Art

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Art,  

 The second person singular, indicative mode, present tense, of the substantive verb Be; but formed after the analogy of the plural are, with the ending -t, as in thou shalt, wilt, orig. an ending of the second person sing. pret. Cf. Be. Now used only in solemn or poetical style.  [1913 Webster]

Art, n. [F. art, L. ars, artis, orig., skill in joining or fitting; prob. akin to E. arm, aristocrat, article.].

•  The employment of means to accomplish some desired end; the adaptation of things in the natural world to the uses of life; the application of knowledge or power to practical purposes.  [1913 Webster]

  "Blest with each grace of nature and of art."  [1913 Webster]
•  A system of rules serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions; a system of principles and rules for attaining a desired end; method of doing well some special work; -- often contradistinguished from science or speculative principles; as, the art of building or engraving; the art of war; the art of navigation.  [1913 Webster]

  "Science is systematized knowledge . . . Art is knowledge made efficient by skill."  [1913 Webster]
•  The systematic application of knowledge or skill in effecting a desired result. Also, an occupation or business requiring such knowledge or skill.  [1913 Webster]

  "The fishermen can't employ their art with so much success in so troubled a sea."  [1913 Webster]
•  The application of skill to the production of the beautiful by imitation or design, or an occupation in which skill is so employed, as in painting and sculpture; one of the fine arts; as, he prefers art to literature.  [1913 Webster]
•  Those branches of learning which are taught in the academical course of colleges; as, master of arts.  [1913 Webster]

  "In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts."  [1913 Webster]

  "Four years spent in the arts (as they are called in colleges) is, perhaps, laying too laborious a foundation."  [1913 Webster]
•  Learning; study; applied knowledge, science, or letters.  [1913 Webster]

  "So vast is art, so narrow human wit."  [1913 Webster]
•  Skill, dexterity, or the power of performing certain actions, acquired by experience, study, or observation; knack; as, a man has the art of managing his business to advantage.  [1913 Webster]
•  Skillful plan; device.  [1913 Webster]

  "They employed every art to soothe . . . the discontented warriors."  [1913 Webster]
•  Cunning; artifice; craft.  [1913 Webster]

  "Madam, I swear I use no art at all."  [1913 Webster]

  "Animals practice art when opposed to their superiors in strength."  [1913 Webster]
•  The black art; magic.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  " The arts are divided into various classes. The useful arts, The mechanical arts, or The industrial arts are those in which the hands and body are more concerned than the mind; as in making clothes and utensils. These are called trades. The fine arts are those which have primarily to do with imagination and taste, and are applied to the production of what is beautiful. They include poetry, music, painting, engraving, sculpture, and architecture; but the term is often confined to painting, sculpture, and architecture. The liberal arts (artes liberales, the higher arts, which, among the Romans, only freemen were permitted to pursue) were, in the Middle Ages, these seven branches of learning, -- grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. In modern times the liberal arts include the sciences, philosophy, history, etc., which compose the course of academical or collegiate education. Hence, degrees in the arts; master and bachelor of arts."  [1913 Webster]

  "In America, literature and the elegant arts must grow up side by side with the coarser plants of daily necessity."  [1913 Webster]

Art and part (Scots Law), share or concern by aiding and abetting a criminal in the perpetration of a crime, whether by advice or by assistance in the execution; complicity.

Syn. -- Science; literature; aptitude; readiness; skill; dexterity; adroitness; contrivance; profession; business; trade; calling; cunning; artifice; duplicity. See Science.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Art, n.
1 a human creative skill or its application. b work exhibiting this.
2 a (in pl.; prec. by the) the various branches of creative activity concerned with the production of imaginative designs, sounds, or ideas, e.g. painting, music, writing, considered collectively. b any one of these branches.
3 creative activity, esp. painting and drawing, resulting in visual representation (interested in music but not art).
4 human skill or workmanship as opposed to the work of nature (art and nature had combined to make her a great beauty).
5 (often foll. by of) a skill, aptitude, or knack (the art of writing clearly; keeping people happy is quite an art).
6 (in pl.; usu. prec. by the) those branches of learning (esp. languages, literature, and history) associated with creative skill as opposed to scientific, technical, or vocational skills.

Idiom

art and mystery any of the special skills or techniques in a specified area. art deco the predominant decorative art style of the period 1910-30, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric motifs, shapes, and strong colours. art form
1 any medium of artistic expression.
2 an established form of composition (e.g. the novel, sonata, sonnet, etc.). art nouveau a European art style of the late 19th century characterized by flowing lines and natural organic forms. art paper smooth-coated high quality paper. arts and crafts decorative design and handicraft.

