#696. Council. -- N. council, committee, subcommittee, comitia[Lat], court, chamber, cabinet, board, bench, staff.
senate, senatus[Lat], parliament, chamber of deputies, directory, reichsrath[Ger], rigsdag, cortes[Sp], storthing[obs3], witenagemote[obs3], junta, divan, musnud[obs3], sanhedrim; classis[obs3]; Amphictyonic council[obs3]; duma[Russ], house of representatives; legislative assembly, legislative council; riksdag[obs3], volksraad[Ger], witan[obs3], caput[obs3], consistory, chapter, syndicate; court of appeal &c. (tribunal) 966; board of control, board of works; vestry; county council, local board.
audience chamber, council chamber, state chamber.
cabinet council, privy council; cockpit, convocation, synod, congress, convention, diet, states-general.
[formal gathering of members of a council: script] assembly, caucus, conclave, clique, conventicle; meeting, sitting, seance, conference, convention, exhibition, session, palaver, pourparler, durbar[obs3], house; quorum; council fire [N.Am.], powwow [U.S.], primary [U.S.].
meeting, assemblage &c. 72.
[person who is member of a council] member; senator; member of parliament, M.P.; councilor, representative of the people; assemblyman, congressman; councilman, councilwoman, alderman, freeholder.
V. assemble, gather together, meet (assemblage) 72; confer, caucus, hold council; huddle [coll.].
Adj. senatorial, curule[obs3]; congressional, parliamentary; legislative, law-making; regulatory; deliberative.
#697. Precept. -- N. precept, direction, instruction, charge; prescript, prescription; recipe, receipt; golden rule; maxim &c. 496.
rule, canon, law, code, corpus juris[Lat], lex scripta[Lat], act, statute, rubric, stage direction, regulation; form, formula, formulary; technicality; canon law; norm.
order &c. (command) 741.
#698. Skill. -- N. skill, skillfulness, address; dexterity, dexterousness; adroitness, expertness &c. adj.; proficiency, competence, technical competence, craft, callidity[obs3], facility, knack, trick, sleight; mastery, mastership, excellence, panurgy[obs3]; ambidexterity, ambidextrousness[obs3]; sleight of hand &c. (deception) 545.
seamanship, airmanship, marksmanship, horsemanship; rope-dancing.
accomplishment, acquirement, attainment; art, science; technicality, technology; practical knowledge, technical knowledge.
knowledge of the world, world wisdom, savoir faire[Fr]; tact; mother wit &c. (sagacity) 498; discretion &c. *(caution) 864; finesse; craftiness &c. (cunning) 702; management &c. (conduct) 692; self-help.
cleverness, talent, ability, ingenuity, capacity, parts, talents, faculty, endowment, forte, turn, gift, genius; intelligence &c. 498; sharpness, readiness &c. (activity) 682; invention &c. 515; aptness, aptitude; turn for, capacity for, genius for; felicity, capability, curiosa felicitas[Lat], qualification, habilitation.
proficient &c. 700.
masterpiece, coup de maitre[Fr], chef d'euvre[Fr], tour de force; good stroke &c. (plan) 626.
V. be skillful &c. adj.; excel in, be master of; have a turn for &c.
n.
know what's what, know a hawk from a handsaw, know what one is about, know on which side one's bread is buttered, know what's o'clock; have cut one's eye teeth, have cut one's wisdom teeth.
see one's way, see where the wind lies, see which way the wind blows; have all one's wits about one, have one's hand in; savoir vivre[Fr]; scire quid valeant humeri quid ferre recusent[Lat][obs3].
look after the main chance; cut one's coat according to one's cloth; live by one's wits; exercise one's discretion, feather the oar, sail near the wind; stoop to conquer &c. (cunning) 702; play one's cards well, play one's best card; hit the right nail on the head, put the saddle on the right horse.
take advantage of, make the most of; profit by &e. (use) 677; make a hit &c. (succeed) 731; make a virtue of necessity; make hay while the sun shines &c. (occasion) 134.
