Sense file
How the sense moved
The archive follows the dated record first, then reads the social or rhetorical pressure that hardened, softened, narrowed, or reversed the word.
Older meaning
Clever, skilled, knowing, or expertly made.
Modern meaning
Charmingly old-fashioned or unusually picturesque.
Research lens
A useful elegance-to-oddness drift where praise survives, but as antique charm rather than active skill.
Meaning trail
Root
known or clever
The word belongs to a knowledge-and-skill family.
Older sense
skillful or artful
It could praise craft, design, or clever execution.
Now
charmingly old-fashioned
Skill faded into antique pleasantness and gentle oddity.