artificer

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ar=tif=i=cer

CIDE DICTIONARY

artificer, n. [Cf. F. artificier, fr. LL. artificiarius.].

•  An artistic worker; a mechanic or manufacturer; one whose occupation requires skill or knowledge of a particular kind, as a silversmith.  [1913 Webster]
•  One who makes or contrives; a deviser, inventor, or framer.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  "The great Artificer of all that moves."  [1913 Webster]
•  A cunning or artful fellow.  B. Jonson.  [1913 Webster]
•  A military mechanic, as a blacksmith, carpenter, etc.; also, one who prepares the shells, fuses, grenades, etc., in a military laboratory.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Artisan; artist. See Artisan.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

artificer, n.
1 an inventor.
2 a craftsman.
3 a skilled mechanic in the armed forces.

Etymology

ME f. AF, prob. alt. of OF artificien

ROGET THESAURUS

artificer

Agent

N doer, actor, agent, performer, perpetrator, operator, executor, executrix, practitioner, worker, stager, bee, ant, working bee, termite, white ant, laboring oar, servant of all work, factotum, workman, artisan, craftsman, handicraftsman, mechanic, operative, working man, laboring man, demiurgus, hewers of wood and drawers of water, laborer, navvy, hand, man, day laborer, journeyman, charwoman, hack, mere tool, beast of burden, drudge, fag, lumper, roustabout, maker, artificer, artist, wright, manufacturer, architect, builder, mason, bricklayer, smith, forger, Vulcan, carpenter, ganger, platelayer, blacksmith, locksmith, sailmaker, wheelwright, machinist, mechanician, engineer, sempstress, semstress, seamstress, needlewoman, workwoman, tailor, cordwainer, minister, servant, representative, coworker, party to, participator in, particeps criminis, dramatis personae, personnel, quorum pars magna fui, faber est quisque fortunae suae.