artificer

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

artificer
    n 1: someone who is the first to think of or make something
         [syn: {inventor}, {discoverer}, {artificer}]
    2: a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft [syn:
       {craftsman}, {artisan}, {journeyman}, {artificer}]
    3: an enlisted man responsible for the upkeep of small arms and
       machine guns etc. [syn: {armorer}, {armourer}, {artificer}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Artificer \Ar*tif"i*cer\, n. [Cf. F. artificier, fr. LL.
   artificiarius.]
   1. An artistic worker; a mechanic or manufacturer; one whose
      occupation requires skill or knowledge of a particular
      kind, as a silversmith.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One who makes or contrives; a deviser, inventor, or
      framer. "Artificer of fraud." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            The great Artificer of all that moves. --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A cunning or artful fellow. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Mil.) A military mechanic, as a blacksmith, carpenter,
      etc.; also, one who prepares the shells, fuses, grenades,
      etc., in a military laboratory.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Artisan; artist. See {Artisan}.
        [1913 Webster]

from Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

Artificer
a person engaged in any kind of manual occupation (Gen. 4:22;
Isa. 3:3).

from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

ARTIFICERS. Persons whose employment or business consists chiefly of bodily
labor. Those who are masters of their arts. Cunn. Dict. h.t. Vide Art.