (Cott.) Lucas was..leche o craft, al lerd o gru. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 1 The lyf so short, the craft so longe to lerne. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 341 By hap oþer by craft [L. casu vel industria]. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 56 Nane is, nor was..ne ȝit sal have sic crafte in poetrie. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 37, I told them that the craft was in catching it. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 69 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. 1846 Grote Greece i. i. (1862) I. 4 Equally distinguished for strength and for manual craft. |
† b. spec. Occult art, magic. Obs.
| c 1220 Bestiary 542 in O.E. Misc. 17 So wicches hauen in here craft. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4212 Alle þat of þe devels crafte can, Als negremanciens and tregettours, Wiches and false enchauntours. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 1 (Harl. MS.) That knyȝt shall dye by my crafte, yn what cuntre..so euer þat he be ynne. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 68/1 Saul..cam to the woman by nyght and made her by her crafte to reyse Samuel. |
† c. Human skill, art as opposed to nature; = art 2. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. vii. (1495) 90 But it be take out by crafte or by kinde. 1562 Turner Baths 15 a, Ether by nature or by crafte. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 803/1 And in the same parke curious trees made by craft. |
† 3. a. A skilful contrivance, a device, artifice, or expedient. b. A magical device; a spell or enchantment. Obs.
| c 1205 Lay. 272 Witen he wolde þurh þa wiþer-craftes [c 1275 wise craftes] wat þing hit were. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 854 Esculapies creftes ant Galienes grapes. a 1300 Cursor M. 19538 (Cott.) Þat he moght of his craftes [Philip's miracles] lere. 1340 Ayenb. 45 Þe neȝende boȝ of auarice is ine kueade creftes. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 36 This Dedalus, which..many craftes couthe Of fethers and of other thinges. c 1440 Generydes 4233 For your entente I shall a craft devise..That ye shall haue your purpose euery dele. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxix. (Percy Soc.) 140, I have me bethought A praty craft by me shalbe wrought. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) M ij, A sothsayer, that was had in great reputacion for her craftes. |
† c. concr. A work or product of art. Obs.
| a 1000 Hexam. St. Basil (Bosworth), Unbegunnen Scyppend, se ðe ᵹemacode swylcne cræft. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 131 He calde on þat ilk crafte he carf with his hondes. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis viii. (Arb.) 137 Three watrye clowds shymring toe the craft they rampyred hizing. |
4. a. In a bad sense: Skill or art applied to deceive or overreach; deceit, guile, fraud, cunning. (The chief modern sense; cf. art 13: in craft, the bad sense is more explicit.)
In early use only contextually separable from sense 2.
| c 1205 Lay. 27007 Euander king hine aqualde mid luðere his crafte. 1340 Ayenb. 157 Uor ous to gily be hare crefte an by hire ginnes. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xiii. 228 No gouernaunce in craft or out of craft is but that of it cometh yuel. 1530 Palsgr. 210/1 Crafte, subtylte, astuce. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 390 His craft [is] so great, that I feare he shall circumvent us. 1611 Bible Mark xiv. 1 The Scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 34 That Crooked Wisdome, which is called Craft. 1759 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 120 If craft had anything to do with them, never was craft better hid. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 35 They hate craft and subtlety. They neither poison, nor waylay, nor assassinate. |
† b. (with a and pl.) An application of deceit; a trick, fraud, artifice. Obs. (Cf. art 14.)
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 19 Þæt he us ᵹescylde wiþ þa þusendlican cræftas deofles costunga. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 257 Þe feont..bimong alle his crokinde creftes. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 21 Þat suche craftes cunnen to counseil beoþ i-clept. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 308 All the subtyl craftes and sore temptacyons of our spirituall aduersary. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. Wks. 1738 II. 98 An old craft of the Clergy to secure their Church-Lands. 1686 Burnet Trav. ii. (1730) 103 That being one of the Crafts of the Italian Priests. |
III. † 5. a. The learning of the schools, scholarship. b. (with a and pl.) A branch of learning or knowledge, a science. the seven crafts: the ‘seven arts’ of the mediæval Universities: see art 7. Obs.
