CUNNINGS
Proper noun
Cunnings
plural of Cunning
Anagrams
• scunning
Noun
cunnings
plural of cunning
Anagrams
• scunning
Source: Wiktionary
CUNNING
Cun"ning (kn"nng), a. Etym: [AS. cunnan to know, to be able. See 1st
Con, Can.]
1. Knowing; skillfull; 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 exibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious;
curious; as, cunning work.
Over them Arachne high did lift
Her cunning web. Spenser.
3. Crafty; sly; artful; designid; 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
defence." Crabb.
Cun"ning, n. Etym: [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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition