from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Craft \Craft\ (kr[.a]ft), n. [AS. cr[ae]ft strength, skill, art,
cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D.
kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together,
stretching, from the root of E. cramp.]
1. Strength; might; secret power. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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2. Art or skill; dexterity in particular manual employment;
hence, the occupation or employment itself; manual art; a
trade.
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Ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
--Acts xix.
25.
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A poem is the work of the poet; poesy is his skill
or craft of making. --B. Jonson.
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Since the birth of time, throughout all ages and
nations,
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute.
--Longfellow.
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3. Those engaged in any trade, taken collectively; a guild;
as, the craft of ironmongers.
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The control of trade passed from the merchant guilds
to the new craft guilds. --J. R. Green.
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4. Cunning, art, or skill, in a bad sense, or applied to bad
purposes; artifice; guile; skill or dexterity employed to
effect purposes by deceit or shrewd devices.
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You have that crooked wisdom which is called craft.
--Hobbes.
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The chief priests and the scribes sought how they
might take him by craft, and put him to death.
--Mark xiv. 1.
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5. (Naut.) A vessel; vessels of any kind; -- generally used
in a collective sense.
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The evolutions of the numerous tiny craft moving
over the lake. --Prof.
Wilson.
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{Small crafts}, small vessels, as sloops, schooners, ets.
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