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==Etymology==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] cliver, perhaps of Scandinavian [[origin]]; akin to Dan dial. kløver alert, skillful
Early [[history]] is obscure: app. in local and colloquial use long before it became a general [[literary]] [[word]]. A single example of cliver is known in Middle English., but the [[word]] has not been found again till the [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 16th century]., and it appears not to have been in general use till the close of the [[http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_Century 17th], since Sir Thos. Browne specially mentions it as East Anglian, and Ray explains it among his dialect [[words]]. Outside Eng., Koolman gives EFris. clüfer (from clifer), clever, [[skilful]], alert, ready, nimble, and klöver, klever is used in same sense at Ribe Stift in Jutland (Molbech). The early example suggests relation to Middle [[English]]. clivers ‘claws, talons, clutches’, in the sense ‘nimble of claws, sharp to seize’, and the 16-17th c. examples (also of cleverly) show it [[connected]] with the use of the hands, a notion which still remains in the general sense of adroit, dexterous, having ‘the [[brain]] in the hand’. Cf. also CLEVERUS. Clever appears to have come into general use about the time that deliver, formerly used in the sense ‘expert’, became obsolete, but there is no trace of any [[influence]] of the one upon the other. The sense-[[development]] has [[analogies]] with that of nimble, adroit, handy, handsome, nice, neat, clean.
*Date: circa [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1595]
==Definitions==
*1 a : [[skillful]] or adroit in using the hands or [[body]] : nimble <clever fingers>
:b : mentally quick and resourceful <a clever young lawyer>
*2 : marked by [[wit]] or ingenuity <a clever solution> <a clever [[idea]]>
*3 dialect a : good
:b : easy to use or handle
==Synonyms==
adroit, cunning, ingenious mean having or showing [[practical]] wit or [[skill]] in contriving. clever stresses [[physical]] or mental quickness, deftness, or great aptitude <a person clever with horses>
[[Category: General Reference]]
==Etymology==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] cliver, perhaps of Scandinavian [[origin]]; akin to Dan dial. kløver alert, skillful
Early [[history]] is obscure: app. in local and colloquial use long before it became a general [[literary]] [[word]]. A single example of cliver is known in Middle English., but the [[word]] has not been found again till the [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 16th century]., and it appears not to have been in general use till the close of the [[http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_Century 17th], since Sir Thos. Browne specially mentions it as East Anglian, and Ray explains it among his dialect [[words]]. Outside Eng., Koolman gives EFris. clüfer (from clifer), clever, [[skilful]], alert, ready, nimble, and klöver, klever is used in same sense at Ribe Stift in Jutland (Molbech). The early example suggests relation to Middle [[English]]. clivers ‘claws, talons, clutches’, in the sense ‘nimble of claws, sharp to seize’, and the 16-17th c. examples (also of cleverly) show it [[connected]] with the use of the hands, a notion which still remains in the general sense of adroit, dexterous, having ‘the [[brain]] in the hand’. Cf. also CLEVERUS. Clever appears to have come into general use about the time that deliver, formerly used in the sense ‘expert’, became obsolete, but there is no trace of any [[influence]] of the one upon the other. The sense-[[development]] has [[analogies]] with that of nimble, adroit, handy, handsome, nice, neat, clean.
*Date: circa [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1595]
==Definitions==
*1 a : [[skillful]] or adroit in using the hands or [[body]] : nimble <clever fingers>
:b : mentally quick and resourceful <a clever young lawyer>
*2 : marked by [[wit]] or ingenuity <a clever solution> <a clever [[idea]]>
*3 dialect a : good
:b : easy to use or handle
==Synonyms==
adroit, cunning, ingenious mean having or showing [[practical]] wit or [[skill]] in contriving. clever stresses [[physical]] or mental quickness, deftness, or great aptitude <a person clever with horses>
[[Category: General Reference]]