craft

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   people who perform a particular kind of skilled work

   We represented the craft of brewers at the town hall meeting.

2. 2
   verb

   to make by hand and with much skill

   The artisan crafted a complicated tool

3. 3
   noun

   Strength; power; might; force .

   By the craft of nature.

4. 4
   noun

   Intellectual power; skill; art.

   The Cyclôpes were Brontês, Steropês, and Argês,—formidable persons, equally distinguished for strength and for manual craft […]

5. 5
   noun

   A device, a means; a magical device, spell or enchantment .

   For your entente I shall a craft devise […] That ye shall haue your purpose euery dele.

6. 6
   noun

   Learning of the schools, scholarship; a branch of learning or knowledge, a science, especially one of the ‘seven liberal arts’ of the medieval universities .

   […] Þe seuen craftes all he can […]

7. 7
   noun

   Skill, skilfulness, art, especially the skill needed for a particular profession .

   The craft of writing plays.

8. 8
   noun

   A branch of skilled work or trade, especially one requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill, but sometimes applied equally to any business, calling or profession; the skilled practice of a practical occupation .

   The carpenter's craft.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *krafjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *kraftuz Proto-West Germanic *kraftu Old English cræft Middle English craft English craft Inherited from Middle English craft (“strength, skill”), from Old English cræft (“strength, skill”), from Proto-West Germanic *kraftu, from Proto-Germanic *kraftuz (“strength, power”); further origin obscure. Cognate with German Kraft (“strength, power, force, energy, employee”) and Danish kraft (“strength, power, force”).