Cun"ning (k?n"n?ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know, to be able. See 1st Con, Can.] 1. 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.
2. Wrought with, or exibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.
Over them Arachne high did lift
Her cunning web.
Spenser.
3. Crafty; sly; artful; designid; deceitful.
They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.
South.
4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy . [Colloq. U.S.]
Barlett.
Syn. -- Cunning, Artful, Sly, Wily, Crafty. These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for attaining some end by peculiar and secret means. Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device. Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed; as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a wily politician. "Acunning man often shows his dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty. Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack and defence."
Crabb.
© Webster 1913.
Cun"ning, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.] 1. 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.
2. 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.
© Webster 1913. | 
