Definition of "cunning"

They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.

1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727

Esau was a cunning hunter.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Genesis 25:27

a cunning workman

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Exodus 38:23

Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white / Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on.

c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene v]

Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning web.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 29

everybody gives something to the cunning little boy; his eyes are large and soft, and he wears a pointed hat, and tight breeches, and jacket

1857, Barbara H. Channing, The Sisters Abroad, Or, an Italian Journey

“I shan't mind that at all, I like the little house 'cause it's got a garden, and there's a cunning room with a three-cornered closet in it that I always wanted. […] ”

1869–1870, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter XV, in An Old-Fashioned Girl, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1870

indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.

2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 236d

Caliban: As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]