Adj. skillful, dexterous, adroit, expert, apt, handy, quick, deft, ready, gain; slick, smart &c. (active) 682; proficient, good at, up to, at home in, master of, a good hand at, au fait, thoroughbred, masterly, crack, accomplished; conversant &c. (knowing) 490.
experienced, practiced, skilled, hackneyed; up in, well up in; in practice, in proper cue; competent, efficient, qualified, capable, fitted, fit for, up to the mark, trained, initiated, prepared, primed, finished.
clever, cute, able, ingenious, felicitous, gifted, talented, endowed; inventive &c. 515; shrewd, sharp, on the ball &c. (intelligent) 498; cunning &c. 702; alive to, up to snuff, not to be caught with chaff; discreet.
neat-handed, fine-fingered, nimble-fingered, ambidextrous, sure- footed; cut out for, fitted for.
technical, artistic, scientific, daedalian[obs3], shipshape; workman- like, business-like, statesman-like.
Adv. skillfully &c. adj.; well &c. 618; artistically; with skill, with consummate skill; secundum artem[Lat], suo Marte; to the best of one's abilities &c. (exertion) 686.
Phr. ars celare artem[Lat]; artes honorabit[Lat]; celui qui veut celui-la peut[Fr]; c'est une grande habilite que de savoir cacher sonhabilite[Fr]; expertus metuit [Lat][Horace]; es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt[Ger]; "heart to conceive the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute" [Junius]; if you have lemons, make lemonade.
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#699. Unskillfulness. -- N. unskillfulness &c. adj.; want of skill &c.
698; incompetence, incompentency[obs3]; inability, infelicity, indexterity[obs3], inexperience; disqualification, unproficiency[obs3]; quackery.
folly, stupidity &c. 499; indiscretion &c. (rashness) 863; thoughtlessness &c. (inattention) 458 (neglect) 460; sabotage.
mismanagement, misconduct; impolicy[obs3]; maladministration; misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasance; petticoat government.
absence of rule, rule of thumb; bungling &c. v.; failure &c. 732; screw loose; too many cooks.
blunder &c. (mistake) 495; etourderie gaucherie[Fr], act of folly, balourdise[obs3]; botch, botchery[obs3]; bad job, sad work.
sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild-goose chase.
bungler &c. 701; fool &c. 501.
V. be unskillful &c. adj.; not see an inch beyond one's nose; blunder, bungle, boggle, fumble, botch, bitch, flounder, stumble, trip; hobble &c.
275; put one's foot in it; make a mess of, make hash of, make sad work of; overshoot the mark.
play tricks with, play Puck, mismanage, misconduct, misdirect, misapply, missend.
stultify oneself, make a fool of oneself, commit oneself; act foolishly; play the fool; put oneself out of court; lose control, lose control of oneself, lose one's head, lose one's cunning.
begin at the wrong end; do things by halves &c. (not complete) 730; make two bites of a cherry; play at cross purposes; strain at a gnat and swallow a camel &c. (caprice) 608; put the cart before the horse; lock the stable door when the horse is stolen &c. (too late) 135.
not know what one is about, not know one's own interest, not know on which side one's bread is buttered; stand in one's own light, quarrel with one's bread and butter, throw a stone in one's own garden, kill the goose which lays the golden eggs, pay dear for one's whistle, cut one's own throat, bum one's fingers; knock one's head against a stone wall, beat one's head against a stone wall; fall into a trap, catch a Tartar, bring the house about one's ears; have too many eggs in one basket (imprudent) 863, have too many irons in the fire.
mistake &c. 495; take the shadow for the substance &c. (credulity) 486; bark up the wrong tree; be in the wrong box, aim at a pigeon and kill a crow; take the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear, get the dirty end of the stick; put the saddle on the wrong horse, put a square peg into a round hole, put new wine into old bottles.
cut blocks with a razor; hold a farthing candle to the sun &c.
(useless) 645; fight with a shadow, grasp at a shadow; catch at straws, lean on a broken reed, reckon without one's host, pursue a wild goose chase; go on a fool's goose chase, sleeveless errand; go further and fare worse; lose one's way, miss one's way; fail &c. 732.
Adj. unskillful &c. 698; inexpert; bungling &c.v.; awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroit; left-handed, heavy-handed; slovenly, slatternly; gawky.
adrift, at fault.
inapt, unapt; inhabile[Fr]; untractable[obs3], unteachable; giddy &c.
(inattentive) 458; inconsiderate &c. (neglectful) 460; stupid &c. 499; inactive &c. 683; incompetent; unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified; unfit; quackish; raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice.
unaccustomed, unused, untrained &c. 537, uninitiated, unconversant &c.
