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CLEVER

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 506 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLEVER , an See also:

adjective implying dexterous activity of mind or See also:body, and ability to meet emergencies with readiness and adroitness. The See also:etymology and the See also:early See also:history of the word are obscure. The earliest instance quoted by the New See also:English See also:Dictionary is in the Bestiary of c. 1200 (An Old English See also:Miscellany, ed. R. See also:Morris, 1872, E.E.T.S. 49)—" On the clothed the neddre (See also:adder) is cof (See also:quick) and the devel cliver on sinnes," i.e. quick to seize hold of; this would connect the word with a M. Eng. " cliver " or " clivre," a talon or claw (so H. See also:Wedgwood, See also:Diet. of Eng. Etym.). The ultimate See also:original would be the See also:root appearing in " claw," " cleave," " cling, " " clip," &c., meaning to " stick to." This original sense probably survives in the frequent use of the word for nimble, dexterous, quick and skilful in the use of the hands, and so it is often applied to a See also:horse, " clever at his fences." The word has also been connected with O.

Eng. gleaw, See also:

wise, which became in M. Eng. gleu, and is cognate with Scottish gleg, quick of See also:eye. As to the use of the word, See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Browne mentions it among " words of no See also:general reception in English but of See also:common use in See also:Norfolk or See also:peculiar to the See also:East See also:Angle countries " (See also:Tract. viii. in See also:Wilkins's ed. of See also:Works, iv. 205). The earlier uses of the word seem to be confined to that of bodily dexterity. In this sense it took the See also:place of a use of " deliver " as an adjective, meaning nimble, literally " See also:free in See also:action," a use taken from Fr. delivre (See also:Late See also:Lat. deliberare, to set free), cf. See also:Chaucer, See also:Prologue to Caht. Tales, 84, " wonderly deliver and grete of strength," and Romaunt of the See also:Rose, 831, " Deliver, smert and of gret might." It has been suggested that " clever " is a corruption of " deliver " in this sense, but this is not now accepted. The earliest use of the word for See also:mental quickness and ability in the New English Dictionary is from See also:Addison in No. 22 of The Freeholder (1716).

End of Article: CLEVER

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