Craft
A craft or trade is a pastime or a profession that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small-scale production of goods, or their maintenance, for example by tinkers. The traditional term craftsman is nowadays often replaced by artisan and rarely by craftsperson (craftspeople).
Historically, the more specialized crafts with high value products tended to concentrate in urban centers and formed guilds. The skill required by their professions and the need to be permanently involved in the exchange of goods often demanded a generally higher level of education, and craftsmen were usually in a more privileged position than the peasantry in societal hierarchy. The households of craftsmen were not as self-sufficient as those of people engaged in agricultural work and therefore had to rely on the exchange of goods. Some crafts, especially in areas such as pottery, woodworking, and the various stages of textile production, could be practiced on a part-time basis by those also working in agriculture, and often formed part of village life.
Once an apprentice of a craft had finished his apprenticeship, he would become a journeyman searching for a place to set up his own shop and make a living. After he set up his own shop, he could then call himself a master of his craft.
This system of a stepwise approach to mastery of a craft, which includes the obtainment of a certain amount of education and the learning of skills, has survived in some countries of the world until today. But crafts have undergone deep structural changes during and since the end of the Industrial Revolution. The mass production of goods by large-scale industry has limited crafts to market segments in which industry’s modes of functioning or its mass-produced goods would not or cannot satisfy the preferences of potential buyers. Moreover, as an outcome of these changes, craftspeople today increasingly make use of semi-finished components or materials and adapt these to their customers’ requirements or demands and, if necessary, to the environments of their customers. Thus, they participate in a certain division of labour between industry and craft.
Craft (noun)
Strength; power; might; force 9th century.
Craft (noun)
Intellectual power; skill; art.
Craft (noun)
Ability, managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning; ingenuity in constructing, dexterity 9th century.
Craft (noun)
Cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety; shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception 13th century.
“craftiness|cunning|foxiness|guile|slyness|wiliness”
Craft (noun)
A work or product of art c. 1000.
Craft (noun)
Occult art, magic 13th century.
Craft (noun)
A device, a means; a magical device, spell or enchantment 13th century.
Craft (noun)
Learning of the schools, universities 13th century.
Craft (noun)
Skill, skilfulness, art, especially the skill needed for a particular profession 9th century.
“The craft of writing plays.”
“craftsmanship|workmanship”
Craft (noun)
A branch of skilled work or trade, especially one requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill, but sometimes applied equally to any business, calling or profession; the skilled practice of a practical occupation since the 9th century.
“The carpenter’s craft.”
“He learned his craft as an apprentice.”
“art|trade|handicraft|business|profession”
Craft (noun)
A trade or profession as embodied in its practitioners collectively; the members of a trade or handicraft as a body; an association of these; a trade’s union, guild, or ‘company’ 15th century.
“She represented the craft of brewers.”
Craft (noun)
A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space since the 17th century.
Craft (noun)
Handmade items, especially domestic or decorative objects; handicrafts 20th century.
Craft (noun)
Boats, especially of smaller size than ships. Historically primarily applied to vessels engaged in loading or unloading of other vessels, as lighters, hoys, and barges.
Craft (noun)
Those vessels attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, and gun-boats, generally commanded by lieutenants.
Craft (noun)
Implements used in catching fish, such as net, line, or hook. Modern use primarily in whaling, as in harpoons, hand-lances, etc. 17th century.
Craft (verb)
To make by hand and with much skill.
Craft (verb)
To construct, develop something (like a skilled craftsman).
“state crafting; the process of crafting global policing”
Craft (verb)
To combine multiple items to form a new item, such as armour or medicine.
Vessel (noun)
Any craft designed for transportation on water, such as a ship or boat. From c.1300
Vessel (noun)
A craft designed for transportation through air or space. From 1915
Vessel (noun)
Dishes and cutlery collectively, especially if made of precious metals. c.1300–c.1600
Vessel (noun)
A container of liquid or other substance, such as a glass, goblet, cup, bottle, bowl, or pitcher. From c.1300
Vessel (noun)
A person as a container of qualities or feelings. From 1382
Vessel (noun)
A tube or canal that carries fluid in an animal or plant. From 1398
“Blood and lymph vessels are found in humans; xylem and phloem vessels are found in plants.”
Vessel (verb)
To put into a vessel.
Vessel (noun)
a ship or large boat.
Vessel (noun)
a hollow container, especially one used to hold liquid, such as a bowl or cask.
Vessel (noun)
(chiefly in biblical use) a person regarded as having or embodying a particular quality
“Lord, use this lowly vessel, let me serve You as You will”
Vessel (noun)
a duct or canal holding or conveying blood or other fluid.
Vessel (noun)
any of the tubular structures in the vascular system of a plant, serving to conduct water and mineral nutrients from the root.