| c 1205 Lay. 10923 On bocken heo cuðe godne cræft. Ibid. 30493 An clarc þe com from Spaine..feole craftes he cuðe. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 522 Fifti scolmeistres, of alle þe creftes þet clerc ah to cunnen. a 1300 Cursor M. 4647 (Cott.) Þe seuen craftes all he can. a 1400–50 Alexander 33 Þe pasage of þe planettis, þe poyntes & þe sygnes. Þai ware þe kiddest of þat craft knawyn in þaire tyme. 1483 Cath. Angl. 79 A Crafte, ars liberalis, sciencia [etc.]. 1530 Palsgr. 210/1 Crafte of multyplyeing, alquenemie. |
IV. A branch of skilled work.
6. a. An art, trade, or profession requiring special skill and knowledge; esp. a manual art, a handicraft; sometimes applied to any business, calling, or profession by which a livelihood is earned.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. i. 24 Se cræft þæs lareowdomes bið cræft ealra cræfta. c 900 Bæda's Hist. iv. xiii, Seo þeod ðone cræft ne cuðe ðæs fiscnoþes. c 1040 Rule St. Benet 94 For ingehide his cræftes. 1340 Ayenb. 178 Wone makeþ maister, ase hit sseweþ ine þise oþre creftes. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 3 Of his craft he was a carpenter. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 34 Prentys to a craft. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cclvii. 336 Aboute this tyme the craft of enpryntynge was fyrst founde in Magunce in Almayne. 1532 G. Hervet Xenophon's Househ. (1768) 14 Suche craftes, as be called handy craftes, they be very abiecte and vile, and lyttel regarded and estemed. 1611 Bible Acts xviii. 3 And because hee was of the same craft, he abode with them. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 31 ¶12 He has attempted at other times the crafts of the shoemaker, tinman, plumber, and potter. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 120 Famous for his skill in the goldsmith's craft. 1882 A. W. Ward Dickens iii. 67 Political journalism proper is a craft of which very few men..become masters by intuition. |
b. spec. The occupation of a hunter or sportsman, as in the craft of the woods = woodcraft.
gentle craft: now often applied to Angling; formerly, a denomination of Shoe-making: see gentle.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans E vj b, Yowre craftis let be kydde: And do as I yow bydde. 1530 Palsgr. 210/1 Crafte of huntyng, uenerie. 1843 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 74 A spot..known to lovers of the ‘gentle craft’ as Sprouston Dub. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 250 Fond as William was of the craft of the woods. |
c. fig. (Cf. business.)
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 88 But he was double in loue..And subtil in that crafte ouer any wight. c 1450 T. à Kempis' Imit. ii. viii. 48 It is a crafte, a man to be conuersant wiþ ihesu. 1490 Caxton (title) The Arte and Crafte to know well to Dye. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 142 We were but as seruauntes bounde to lerne y⊇ crafte of y⊇ exercyse of vertues. 1821 Byron Mar. Fal. iv. i, To..slay i' the dark too—Fie, Bertram! that was not a craft for thee! 1861 Tulloch Eng. Purit. I. 40 Their theology was a craft at which they were marvellous adepts. |
7. concr. a. 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’.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 101 Taillours, tanneris & tokkeris boþe, Masons, minours and mony oþer craftes. 1386 Petit. London Mercers in Rolls of Parl. III. 225 Of us togydre of the Mercerye, or other craftes. c 1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 2 Of a craft of vitaillers was he. 1483 in Eng. Gilds 314 That the said crafte and Mistere [of Bakers] shall..hold and kepe ther ffest of theyre solempnite of theyre Brotherhede. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 43 The mayer, aldermen, & xij. craffttes..theys rode, & all the rest of the crafftes went in their barges..to Westmyster. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. vi. 118 You haue made faire hands, You and your Crafts. 1833 Alison Hist. Europe I. ii. §66 They..proposed to abolish all incorporations, crafts, faculties, apprenticeships, and restrictions of every kind. |
b. spec. the craft: the brotherhood of Freemasons.
