Search the Dictionary

To instruct; to educate; to teach. [Obs.] The skillful goddess there erudiates these In all she did. Fanshawe.

Taught by practice or by repeated observations; skillful or wise by means of trials, use, or observation; as, an experienced physician, workman, soldier; an experienced eye. The ablest and most experienced statesmen. Bancroft.

of operation or performance from practice; knowing and ready from much practice; clever; skillful; as, an expert surgeon; expert in chess or archery. A valiant and most expert gentleman. Shak. What practice, howsoe'er expert In fitting aptest words to things . . . Hath power to give thee as thou wert Tennison.…

In a skillful or dexterous manner; adroitly; with readiness and accuracy.

offer a representation of; to show by a copy or likeness; to represent; to resemble. Each skillful artist shall express thy form. E. Smith. So kids and whelps their sires and dams express. Dryden.

sage leading off from a natural canal, such as the urethra, and produced usually by the unskillful introduction of instruments. -- False personation (Law), the intentional false assumption of the name and personality of another. -- False pretenses (Law), false representations concerning past or present facts and even…

Dexterous in movements or service; skillful; neat; nice; pretty. [Archaic] Never master had a page . . . so feat. Shak. And look how well my garments sit upon me --Much feater than before. Shak.

Nice; delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; skillful; dexterous. The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Pope. The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery. Dryden. He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman. T. Gray.

To bungle; to manage awkwardly; to treat or play unskillfully; as, to foozle a stroke in golf.

Clever; skillful; dexterous; ready; handy; -- followed especially by at. He . . . is a good workman; a very good tailor. Shak. Those are generally good at flattering who are good for nothing else. South.

That which is graved or carved. [R.] Skillful to . . . grave any manner of graving. 2 Chron. ii. 14.

To cut roughly or hack; to cut into small pieces; to notch or cut in an unskillful manner; to make rough or mangle by cutting; as, a boy haggles a stick of wood. Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er, Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped. Shak.

er; a workman, trained or competent for special service or duty; a performer more or less skillful; as, a deck hand; a farm hand; an old hand at speaking. A dictionary containing a natural history requires too many hands, as well as too much time, ever to be hoped for. Locke. I was always reckoned a lively hand at a si…

In a handy manner; skillfully; conveniently.

To manage in using, as a spade or a musket; to wield; often, to manage skillfully. That fellow handles his bow like a crowkeeper. Shak.

Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; -- applied to things as persons. [Obs.] That they [engines of war] be both easy to be carried and handsome to be moved and turned about. Robynson (Utopia). For a thief it is so handsome as it may seem it was first invented for him. Spenser.

Skillful in using the hand; dexterous; ready; adroit. "Each is handy in his way." Dryden.

One who understands the principles of harmony or is skillful in applying them in composition; a musical composer.

Skillful; dexterous; clever. [Obs.] Chaucer.

suit the peculiarities, caprices, or exigencies of; to adapt one's self to; to indulge by skillful adaptation; as, to humor the mind. It is my part to invent, and the musician's to humor that invention. Dryden.