handicraft

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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For handcraft, influenced by handiwork; Old English handcræft.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈhændɪkɹæft/, /ˈhændɪkɹɑːft/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Noun

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handicraft (countable and uncountable, plural handicrafts)

  1. A trade requiring skill of hand; manual occupation; handcraft.
    • 1712 April 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “TUESDAY, April 15, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 354; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, [], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
      I regard the Grand Seignior , who is obliged , by an express command in the Alcoran , to learn and practise some handicraft trade
      The spelling has been modernized.
  2. An artifact produced by handicraft.
  3. (rare, obsolete) A man who earns his living by handicraft; a handicraftsman.
    • 1596, Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traueller: or, The Life of Jacke Wilton:
      his men were all baſe handie craftes, as coblers, and curriers, and tinkers, whereof ſome had barres of yron []
    • 1672, John Dryden, The Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery:
      the Handicrafts-Shops begin to open
    • 1691, Sam Norris, The English Spy; Or, the Intrigues, Pollicies, and Stratagems of the French King with His Secret Contrivances, for Undermining the Princes of Christendom, Discovered:
      The M[e]chanicks, and handy-crafts were Induſtrious, Thrifty, and the main ſupporters of the Trade of France.
    • 1828 (reprinted 1842), Sir Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth[1], Schlesinger:
      "Why, thou knowest, father," he said, smiling, "that we handicrafts best love the folks we live by; []

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