Cun"ning , n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.]
1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic]
Let
my right hand forget her cunning.
Ps.
cxxxvii. 5.
A carpenter's desert
Stands more in cunning than in power.
Chapman.
2.
The faculty or act of using
stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.
Discourage cunning
in a child;
cunning is the ape of wisdom.
Locke.
We take cunning for a sinister or
crooked wisdom.
Bacon.
Cun"ning (kŭn"n&ibreve;ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know, to be able. See 1st Con, Can.]
1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. "A cunning workman." Ex. xxxviii. 23.
"Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and
white
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on.
Shak.
Esau
was a cunning hunter.
Gen xxv. 27.
2.
Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.
Over them Arachne high did lift
Her
cunning web.
Spenser.
3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.
They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of
being sincere.
South.
4.
Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq. U.S.] Barlett.
Syn. -- Cunning,
Artful, Sly,
Wily, Crafty.
-- These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for attaining some end by peculiar and secret means. Cunning
is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device. Sly implies a turn for what
is double or concealed; as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily describes
a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a wily politician. "Acunning man often shows his dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A crafty man mingles cunning with art, and
so shapes his actions as to lull
suspicions. The young may be cunning, but the experienced only can be
crafty. Slyness is a vulgar kind
of cunning; the sly man goes cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species of
cunning or craft applicable only to cases of
attack and defense." Crabb.
Hear it pronounced