Talk:clever

etymology

Etymology in Webster's New World Dictionary (ed. D.B. Guralnik; 1959; pbk.; 632 pp.):

[? < AS. clifian, cleave]

—Strabismus 20:40, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

What (Scots or Scottish) sense is this?

Looks as though it might mean "sane, rational":

1. • 1895, S. R. Crockett, A Cry Across the Black Water

     "There's somebody at the boat," she said, "waiting. Let me gang, Aunt Annie: they want me; I hear them cry. O Annie, I hear them crying as a bairn cries!"
     "Lie doon on yer bed like a clever lass," said her aunt gently. "There's naebody there."

Equinox ◑ 13:47, 19 August 2021 (UTC)