art

Etymology 1

From Middle English art, from Old French art, from Latin artem, accusative of ars (“art”). Partly displaced native Old English cræft, whence Modern English craft.

noun

1. (uncountable) The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colours, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the senses and emotions, usually specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
   There is a debate as to whether graffiti is art or vandalism.
   B.W. Wooster: If you ask me, art is responsible for most of the trouble in the world. R. Jeeves: An interesting theory, sir. Would you care to expatiate upon it? B.W. Wooster: As a matter of fact, no, Jeeves. The thought just occurred to me, as thoughts do. R. Jeeves: Very good, sir. May 3 1992, “Comrade Bingo”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 6
   I tell her what Donald Hall says: that the problem with workshops is that they trivialize art by minimizing the terror. 2005 July, Lynn Freed, Harper's
   Visual art is a subjective understanding or perception of the viewer as well as a deliberate/conscious arrangement or creation of elements like colours, forms, movements, sounds, objects or other elements that produce a graphic or plastic whole that expresses thoughts, ideas or visions of the artist. 2009, Alexander Brouwer, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
2. (uncountable) The creative and emotional expression of mental imagery, such as visual, auditory, social, etc.
3. (countable) Skillful creative activity, usually with an aesthetic focus.
   She's mastered the art of programming.
4. (uncountable) The study and the product of these processes.
   He's at university to study art.
5. (uncountable) Aesthetic value.
   Her photographs are nice, but there's no art in them.
6. (uncountable) Artwork.
   Sotheby's regularly auctions art for millions.
   art collection
7. (countable) A field or category of art, such as painting, sculpture, music, ballet, or literature.
   I'm a great supporter of the arts.
8. (countable) A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts.
   Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month. 2013-08-03, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
9. (countable) Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation.
   A physician was immediately sent for; but on the first moment of beholding the corpse, he declared that Elvira's recovery was beyond the power of art. 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 217
   The relation of science to art may be summed up in a brief expression: From Science comes Prevision: from Prevision comes Action. 1855, Harriet Martineau's translation, The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte Vol. 1, Introduction, Ch. 2, page 21, from Auguste Comte, Cours de philosophie positive (1830–1842)
10. (uncountable, dated) Contrivance, scheming, manipulation.

Etymology 2

From Middle English art, from Old English eart (“(thou) art”), second-person singular present indicative of wesan, from Proto-Germanic *art (“(thou) art", originally, "(thou) becamest”), second-person singular preterite indicative form of *iraną (“to rise, be quick, become active”), from Proto-Indo-European *er-, *or(w)- (“to lift, rise, set in motion”). Cognate with Faroese ert (“art”), Icelandic ert (“art”), Old English earon (“are”), from the same preterite-present Germanic verb. More at are.

verb

1. (archaic) second-person singular simple present indicative of be
   How great thou art!