Art, archaic or dial. 2nd sing. present of BE.

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Art

n. This word has no definition. Its origin is related as follows by the ingenious Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J.

One day a wag -- what would the wretch be at? --
Shifted a letter of the cipher RAT,
And said it was a god's name! Straight arose
Fantastic priests and postulants (with shows,
And mysteries, and mummeries, and hymns,
And disputations dire that lamed their limbs)
To serve his temple and maintain the fires,
Expound the law, manipulate the wires.
Amazed, the populace that rites attend,
Believe whate'er they cannot comprehend,
And, inly edified to learn that two
Half-hairs joined so and so (as Art can do)
Have sweeter values and a grace more fit
Than Nature's hairs that never have been split,
Bring cates and wines for sacrificial feasts,
And sell their garments to support the priests.

THESAURUS

Art

American, Art Nouveau, Ashcan school, Barbizon, Bauhaus, Bolognese, British, Cobra, Dadaism, Dutch, Fauvism, Flemish, Fontainebleau, French, Gothicism, Italian, Italian hand, Mannerist, Milanese, Modenese, Momentum, Neapolitan, New York, Paduan, Parisian, Phases, Pre-Raphaelite, Raphaelite, Reflex, Restany, Roman, Scottish, Sienese, Spur, Suprematism, The Ten, Tuscan, Umbrian, Venetian, Washington, abstract expressionism, abstractionism, academic discipline, academic specialty, action painting, acuteness, address, adroitness, alphabet, applied science, area, arena, art nouveau, art schools, artful dodge, artfulness, artifice, artistic skill, artistry, arty-craftiness, astuteness, baroque, blind, blueprint, business, cageyness, callidity, calling, canniness, capability, career, career building, careerism, charactering, characterization, chart, chicanery, choreography, classicalism, classicism, cleverness, cloisonnism, competence, conceptual art, concern, conspiracy, constructivism, contrivance, conventional representation, conventionalism, coup, craft, craftiness, cubism, cunning, cunningness, cute trick, dance notation, deceit, delineation, demonstration, department of knowledge, depiction, depictment, design, device, dexterity, diagram, discipline, dodge, domain, drama, drawing, earth art, eclectic, elementarism, exemplification, existentialism, expedient, expertise, expressionism, fakement, feel, feint, fetch, field, field of inquiry, field of study, figuration, fine Italian hand, finesse, flair, foxiness, free abstraction, futurism, gambit, game, gamesmanship, gimmick, grift, groups, guile, hallucinatory painting, handicraft, handiness, hang, hieroglyphic, iconography, idealism, ideogram, illustration, imagery, imaging, impressionism, ingeniousness, insidiousness, intimism, intrigue, intuitionism, inventiveness, jugglery, kinetic art, knack, knavery, know-how, letter, lifework, limning, line, line of business, line of work, linear chromatism, little game, logogram, logograph, maneuver, map, matter painting, mechanics, mechanism, method, metier, minimal art, mission, modernism, move, musical notation, mystery, mysticism, natural science, naturalism, neoclassicism, neoconcrete art, neoconstructivism, nonobjectivism, notation, nuagism, number, occupation, ology, one-upmanship, op art, photomontage, pictogram, picturization, plan, plein-air, plot, ploy, poetic realism, poetic tachism, pointillism, portraiture, portrayal, postexpressionism, practice, prefigurement, preimpressionism, presentment, primitivism, printing, profession, proficiency, projection, province, pure science, purism, pursuit, quietistic painting, racket, readiness, realism, realization, red herring, rendering, rendition, representation, representationalism, representationism, resourcefulness, romanticism, ruse, satanic cunning, savvy, schema, scheme, science, score, script, sharpness, shift, shiftiness, shrewdness, skill, sleight, slipperiness, slyness, sneakiness, social science, sophistry, specialization, specialty, sphere, stealth, stealthiness, stratagem, strategy, study, subterfuge, subtilty, subtleness, subtlety, suppleness, suprematism, surrealism, syllabary, symbol, symbolism, synchromism, synthesism, tablature, tachism, tactic, talent, technic, technical know-how, technical knowledge, technical skill, technicology, technics, technique, technology, touch, trade, traditionalism, trick, trickery, trickiness, unism, virtu, vocation, vorticism, walk, walk of life, wariness, way, wile, wiles, wiliness, wily device, wit, work, writing

ROGET THESAURUS

Art

Business

N business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally Adj, a business with an income at its heels, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, par negotiis neque supra.

