Definition: art

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

art
     n 1: the products of human creativity; works of art collectively;
          "an art exhibition"; "a fine collection of art" [syn: fine
          art]
     2: the creation of beautiful or significant things; "a good
        example of modern art": "I was never any good at art"
        [syn: artistic creation, artistic production]
     3: a superior skill that you can learn by study and practice
        and observation; "the art of conversation"; "it's quite an
        art" [syn: artistry, prowess]
     4: photographs or other visual representations in a printed
        publication; "the publisher was responsible for all the
        artwork in the book" [syn: artwork, graphics, nontextual
        matter]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Art \Art\ ([aum]rt).
   The second person singular, indicative mode, present tense,
   of the substantive verb Be; but formed after the analogy of
   the plural are, with the ending -t, as in thou shalt, wilt,
   orig. an ending of the second person sing. pret. Cf. Be.
   Now used only in solemn or poetical style.

Art \Art\ ([aum]rt), n. [F. art, L. ars, artis, orig., skill in
   joining or fitting; prob. akin to E. arm, aristocrat,
   article.]
   1. 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.

            Blest with each grace of nature and of art. --Pope.

   2. 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.

            Science is systematized knowledge . . . Art is
            knowledge made efficient by skill.    --J. F.
                                                  Genung.

   3. The systematic application of knowledge or skill in
      effecting a desired result. Also, an occupation or
      business requiring such knowledge or skill.

            The fishermen can't employ their art with so much
            success in so troubled a sea.         --Addison.

   4. 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.

   5. pl. Those branches of learning which are taught in the
      academical course of colleges; as, master of arts.

            In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts.
                                                  --Pope.

            Four years spent in the arts (as they are called in
            colleges) is, perhaps, laying too laborious a
            foundation.                           --Goldsmith.

   6. Learning; study; applied knowledge, science, or letters.
      [Archaic]

            So vast is art, so narrow human wit.  --Pope.

   7. 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.

   8. Skillful plan; device.

            They employed every art to soothe . . . the
            discontented warriors.                --Macaulay.

   9. Cunning; artifice; craft.

            Madam, I swear I use no art at all.   --Shak.

            Animals practice art when opposed to their superiors
            in strength.                          --Crabb.

   10. The black art; magic. [Obs.] --Shak.

   Art and part (Scots Law), share or concern by aiding and
      abetting a criminal in the perpetration of a crime,
      whether by advice or by assistance in the execution;
      complicity.

   Note: The arts are divided into various classes.

   The useful, mechanical, or industrial arts are those in
      which the hands and body are more concerned than the mind;
      as in making clothes and utensils. These are called
      trades.

   The fine arts are those which have primarily to do with
      imagination and taste, and are applied to the production
      of what is beautiful. They include poetry, music,
      painting, engraving, sculpture, and architecture; but the
      term is often confined to painting, sculpture, and
      architecture.

   The liberal arts (artes liberales, the higher arts, which,
      among the Romans, only freemen were permitted to pursue)
      were, in the Middle Ages, these seven branches of
      learning, -- grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic,
      geometry, music, and astronomy. In modern times the
      liberal arts include the sciences, philosophy, history,
      etc., which compose the course of academical or collegiate
      education. Hence, degrees in the arts; master and bachelor
      of arts.

            In America, literature and the elegant arts must
            grow up side by side with the coarser plants of
            daily necessity.                      --Irving.

   Syn: Science; literature; aptitude; readiness; skill;
        dexterity; adroitness; contrivance; profession;
        business; trade; calling; cunning; artifice; duplicity.
        See Science.

-ard \-ard\, -art \-art\
   The termination of many English words; as, coward, reynard,
   drunkard, mostly from the French, in which language this
   ending is of German origin, being orig. the same word as
   English hard. It usually has the sense of one who has to a
   high or excessive degree the quality expressed by the root;
   as, braggart, sluggard.

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)

ART

   <language> A real-time functional language.  It timestamps
   each data value when it was created.

   ["Applicative Real-Time Programming", M. Broy, PROC IFIP 1983,
   N-H].

   (1996-01-15)

Source: V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms December 2001

ART
        Adaptive Resonance Theory (NN)

ART
        Advanced Resolution Technology (Minolta)

Source: U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

Art, TX
  Zip code(s): 76820

ART, n.  This word has no definition.  Its origin is related as
follows by the ingenious Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J.

    One day a wag -- what would the wretch be at? --
    Shifted a letter of the cipher RAT,
    And said it was a god's name!  Straight arose
    Fantastic priests and postulants (with shows,
    And mysteries, and mummeries, and hymns,
    And disputations dire that lamed their limbs)
    To serve his temple and maintain the fires,
    Expound the law, manipulate the wires.
    Amazed, the populace that rites attend,
    Believe whate'er they cannot comprehend,
    And, inly edified to learn that two
    Half-hairs joined so and so (as Art can do)
    Have sweeter values and a grace more fit
    Than Nature's hairs that never have been split,
    Bring cates and wines for sacrificial feasts,
    And sell their garments to support the priests.