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.
Wrought with, or exibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work. Over them Arachne high did lift Her cunning web. Spenser.
Crafty; sly; artful; designid; deceitful. They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere. South.
Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq. U.S.] Barlett.
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.
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.
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