Cunning \Cun"ning\ (k[u^]n"n[i^]ng), a. [AS. cunnan to know, to
   be able. See 1st Con, Can.]
   1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. "A cunning workman." -- Ex.
      xxxviii. 23.
      [1913 Webster]

            "Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
            Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Esau was a cunning hunter.            --Gen xxv. 27.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity;
      ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.
      [1913 Webster]

            Over them Arachne high did lift

            Her cunning web.                      --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.
      [1913 Webster]

            They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the
            hazard of being sincere.              --South.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq.
      U.S.] --Barlett.

   Syn: Cunning, Artful, Sly, Wily, Crafty.

   Usage: 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. A cunning 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 defense." --Crabb.
          [1913 Webster]

	

	Cunning \Cun"ning\, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi
   knowledge. See Cunning, a.]
   1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic]
      [1913 Webster]

            Let my right hand forget her cunning. --Ps. cxxxvii.
                                                  5.
      [1913 Webster]

            A carpenter's desert
            Stands more in cunning than in power. --Chapman.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a
      purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.
      [1913 Webster]

            Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of
            wisdom.                               --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

            We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom.
                                                  --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	cunning
    adj 1: attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness
           or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little
           apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby" [syn:
           cunning, cute]
    2: marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for
       wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a
       slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily
       old attorney" [syn: crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy,
       guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky,
       wily]
    3: showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the
       cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious
       solution to the problem" [syn: clever, cunning,
       ingenious]
    n 1: shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
         [syn: craft, craftiness, cunning, foxiness,
         guile, slyness, wiliness]
    2: crafty artfulness (especially in deception)

	

	254 Moby Thesaurus words for "cunning":
   Byzantine, Daedalian, Machiavellian, Machiavellianism,
   Machiavellic, ability, acute, address, adept, adeptness, adroit,
   adroitness, agility, airmanship, ambidexterity, ambidextrous,
   animal cunning, apt, arch, art, artful, artfulness, artifice,
   artisanship, artistic, artistry, astute, authoritative, bad faith,
   bravura, brilliance, brilliant, cagey, cageyness, calculating,
   canniness, canny, capability, capacity, chiseling, clean, clever,
   cleverness, collusive, command, competence, control, coordinated,
   coordination, covinous, crack, crackerjack, craft, craftiness,
   craftsmanship, crafty, crooked, cunning, cunningness, cute, daedal,
   dainty, deceit, deceitful, deceitfulness, deep, deep-laid, deft,
   deftness, delicate, designing, devious, deviousness, dexterity,
   dexterous, dexterousness, dextrous, dextrousness, diplomacy,
   diplomatic, dishonest, dishonesty, dissemblance, dissimulation,
   double, double-dealing, double-faced, double-minded,
   double-tongued, doublehearted, doubleness, doubleness of heart,
   duplicitous, duplicity, efficiency, excellent, expert, expertise,
   expertness, facility, faithless, faithlessness, false,
   false-principled, falsehearted, falseheartedness, falseness, fancy,
   feline, finagling, finesse, foxiness, foxy, fraudulent, furtive,
   furtiveness, good, goodish, grace, graceful, grip, guile, guileful,
   guilefulness, handiness, handy, horsemanship, hypocrisy, improbity,
   indirect, indirection, ingenious, ingeniousness, ingenuity,
   insidious, insidiousness, inventive, keen, know-how, knowing,
   low cunning, magisterial, marksmanship, masterful, masterly,
   mastership, mastery, mignon, neat, no mean, pawkiness, pawky,
   perfidious, politic, practical ability, professional, proficiency,
   proficient, prowess, quick, quickness, quite some, readiness,
   ready, resource, resourceful, resourcefulness, satanic cunning,
   savoir-faire, savvy, scheming, seamanship, serpentine, sharp,
   sharpness, shiftiness, shifty, shrewd, shrewdness, skill, skillful,
   skillfulness, slick, slickness, slim, slippery, sly, slyness,
   smart, smooth, snaky, sneak attack, sneakiness, sneaky, some,
   sophistical, statesmanlike, stealthy, strategic, style, stylish,
   subtile, subtility, subtilty, subtle, subtlety, supple,
   surreptitious, surreptitiousness, tact, tactful, tactfulness,
   tactical, technical brilliance, technical mastery, technical skill,
   technique, the compleat, the complete, timing, treacherous,
   treacherousness, treachery, trickiness, trickish, tricksy, tricky,
   two-faced, two-facedness, underhand, underhanded, underhandedness,
   virtuosity, virtuoso, vulpine, wary, well-considered,
   well-contrived, well-designed, well-devised, well-done,
   well-invented, well-laid, well-planned, well-reasoned,
   well-thought-out, well-weighed, wile, wiliness, wily, wit,
   wizardry, workmanlike, workmanship

	

	CUNNING, n.  The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person
from a strong one.  It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction
and great material adversity.  An Italian proverb says:  "The furrier
gets the skins of more foxes than asses."