All 35 Uses

cunning
in
The Prairie, by Cooper
(Auto-generated)

"There is little call for handicrafts in this region," returned the other, examining the athletic and active form of the youth, as he leaned carelessly and not ungracefully, on his rifle; "the art of taking the creatur's of God, in traps and nets, is one that needs more cunning than manhood; and yet am I brought to practise it, in my age!†
Chpt 3

cunning = good at achieving goals through cleverness and deception
They are too cunning to believe that a woman of the 'pale-faces' is to be found so far from the settlements, without having a white man's inventions and comforts at hand.†
Chpt 4
No, no; cunning must match cunning, or the hounds will murder the whole family.†
Chpt 4
No, no; cunning must match cunning, or the hounds will murder the whole family.†
Chpt 4
Nothing short of the readiness and cunning of a savage could have evaded the crisis.†
Chpt 4
He has seen the last of his four-footed creatures, or I am but little skilled in Sioux cunning.†
Chpt 5
"Then is there more cunning in your schools than I had thought, for it is a certain method of showing them their vanity," returned the trapper, suddenly abandoning a discussion, from which the naturalist was just beginning to anticipate great delight, by turning to his dog, whose restlessness he attempted to appease by playing with his ears.†
Chpt 17
"Ay, crooked enough!" muttered the old man in English, "if you are to set out on your journey by that path, but not half so winding as the cunning of an Indian's mind.†
Chpt 18
My life and my traps are but of little value, when the welfare of so many human souls are concerned; and, moreover, I may say that I know the windings of Indian cunning.†
Chpt 20
After uttering a few words of reproach to his hound, who watched the savage group with eyes that seemed to recognise them, he spoke in the Sioux tongue— "My brothers are welcome," he said, cunningly constituting himself the master of the region in which they had met, and assuming the offices of hospitality.†
Chpt 20

cunningly = in a manner that is clever and typically that includes tricking others
"Mahtoree is a chief of the Dahcotahs," returned the cunning Teton, laying his hand on his chest, in acknowledgment of the other's sincerity.†
Chpt 20

cunning = good at achieving goals through cleverness and deception
Therefore, what is to be done is to be done in wisdom, in order to circumvent their cunning.†
Chpt 21
To some He grants cunning, and on others He bestows the gift of manhood!†
Chpt 21
Mankind twist and turn the rules of the Lord, to suit their own wickedness, when their devilish cunning has had too much time to trifle with His commands.†
Chpt 22
and after all, the cunningest scout of the whole Dahcotah nation might pass his life in searching for the spot where it fell, and be no wiser when his eyes grew dim, than when they were first opened.†
Chpt 22
If I only knew how to circumvent the cunning of the Tetons, as I know how to cheat the fire of its prey, there would be nothing needed but thanks to the Lord for our deliverance.†
Chpt 23

cunning = good at achieving goals through cleverness and deception
But he tells me more, my men, and what I am mainly sorry to hear, which is, that the cunning Mahtoree instead of going to blows with the squatter, has become his friend, and that both broods, red and white, are on our heels, and outlying around this very burning plain to circumvent us to our destruction.†
Chpt 24
If they might elude the cunning of their pursuers, by this simple and therefore less suspected expedient, they could renew their flight as the evening approached, and, by changing their course, the chance of final success would be greatly increased.†
Chpt 24
Courage and cunning had established his ascendency, and it had been rendered, in some degree, sacred by time.†
Chpt 25 *
Though they love us not, cunning often ties their hands.†
Chpt 25
It was highly-wrought in wampum, and profusely ornamented with beads and porcupine's quills, after the most cunning devices of Indian ingenuity.†
Chpt 26
The first glance of his eye, at the countenance of the heavy-moulded squatter, served to tell the cunning Teton, that the treacherous truce he had made, with these dupes of his superior sagacity, was in some danger of a violent termination.†
Chpt 27
The devil has often tempted you, my man, but never before has he set so cunning a snare as this.†
Chpt 27
Thick coats of paint had been laid on the naked poll, and certain fanciful designs, in the same material, had even been extended into the neighbourhood of the eyes and mouth, lending to the keen expression of the former a look of twinkling cunning, and to the dogmatism of the latter, not a little of the grimness of necromancy.†
Chpt 27
"I take it, friend physicianer," he at length gravely replied, "that the chances of life and death, in your particular case, depend altogether on the will of Providence, as it may be pleased to manifest it, through the accursed windings of Indian cunning.†
Chpt 27
Still, in the midst of so much hauteur and confidence, the sagacity and cunning of the Teton did not desert him.†
Chpt 28
Time was not given to reflect on the merits, or rather the demerits, of most of the different individuals to whom he alluded, in consequence of the rapid manner in which he ran over their names; but so cunningly did he time his events, and so thrillingly did he make his appeals, aided as they were by the power of his deep-toned and stirring voice, that each of them struck an answering chord in the breast of some one of his auditors.†
Chpt 28

cunningly = in a manner that is clever and typically that includes tricking others
The eyes of the trapper, followed every movement of the tomahawk, with the interest of a real father, until at length, unable to command his indignation, he exclaimed— "My son has forgotten his cunning.†
Chpt 28

cunning = good at achieving goals through cleverness and deception
The tents of the squatter were still in sight, and his wary cunning did not fail to apprise him, that it was quite as necessary to guard against an attack from that quarter as to watch the motions of his more open and more active foes.†
Chpt 29
I should greatly like to do the same; especially in your behalf, Captain, who, being a soldier, might find not only pleasure but profit in examining, more at your ease, into the circumventions and cunning of an Indian fight.†
Chpt 29
Hist, Captain, hist; a hot temper is none of the best, when cunning is more needed than blows.†
Chpt 29
Had one been there to watch the countenance of Mahtoree, as he crossed the water that separated him from the most formidable and the most hated of all his rivals, he might have fancied that he could trace the gleamings of a secret joy, breaking through the cloud which deep cunning and heartless treachery had drawn before his swarthy visage; and yet there would have been moments, when he might have believed that the flashings of the Teton's eye and the expansion of his nostrils, had their origin in a nobler sentiment, and one more worthy of an Indian chief.†
Chpt 30
The cunning and duplicity, which had so long obscured the brighter and nobler traits of his character, were lost in the never dying sentiment of pride, which he had imbibed in youth.†
Chpt 30
Although filled with the most serious forebodings of what might be his lot, his courage had not been equal to look his danger in the face, and with the deceitful consolation, with which timid tempers are apt to conceal their desperate condition from themselves, he had rather courted a treacherous relief in his cunning, than prepared himself for the worst.†
Chpt 32
It was of the value of twelve beaver-skins, and cunningly and curiously was it carved!†
Chpt 34

cunningly = in a manner that is clever and typically that includes tricking others

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Definitions:

(1) (cunning as in: a cunning thief)
being good at achieving goals through cleverness -- and typically through deception as well (tricking others)
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
At one time, cunning was also used as a synonym for cute.

cunning in The Prairie, by Cooper (Auto-generated)

cunning
in
The Prairie, by Cooper
(Auto-generated)