Definition of art:

• A principle put in practice and applied to some art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. Earle v. Sawyer, 4 Mason, 1, Fed. Cas. No. 4,247. See Act Cong. July 8, 1870. In the law of patents, this term means a useful art or manufacture which is beneficial and which is described with exactness in its mode of operation. Such an art can be protected only in the mode and to the extent thus described. Smith v. Downing, 22 Fed. Cas. 511; Carnegie Steel Co. v. Cambria Iron Co.
• Second pers. pres. indic. sing. of the verb be: used only in solemn or poetic style.
• The 2d sing. of the pres. tense of am.
• the creation of beautiful or significant things; " art does not need to be innovative to be good"; " I was never any good at art"; " he said that architecture is the art of wasting space beautifully"
• the products of human creativity; works of art collectively; " an art exhibition"; " a fine collection of art"
• 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.
• 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.
• The systematic application of knowledge or skill in effecting a desired result. Also, an occupation or business requiring such knowledge or skill.
• 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.
• Those branches of learning which are taught in the academical course of colleges; as, master of arts.
• Learning; study; applied knowledge, science, or letters.
• 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.
• Skillful plan; device.
• The black art; magic.
• The use of means to the accomplishment of some end; music, painting, sculpture, or literature, or the practice of one of them; practical skill; knack; cunning.
• 2d pers. sing. Of the present tense of the verb to be.
• Practical skill guided by rules: the rules and methods of doing certain actions: a profession or trade: contrivance: skill: cunning: artifice.
• 2d pers. sing. pres. tense of the verb to be.
• Skill guided by rules; rules and method of doing; skill; cunning; a trade.
• 2d per. sing. pres. ind. of BE, v.
• Skill in some practical work; dexterity; facility; a system of rules; as, the industrial or mechanical arts.
• The embodiment of beautiful thought in artistic forms; also, the works thus produced, collectively; as, the esthetic or fine arts; also, artistic skill.
• Craft; cunning.
• An organized body of trained craftsmen; a gild.
• The employment of means to the accomplishment of some end, directed by knowledge and skill; a system of rules directive of the skill in the attainment of a certain end; the practice of a system directed to the production of a work of art, generally of fine art; practical skill; dexterity; cunning. See Arts. Art and part, the contriving and partaking in a criminal art, said to be an abridgment of artifex particeps.
• The second person singular, indicative mood, present tense, of the verb to be.
• Anything done by human skill- the opposite of nature; knowledge applied to the uses of everyday life- the opposite of science; a trade; skill; cunning.

Usage examples for art

1. Neither is a work of art.  Since Cézanne by Clive Bell

2. Thou or he art in the wrong.  The English Language by Robert Gordon Latham

3. I only wish I could go to an art school.  The Sherrods by George Barr McCutcheon

4. Then she caught me by the knees, and cried aloud: 'Who art thou?  The Story Of The Odyssey by The Rev. Alfred J. Church