| c 1430 Freemasonry 48 But mason schulde never won other calle, Withynne the craft amonghs hem alle, Ny soget, ny seruand. 1891 Scot. Leader 6 Nov. 4/1 It was agreed..that the craft at large should have an opportunity of presenting..a bust of the Grand Master. |
c. Sc. = craftsman: used of shoemakers.
| 1850 J. Struthers Autobiog. Poet. Wks. I. 38 The remaining five were all regularly bred crafts. Ibid. 97 What among the brethren of the birse is called a ready craft. |
† 8. man of craft: one skilled in any craft or art; a. a craftsman, a tradesman; b. one skilled in occult or magic art. Obs. (Now = crafty man.)
| c 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 371 Marchandes, men of craft, and tilmen. 1389 in Eng. Gilds 23 Alle trewe tyliers and men of craft. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 113 Men of crafte and commune peple dwellede in the thrydde..circuite of the walles. 1483 Cath. Angl. 80 A man of Crafte, artifex qui suam artem exercet. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. 62 Recommending themselves for men of craft, pretending to tell fortunes, calculate nativities [etc.]. Ibid. i. vii. 186 The Devil and those men of craft. |
V. Applied to boats, ships, and fishing requisites.
[These uses were probably colloquial with watermen, fishers, and seamen some time before they appeared in print, so that the history is not evidenced; but the expression is probably elliptical, sense 9 being = vessels of small craft, i.e. small trading vessels, or of small seaman's art, and sense 10 = requisites of the fisherman's craft. It is not impossible that the latter was the earlier: cf. quot. 1704 in 10. The want in English of any general collective term for all sorts of ‘vessels for water carriage’ naturally made craft a useful stop-gap.]
9. a. collect. (const. as pl.) Vessels or boats.
(a) orig. only in the expression small craft, small trading vessels, boats, lighters, etc.
| 1671–2 Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 75 Only ketches and such small craft to attend the fleete and fire ships. 1699 W. Hacke Robert's Voy. Levant 34 There is good lying for small Craft. 1703 W. Dampier Voy. III. 53 A Place of great Trade..and abundance of small Craft, that only run to and fro on this Coast. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 150 They employ 3000 sail of small craft in this fishery. 1884 Pall Mall G. 21 Oct. 1/2 The want of efficiency of our navy [in]..what are known as small craft, that is to say, the classes of sloops, gunvessels and gun-boats. |
(b) Hence, without small, in same sense; later, in the general sense of vessels of all kinds for water carriage and transport.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Craft, a general name for all sorts of vessels employed to load or discharge merchant-ships, or to carry along-side, or return the stores of men of war: such are lighters, hoys, barges, prames, &c. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §103 A transport buoy of a size proportioned to our sort of craft and service. 1809 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. IV. 270 We are much in want of craft here. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 322 The light craft of those days. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 315/1 The salt is prepared..at Northwich, and..sent by craft to Liverpool for shipment. 1879 Daily News 12 Aug. 5/3 To arm such craft heavily would be to interfere materially with their speed and navigation. |
b. (with a and pl.) A small vessel or boat; any sailing or floating vessel.
| 1775 N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vess. 51 Four crafts are to be moored at equal distances. 1835 Marryat Pirate 73 The sea-breeze has caught our craft; let them..see that she does not foul her anchor. 1871 J. Miller Songs Italy (1878) 35 These crafts they are narrow enough. 1885 Act 48–9 Vict. c. 76 §29 The term ‘vessel’ shall include any..skiff, dingey, shallop, punt, canoe, raft, or other craft. |
c. An aircraft or spacecraft.
