Art, 1) the power of doing something not taught by nature, skill, dexterity: Ven. 291. Sonn. 53, 7. Meas. I, 2, 189. Mids. I, 1, 192. Shr. III, 1, 66. Wint. IV, 4, 90. V, 3, 68. Mcb. I, 2, 9 etc. etc. “your a. of wooing,” Wiv. II, 2, 244. “the a. to love,” Shr. IV, 2, 8. Opposed to “nature:” Ven. 291. Lucr. 1374. Meas. II, 2, 184. Mids. II, 2, 104. As III, 2, 31. Wint. IV, 4, 90. All's II, 1, 121. H6A V, 3, 192. Rom. II, 4, 94. Caes. IV, 3, 194. Lr. IV, 6, 86.
Sometimes joined with, or synonymous to, practice: “so that the a. and practic part of life must be the mistress to this theoric,” H5 I, 1, 51. “as art and practice have enriched any,” Meas. I, 1, 13. “a practice as full of labour as a wise man's a.” Tw. III, 1, 73. “by the a. of known and feeling sorrows am pregnant to good pity,” Lr. IV, 6, 226 (== experience). “I have as much of this in a. as you, but yet my nature could not bear it so,” Caes. IV, 3, 194 (external skill acquired by labour? Malone explains it by theory, in which he may be right).
Sometimes == magic: Tp. I, 2, 1. Tp. I, 2, 1 Tp. I, 2, 1 Tp. I, 2, 1 Tp. I, 2, 1 II, 1, 297. IV, 1, 41. IV, 1, 41 V, 50. Ep. V, 50 As V, 2, 67. Wint. V, 3, 110. H4A III, 1, 48. H6A II, 1, 15. H8 III, 1, 12. Oth. I, 2, 79. Perhaps magic may be meant in Sonn. 139, 4: use power with power and slay me not by a.
Synonymous to cunning, artifice, craft: “thought characters and words merely but a.” Compl. 174. “his passion, but an a. of craft,” Compl. 174
2) Letters, learning, study: a. with arms contending, i. e. a scholar with a soldier, Pilgr. 223. “study his bias leaves and makes his book thine eyes, where all those pleasures live that a. can comprehend,” Pilgr. 62 and LLL IV, 2, 113. a. made tongue-tied by authority (science put to silence by power) Sonn. 66, 9. in them (thy eyes) “I read such a. as truth and beauty shall together thrive,” Sonn. 14, 10 (== I gather this knowledge). “the liberal --s,” Tp. I, 2, 73. well fitted in --s (full of instruction) LLL II, 45. “living a.,” I, 1, 14 (immortal science). “other slow --s entirely keep the brain,” IV, 3, 324. “boys of a.” Wiv. III, 1, 109. All's II, 1, 121. All's II, 1, 121 All's II, 1, 121 “Padua, nursery of --s,” Shr. I, 1, 2. “had I but followed the --s!” Tw. I, 3, 99. “the commission of thy years and a.” Rom. IV, 1, 64. “those --s they have as I could put into them,” Cymb. V, 5, 338.
Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
hide
Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
