craft

Etymology

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”).

noun

1. (uncountable, obsolete) Strength; power; might; force .
   By the craft of nature. 1526, William Bonde, Pylgrimage of Perfection
2. (uncountable) Intellectual power; skill; art.
   1. Ability, skilfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning; ingenuity in constructing, dexterity .
      The lyf so short, the craft so longe to lerne […] c. 1381, Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Foules
      The Cyclôpes were Brontês, Steropês, and Argês,—formidable persons, equally distinguished for strength and for manual craft […] 1846, George Grote, A history of Greece
      England should have had enough against a very ordinary Russia to complete the job but Rooney's removal robbed them of his craft and guidance and now increases the pressure on Thursday's meeting with Wales in Lens. 11 June 2016, Phil McNulty, “England 1-1 Russia”, in BBC Sport
   2. Cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety; shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception .
   3. (obsolete) Occult art, magic .
3. (countable, obsolete in the general sense) A work or product of art .
   1. (collective or plural) Handmade items, especially domestic or decorative objects; handicrafts .
      [Canton] has a large export trade in hand-made crafts, ivory and furniture. January 1911, Timberman
4. (countable, obsolete) 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. c. 1440, Generydes. A royal historie of the excellent knight Generides
5. (countable, obsolete) 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 […] a. 1325, Cursor Mundi, page 272
6. (uncountable) Skill, skilfulness, art, especially the skill needed for a particular profession .
   A poem […] is the work of the poet; the end and fruit of his labour and study. Poesy is his skill or craft of making; the very fiction itself, the reason or form of the work. 1640, Ben Jonson, Timber: or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter, page 213
   It is counted […] good workmanship in a Joyner, to have the craft of bearing his hand so curiously even, the whole length of a long Board. 1678, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises, or The doctrine of handy-works
   The craft of writing plays.
7. (countable, plural crafts) 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 .
   […] For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations, / Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the people. 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, page 281
   Fond as William was of the craft of the woods, he was the least likely of all men to let his sport stand in the way of his interest. 1871, Edward Augustus Freeman, The history of the Norman conquest, page 250
   The great preachers were masters of their craft. 1991, James Munson, The Nonconformists: In Search of a Lost Culture, page 113
   This was billed as the battle between Kane and his Poland opposite number Lewandowski but this was a game where it was possible to simply enjoy two masters of their craft at work. 8 September 2021, Phil McNulty, “Poland 1-1 England”, in BBC Sport
   The carpenter's craft.
   He learned his craft as an apprentice.
8. (countable) A trade or profession as embodied in its practitioners collectively; the members of a trade or handicraft as a body; an association of these; a trade's union, guild, or ‘company’ .
   A prentis whilom dwelt in our citee, / And of a craft of vitaillers was he […] c. 1386, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. The Cokes Tale, page 50
   She represented the craft of brewers.
9. (countable, plural craft) A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space .
   1. (nautical) Boats, especially of smaller size than ships. Historically primarily applied to vessels engaged in loading or unloading of other vessels, as lighters, hoys, and barges.
   2. (nautical, British Royal Navy) Those vessels attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, and gun-boats, generally commanded by lieutenants.
   3. (figurative) A woman.
10. (countable, fishing) Implements used in catching fish, such as net, line, or hook. Modern use primarily in whaling, as in harpoons, hand-lances, etc. .
    And whereas the continual Interruption of the Courſe and Paſſage of the Fiſh up the Rivers, by the daily drawing of Seins and other Fiſh-Craft, tends to prevent their Increaſe,[…] a. 1784, T. Green, “An Act for encouraging and regulating Fiſheries”, in Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut, in America, page 79
    The whaling craft consists of harpoons, lances, lines, and sealskin buoys, all of their own workmanship. April 27 1869, C. M. Scammon, “On the Cetaceans of the Western Coast of North America”, in Edward D. Cope, editor, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, volume 21, page 46
    From the mate’s boat they removed, at his direction, all whaling gear and craft except the oars and a single lance. a. 1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, “A Boy Who Went Whaling”, in The Highest Hit: and Other Selections by Newbery Authors, Gareth Stevens Publishing, published 2001, page 47
    […]Temple, a negro of New Bedford, who made ‘whalecraft’, that is, was a blacksmith engaged in working from iron the special utensils or ‘craft’ of the whaling trade. 1950, Discovery Reports, volume 26, Cambridge University Press, page 318
    The men raced about decks collecting the whaling craft and gear and putting them into the boats, while all the time the lookouts hollered from above. 1991, Joan Druett, Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820–1920, University Press of New England, published 2001, page 55

verb

1. To make by hand and with much skill.
2. To construct, develop something (like a skilled craftsman).
   state crafting; the process of crafting global policing
3. (video games) To combine multiple items to form a new item, such as armour or medicine.