(ignorant) 491[obs3]; shiftless; unstatesmanlike.
unadvised; ill-advised, misadvised; ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill- judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted; unguided, misguided; misconducted, foolish, wild; infelicitous; penny wise and pound foolish &c.
(inconsistent) 608.
Phr. one's fingers being all thumbs; the right hand forgets its cunning; il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau[Fr]; incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim[Lat]; out of the frying pan into the fire; non omnia possumus omnes [Lat][Vergil].
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#700. Proficient. -- N. proficient, expert, adept, dab; dabster[obs3], crackerjack; connoisseur &c. (scholar) 492; master, master hand; prima donna[Sp], first fiddle, top gun, chef de cuisine, top sawyer; protagonist; past master; mahatma.
picked man; medallist, prizeman[obs3].
veteran; old stager, old campaigner, old soldier, old file, old hand; man of business, man of the world.
nice hand, good hand, clean hand; practiced hand, experienced eye, experienced hand; marksman; good shot, dead shot, crack shot; ropedancer, funambulist[obs3], acrobat; cunning man; conjuror &c. (deceiver) 548; wizard &c. 994.
genius; mastermind, master head, master spirit.
cunning blade, sharp blade, sharp fellow; jobber; cracksman &c.
(thief) 792[obs3]; politician, tactician, strategist.
pantologist[obs3], admirable Crichton, Jack of all trades; prodigy of learning.
#701. Bungler. -- N. bungler; blunderer, blunderhead[obs3]; marplot, fumbler, lubber, duffer, dauber, stick; bad hand, poor hand, poor shot; butterfingers[obs3].
no conjurer, flat, muff, slow coach, looby[obs3], lubber, swab; clod, yokel, awkward squad, blanc-bec; galoot[obs3].
land lubber; fresh water sailor, fair weather sailor; horse marine; fish out of water, ass in lion's skin, jackdaw in peacock's feathers; quack &c. (deceiver) 548; lord of misrule.
sloven, slattern, trapes[obs3].
amateur, novice, greenhorn (learner) 541.
Phr. il n'a pas invente' la poudre[Fr]; he will never set the Thames on fire; acierta errando[Lat]; aliquis in omnibus nullus in singulis[Lat][obs3].
#702. Cunning. -- N. cunning, craft; cunningness[obs3], craftiness &c.
adj.; subtlety, artificiality; maneuvering &c. v.; temporization; circumvention.
chicane, chicanery; sharp practice, knavery, jugglery[obs3]; concealment &c. 528; guile, doubling, duplicity &c. (falsehood) 544; foul play.
diplomacy, politics; Machiavelism; jobbery, backstairs influence.
art, artifice; device, machination; plot &c. (plan) 626; maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile; trick, trickery &c.
(deception) 545; ruse, ruse de guerre[Fr]; finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion; white lie &c (untruth) 546; juggle, tour de force; tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers; espieglerie[Fr]; net, trap &c. 545.
Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, fox, reynard; Scotchman; Jew, Yankee; intriguer, intrigant[obs3]; floater [U.S.], Indian giver [U.S.], keener [U.S.], repeater [U.S. politics].
V. be cunning &c. adj.; have cut one's eyeteeth; contrive &c (plan) 626; live by one's wits; maneuver; intrigue, gerrymander, finesse, double, temporize, stoop to conquer, reculer pour mieux sauter[Fr], circumvent, steal a march upon; overreach &c. 545; throw off one's guard; surprise &c.
508; snatch a verdict; waylay, undermine, introduce the thin end of the wedge; play a deep game, play tricks with; ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces[Lat]; flatter, make things pleasant; have an ax to grind.
dodge, sidestep, bob and weave.
Adj. cunning, crafty, artful; skillful &c. 698; subtle, feline, vulpine; cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent; deep, deep laid; profound; designing, contriving; intriguing &c.v.; strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving[obs3]; artificial; tricky, tricksy[obs3]; wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy; underhand &c (hidden) 528; subdolous[obs3]; deceitful &c. 545; slippery as an eel, evasive &c. 623; crooked; arch, pawky[obs3], shrewd, acute; sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle !; canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff.
tactful, diplomatic, politic; polite &c. 894.
Adv. cunningly &c. adj.; slyly, slily[obs3], on the sly, by a side wind.
Phr. diamond cut diamond; a' bis ou a blanc[Fr][obs3]; fin contre fin[Fr]; "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" [Hamlet].
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