handicraft

Etymology

For handcraft, influenced by handiwork; Old English handcræft.

noun

  1. A trade requiring skill of hand; manual occupation; handcraft.
  2. An artifact produced by handicraft.
  3. (rare, obsolete) A man who earns his living by handicraft; a handicraftsman.
    his men were all baſe handie craftes, as coblers, and curriers, and tinkers, whereof ſome had barres of yron[…] 1596, Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traueller: or, The Life of Jacke Wilton
    the Handicrafts-Shops begin to open 1672, John Dryden, The Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery
    The M[e]chanicks, and handy-crafts were Induſtrious, Thrifty, and the main ſupporters of the Trade of France. 1691, Sam Norris, The English Spy; Or, the Intrigues, Pollicies, and Stratagems of the French King with His Secret Contrivances, for Undermining the Princes of Christendom, Discovered
    "Why, thou knowest, father," he said, smiling, "that we handicrafts best love the folks we live by;[…] 1828 (reprinted 1842), Sir Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth, Schlesinger

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