Skill

N skill, skillfulness, address, dexterity, dexterousness, adroitness, expertness, proficiency, competence, technical competence, craft, callidity, facility, knack, trick, sleight, mastery, mastership, excellence, panurgy, ambidexterity, ambidextrousness, sleight of hand, seamanship, airmanship, marksmanship, horsemanship, rope-dancing, accomplishment, acquirement, attainment, art, science, technicality, technology, practical knowledge, technical knowledge, knowledge of the world, world wisdom, savoir faire, tact, mother wit, discretion, finesse, craftiness, management, self-help, cleverness, talent, ability, ingenuity, capacity, parts, talents, faculty, endowment, forte, turn, gift, genius, intelligence, sharpness, readiness, invention, aptness, aptitude, turn for, capacity for, genius for, felicity, capability, curiosa felicitas, qualification, habilitation, proficient, masterpiece, coup de maitre, chef d'euvre, tour de force, good stroke, skillful, dexterous, adroit, expert, apt, handy, quick, deft, ready, gain, slick, smart, proficient, good at, up to, at home in, master of, a good hand at, au fait, thoroughbred, masterly, crack, accomplished, conversant, experienced, practiced, skilled, hackneyed, up in, well up in, in practice, in proper cue, competent, efficient, qualified, capable, fitted, fit for, up to the mark, trained, initiated, prepared, primed, finished, clever, cute, able, ingenious, felicitous, gifted, talented, endowed, inventive, shrewd, sharp, on the ball, cunning, alive to, up to snuff, not to be caught with chaff, discreet, neat-handed, fine-fingered, nimble-fingered, ambidextrous, sure- footed, cut out for, fitted for, technical, artistic, scientific, daedalian, shipshape, workman- like, business-like, statesman-like, skillfully, well, artistically, with skill, with consummate skill, secundum artem, suo Marte, to the best of one's abilities, ars celare artem, artes honorabit, celui qui veut celui-la peut, c'est une grande habilite que de savoir cacher son, expertus metuit, es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille sich ein C, heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute, if you have lemons, make lemonade.

Cunning

N cunning, craft, cunningness, craftiness, subtlety, artificiality, maneuvering, temporization, circumvention, chicane, chicanery, sharp practice, knavery, jugglery, concealment, guile, doubling, duplicity, foul play, diplomacy, politics, Machiavelism, jobbery, backstairs influence, art, artifice, device, machination, plot, maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile, trick, trickery, ruse, ruse de guerre, finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion, white lie, juggle, tour de force, tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers, espieglerie, net, trap, Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, fox, reynard, Scotchman, Jew, Yankee, intriguer, intrigant, floater, Indian giver, keener, repeater, cunning, crafty, artful, skillful, subtle, feline, vulpine, cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent, deep, deep laid, profound, designing, contriving, intriguing, strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving, artificial, tricky, tricksy, wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy, underhand, subdolous, deceitful, slippery as an eel, evasive, crooked, arch, pawky, shrewd, acute, sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle, canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff, tactful, diplomatic, politic, polite, cunningly, slyly, slily, on the sly, by a side wind, diamond cut diamond, a' bis ou a blanc, fin contre fin, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Representation

N representation, representment, imitation, illustration, delineation, depictment, imagery, portraiture, iconography, design, designing, art, fine arts, painting, sculpture, engraving, photography, cinematography, radiography, autoradiography, fluorography, sciagraphy, personation, personification, impersonation, drama, picture, photo, photograph, daguerreotype, snapshot, X-ray photo, movie film, movie, tracing, scan, TV image, video image, image file, graphics, computer graphics, televideo, closed-circuit TV, copy, drawing, sketch, drought, draft, plot, chart, figure, scheme, image, likeness, icon, portrait, striking likeness, speaking likeness, very image, effigy, facsimile, figure, figure head, puppet, doll, figurine, aglet, manikin, lay- figure, model, mammet, marionette, fantoccini, waxwork, bust, statue, statuette, ideograph, hieroglyphic, anaglyph, kanji, diagram, monogram, map, plan, chart, ground plan, projection, elevation (plan), ichnography, cartography, atlas, outline, scheme, view, radiograph, scotograph, sciagraph, spectrogram, heliogram, represent, representing, representative, illustrative, represented, imitative, figurative, iconic, like, graphic, cinquecento quattrocento, trecento.