clever

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   showing inventiveness and skill

   a clever gadget

2. 2
   adj

   Nimble with hands or body; dexterous; skillful; adept.

   My dad is quite clever with his hands, especially at carpentry.

3. 3
   adj

   Quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligent.

   The cleverest and most prolific inventors, such as Reiner Knizia (who lives in England) are nerdy superstars. Euro (also “German-style”) games must not be confused with “Ameritrash” games, which generally involve high drama and employ plastic pieces, though arguing over what the difference is seems to be gamers' second-favourite pastime.

4. 4
   adj

   Mentally quick and resourceful; skilled at achieving what one wants in a mentally agile and inventive way.

   clever like a fox

5. 5
   adj

   Smart, intelligent, or witty; mentally quick or sharp.

   And so make life, death, and that vast forever / One grand, sweet song.

6. 6
   adj

   Sane; in one's right mind.

   He was not clever, poor fellow, he did not know what questions to ask; he asked the same questions again and again. He continued to show his own troubled thoughts, and the vague dread in his mind, […]

7. 7
   adj

   Showing mental quickness and resourcefulness.

   This is a simple but clever trick to solve the problem.

8. 8
   adj

   Showing inventiveness or originality; witty.

   Mr. Woodhouse was almost as much interested in the business as the girls, and tried very often to recollect something worth their putting in. "So many clever riddles as there used to be when he was young--he wondered he could not remember them! but he hoped he should in time." And it always ended in "Kitty, a fair but frozen maid."

Etymology

From East Anglian dialectal English cliver (“expert at seizing”), from Middle English cliver (“tenacious”). * perhaps from Old English *clifer, clibbor (“clinging”); * or perhaps from Dutch, Low German, or East/Saterland Frisian (compare kluftich (“clever, prudent”), probably derived from Proto-West Germanic *kleuban (“to cleave, split”)); * or dialectal Norwegian klover (“ready, skillful”), itself borrowed from Middle Low German klever, related to kleven (“to stick”), from Old Saxon klibōn, from Proto-West Germanic *klibēn, related to the Old English word above; * possibly influenced by Old E…