| 1881 W. D. Hay 300 Yrs. Hence ix. 210 The traffickers in heavy goods, and such-like craft. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 2 Dec. 5/1 What could be more concise in its definition of the complete flying-machine than the word ‘craft’, which is commonly used to signify a ship of any description. 1935 C. Day Lewis Time to Dance 33 For no silver posh Plane was their pigeon..But a craft of obsolete design. 1969 New Yorker 12 Apr. 53/1 The Apollo craft itself will stay in orbit sixty-nine miles above the moon. |
10. collect. Implements used in catching or killing fish; in mod. use chiefly in Whale-fishery: see quot. 1887.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 163/1 Craft is any kind of Nets or Lines to catch Fish with. 1694 Collect. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 1 Set out..with provision of Craft to take Fish, and Fowls, a Seyne Net, and hooks and lines, and fisgigs, and harping Irons. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. iii. 55 It is a mighty strong Fish, so that the Fishing-Craft must be very strong to take them. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn., Craft, is a Sea word signifying all manner of Lines, Nets, Hooks, &c. which serve for Fishing; and because those that use the Fishing Trade use Small Vessels..they call all such little Vessels Small Craft. 1887 Fisheries of U.S. v. II. 241 The harpoons, hand-lances, and boat-spades, are usually called ‘craft’, and the other implements ‘gear’. |
VI. 11. Comb. (in senses 6–7) craft-brother, one of the same craft or trade; craft-conscious a., conscious of the value of craftsmanship; craft-consciousness, awareness of belonging to a craft (sense 7); craft-guild, a guild of workmen of the same craft or trade; craft-union, a trade-union of men of the same skilled craft; craft-warden, the warden of a craft-guild. Also short for ‘art and craft’ (art n. 17), as craft-bowl, craft-work.
| 1903 Daily Chron. 7 Jan. 3/2 The Bow inkstand and craft-bowl. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iv. iv, His slight-built comrade and craft-brother. |
| 1945 H. Read Coat of many Colours xxx. 145 Then we still need a distinction between what we may call a craft-conscious public, and a public merely out for instinctive enjoyment. |
| 1927 Observer 29 May 13/6 The appearance of class-consciousness, or rather craft-consciousness, among business men. Of course professional men..had craft-consciousness long ago. |
| 1870 L. Brentano in Eng. Gilds p. cxvi, The oldest German charter referring undoubtedly to a Craft-Gild is that of a Cologne Weavers' Gild. 1887 Athenæum 31 Dec. 889/3 The very plausible theory that the Scottish craft-guilds were modelled on those of the Hanseatic..towns. |
| c 1926 ‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 28 The ‘apathies’ and the ‘carpers’ Of craft union pupilage! 1928 Britain's Industrial Future iii. xiv. §3. 155 The Craft Unions, which in general are the oldest, aim at combining men who pursue the same skilled trade, whatever industry may employ them. 1966 Guardian 7 Dec. 8/5 As some non-craft union leaders point out, the craft unions could encourage them by further relaxing their attitudes to dilutees. |
| 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. 50 The ‘craft-wardens’ of the various fellowships..were levying excessive fees on the admission of apprentices. |
| 1928 Daily Express 24 Feb. 5/2 Another institution..where games and craftwork are an important part of convalescent treatment. |
12. -craft is also the second element in many compounds, e.g. handicraft, kingcraft, priestcraft, statecraft, watercraft, witchcraft, etc., q.v.
▪ II. † craft, v. Obs.
[f. craft n.]
1. trans. ? To attain, win. rare.
| c 1315 Shoreham 2 Onnethe creft eny that stat, Ac some crefteth that halve. Ibid. 157 God made mannes schefte, That ylke loȝ al for to crafte. |
2. To make or construct skilfully. Chiefly U.S.
The sense in the isolated quot. c 1420 is uncertain.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 428 Have a cisterne..Let crafte it up pleasaunt as it may suffice. |
| 1963 Listener 14 Feb. 290/1 Performances such as ‘Lycidas’ were essentially public events, monuments crafted out of a shared language. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald Mag. 26 Mar. 13/3 (Advt.), An exciting collection [of furniture]..crafted of butternut and pecan. 1970 Yankee Nov. 208 (Advt.), This beautifully crafted antique-pine replica. |
3. intr. To use crafty devices, act craftily.
| 1526–1555 [see crafting]. 1530 Palsgr. 500/2, I se by that thou doest but crafte with me. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 257 Whill that the Quein begane to craft. 1587 Gascoigne Hearbes, etc. Wks. 82 And canst thou craft to flatter such a frende? |
4. nonce-use. To exercise one's craft, make a job of it.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. vi. 118 You haue made faire hands, You and your Crafts, you have crafted faire. |
▪ III. craft, -er
Sc. dial. f. croft, -er.