artiert

An old form of artery. Marlowe. artifact (är'ti-fakt), n. and a. [ Also artefactum . Also spelled artefact . [Rare in all senses.] artifex (är'ti-feks), n. [L.: see artifice .] An artificer. [Rare.] artifice (är'ti-fis), n. [F. artifice, skill, cunning, 327 cunning (cf. artifex ( artific- ), artist, master in any occupation), Strabo affirmeth the Britons were so simple, that though they abounded in milk, they had not the artifice of cheese. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., р. 312. 24. An ingenious or skilfully contrived work. The material universe, which is the artifice of God, the artifice of the best mechanist. Cudworth, Morality, iv. 2, § 13. Morality is not the artifice of ecclesiastics or politicians. Bibliotheca Sacra , XLIII. 538. 3. Skill in designing and employing expedients; artful contrivance; addre ; trickery. His [Congreve's] plots are constructed without much arti Craik, Hist. Eng. Lit., II. 257. fice. 4. A crafty device; an ingenious expedient; trick; shift; piece of fine e. Those who were conscious of guilt employed numerous artifices for the purpose of averting inquiry. Macaulay , Hist. Eng., xxi. =Syn. Artifice, Manœuver, Stratagem, Wile, Trick, Ruse, Fine e, device, contrivance, cunning, craft, deception, cheat, fraud, guile, imposition, dodge, subterfuge, double dealing. These words generally imply a careful endeavor to compa an end by deceiving others, not nece arily, however, with evil intent. They all imply management and addre . An artifice is prepared with art or care; it is craftily devised. Manœuver suggests something more elaborate or intricate, a carefully contrived movement or course of action for a definite purpose; it is the quiet or secret marshaling of one's intellectual or other resources to carry a point. Stratagem is, like manœuver, a figurative term drawn from war; it is upon a larger scale what wile is upon a smaller, a device to deceive one who is the object of an imagined warfare, so that we may catch him at a disadvantage and discomfit him, or, more generally, a carefully prepared plan to carry one's point with another to capture it or him, so to speak. A wile may be peculiarly coaxing or insinuating. Trick is the lowest and most dishonorable of these words; it may be a low or underhand act, in violation of honor or propriety, for the purpose of cheating, or something as bad. A ruse is a deception of some elaboratene , intended to cover one's intentions, help one to escape from a predicament, etc.; it is a plausible way of bringing about what we desire to happen, without apparent interference on our part. Fine e is subtlety in action; it is a more delicate sort of artifice. See artful, evasion, and fraud. A favorite artifice [with Venetian beggars] is to approach Charity with a slice of polenta in one hand, and, with the other extended, implore a soldo to buy cheese to eat with the polenta. Howells, Venetian Life, xx. IMG:content-1196.png:[blocks in formation] Their The departure of the Mahrattas was a ruse. object in leaving the Carnatic was to blind Chunder Sahib, and in this they fully succeeded. J. T. Wheeler, Short Hist. Ind., p. 237. [Montluc] was not provided with the usual means which are considered most efficient in elections, nor po e ed the interest nor the splendor of his powerful competitors; he was to derive all his resources from diplomatic fine e . I. D'Israeli, Curios, of Lit., IV. 261.