1. (n.) The second person singular, indicative mode, present tense, of the substantive verb Be; but formed after the analogy of the plural are, with the ending -t, as in thou shalt, wilt, orig. an ending of the second person sing. pret. Cf. Be. Now used only in solemn or poetical style.

2. (n.) The employment of means to accomplish some desired end; the adaptation of things in the natural world to the uses of life; the application of knowledge or power to practical purposes.

3. (n.) A system of rules serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions; a system of principles and rules for attaining a desired end; method of doing well some special work; -- often contradistinguished from science or speculative principles; as, the art of building or engraving; the art of war; the art of navigation.

4. (n.) The systematic application of knowledge or skill in effecting a desired result. Also, an occupation or business requiring such knowledge or skill.

5. (n.) The application of skill to the production of the beautiful by imitation or design, or an occupation in which skill is so employed, as in painting and sculpture; one of the fine arts; as, he prefers art to literature.

6. (n.) Those branches of learning which are taught in the academic course of colleges; as, master of arts.

7. (n.) Learning; study; applied knowledge, science, or letters.

8. (n.) Skill, dexterity, or the power of performing certain actions, acquired by experience, study, or observation; knack; as, a man has the art of managing his business to advantage.

9. (n.) Skillful plan; device.

10. (n.) Cunning; artifice; craft.

11. (n.) The black art; magic.

12. (n.) The termination of many English words; as, coward, reynard, drunkard, mostly from the French, in which language this ending is of German origin, being orig. the same word as English hard. It usually has the sense of one who has to a high or excessive degree the quality expressed by the root; as, braggart, sluggard.

American Art Nouveau Ashcan school Barbizon Bauhaus Bolognese British Cobra Dadaism Dutch Fauvism Flemish Fontainebleau French Gothicism Italian Italian hand Mannerist Milanese Modenese Momentum Neapolitan New York Paduan Parisian Phases Pre-Raphaelite Raphaelite Reflex Restany Roman Scottish Sienese Spur Suprematism The Ten Tuscan Umbrian Venetian Washington abstract expressionism abstractionism academic discipline academic specialty action painting acuteness address adroitness alphabet applied science area arena art nouveau art schools artful dodge artfulness artifice artistic skill artistry arty-craftiness astuteness baroque blind blueprint business cageyness callidity calling canniness capability career career building careerism charactering characterization chart chicanery choreography classicalism classicism cleverness cloisonnism competence conceptual art concern conspiracy constructivism contrivance conventional representation conventionalism coup craft craftiness cubism cunning cunningness cute trick dance notation deceit delineation demonstration department of knowledge depiction depictment design device dexterity diagram discipline dodge domain drama drawing earth art eclectic elementarism exemplification existentialism expedient expertise expressionism fakement feel feint fetch field field of inquiry field of study figuration fine Italian hand finesse flair foxiness free abstraction futurism gambit game gamesmanship gimmick grift groups guile hallucinatory painting handicraft handiness hang hieroglyphic iconography idealism ideogram illustration imagery imaging impressionism ingeniousness insidiousness intimism intrigue intuitionism inventiveness jugglery kinetic art knack knavery know-how letter lifework limning line line of business line of work linear chromatism little game logogram logograph maneuver map matter painting mechanics mechanism method metier minimal art mission modernism move musical notation mystery mysticism natural science naturalism neoclassicism neoconcrete art neoconstructivism nonobjectivism notation nuagism number occupation ology one-upmanship op art photomontage pictogram picturization plan plein-air plot ploy poetic realism poetic tachism pointillism portraiture portrayal postexpressionism practice prefigurement preimpressionism presentment primitivism printing profession proficiency projection province pure science purism pursuit quietistic painting racket readiness realism realization red herring rendering rendition representation representationalism representationism resourcefulness romanticism ruse satanic cunning savvy schema scheme science score script sharpness shift shiftiness shrewdness skill