Cun″ning, n. [AS. cunnung trial, or Icel. kunnandi knowledge. See Cunning, a.] 1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity.
Let my right hand forget her cunning.
Ps. cxxxvii. 5.
A carpenter's desert
Stands more in cunning than in power.
Chapman.
2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.
Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom.
Locke.
We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom.
Bacon.