crafty, a.
(ˈkrɑːftɪ, -æ-)
Forms: 1 cræftiᵹ, 3 cræfti, crefti, crefty, 3–4 crafti, 4 craftye, krafty, (? carfti, carfty), 6–7 craftie, 4– crafty; 4 comp. crafteer, crafter; superl. craftest.
[Common Teut.: OE. cræftiᵹ = OS. craftag, -ig, OHG. chreftig, MHG. kreftic, G. kräftig, Du. krachtig, ON. kröptugr strong; deriv. of cræft, kraft, craft: see -y. The original Teutonic sense ‘strong, powerful’ scarcely appears in Eng.]
Having or characterized by craft.
† 1. Strong, powerful, mighty. Obs. rare.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. x, Swa earme wif and swa alþeodᵹe hæfdon ᵹegan þone cræftᵹestan dæl..þises middanᵹeardes. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9088 Þa wardes..Er mare crafty and strang þan any kan neven. |
2. Skilful, dexterous, clever, ingenious. a. Of persons or their faculties, etc. arch. and dial.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 49 Men..þe on æniᵹum þingum cræftiᵹ sy. c 1205 Lay. 22892 A crafti weorc-man. c 1275 O.E. Misc. 91 Þeos crefty clerkes þat vpe bok rede. a 1300 Cursor M. 8753 (Cott.) Sua wis was neuer nan; Ne crafteer [v.r. crafter] in werc of hand. Ibid. 5898 (Fairf.) Þe craftest [v.r. craftiest] of his iogelours. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys Introd. (Roxb.) 3 Aftyr the scole of the crafty clerk Galfryd. c 1540 Pilgr. T. 425 in Thynne Animadv. App. i, To mark the crafty wyttis That on both the partis hath set there delitis. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xi. 69 They that suppose themselves wise, or crafty. 1791 Essay on Shooting (ed. 2) 249 The most crafty and best trained dog. 1876 Morris Sigurd iv. 382 His crafty hands are busy, and the harp is murmuring yet. 1877 Holderness Gloss., Crafty, skilful, ingenious. |
† b. Of things, actions, etc.: Showing skill or cleverness; skilfully wrought. Obs.
| a 1000 Byrhtferth in Anglia VIII. 321 To þam iungum munecum þe heora cildhad habbað abisᵹod on cræftiᵹum bocum. c 1205 Lay. 10355 Þe vfenen he makede scid wal wunder ane cræftie. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 700 This discipline, and this crafty science. a 1400–50 Alexander 3665 A foure hundreth postis, With crafti coronals and clene. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 274 The crafty Poesye of excellent virgyll. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. i. 22 Of this matter is little Cupids crafty arrow made. |
3. In bad sense (the current use): a. Of persons or their faculties, etc.: Skilful in devising and carrying out underhand or evil schemes; cunning, artful, wily.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 102 Sin that he is so crafty and so sly. ? a 1400 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) 219 Thou craftye knave. 1526–34 Tindale 2 Cor. xii. 16, I was crafty, and toke you with gile. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 163 Where the most crafty Cheats are held the best Politicians. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xxxviii. 272 The weak would..be at the mercy of the strong and the ignorant of the crafty. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos II. i. 2 Robert d'Artois grew to man's estate, crafty, courtly, ambitious, and unscrupulous. |
b. Of actions, etc.: Showing craft or cunning.
| a 1225 Juliana 34 Wite me from his [devil's] lað ant wið his crefti crokes. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 17 §2 Feyned suggestions and crafty Sutys unto his Grace made. 1595 Shakes. John iv. i. 53 Nay, you may thinke my loue was craftie loue, And call it cunning. 1722 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) II. ix. 420 This crafty trick. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 710 Had not his crafty schemes been disconcerted. |
4. Comb., as crafty-headed adj.; † crafty-sick a., feigning sickness.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, Induct. 37 Where Hotspurres Father, old Northumberland, Lyes crafty sicke. 1610 A. Cooke Pope Joan in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 55 A tale, devised long after by some crafty-headed hereticks. |