gentle craft

proper noun

Shoemaking or cobbling; the trade of a shoemaker or cobbler.

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Meanings

proper nounthe gentle craft
  1. archaicShoemaking or cobbling; the trade of a shoemaker or cobbler.

    Here Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet, laureate of the gentle craft, Wisest of the Twelve Wise Masters, in huge folios sang and laughed.

    1845, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Nuremberg”, in The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems
  2. archaicFishing; angling.

    [O]n Sundays he went fishing, being devoted to the gentle craft.

    1892, W. H. Hudson, chapter 20, in Fan: The Story of a Young Girl's Life
    2 more examples

    Another fisherman was picked up here—and that so silently, that if Young Jerry had been superstitious, he might have supposed the second follower of the gentle craft to have, all of a sudden, split himself into two.

    1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 20, in A Tale of Two Cities

    Dangerfield was of good Colonel Venables' mind, that 'tis well in the lover of the gentle craft to associate himself with some honest, expert angler, who will freely and candidly communicate his skill unto him.

    1904, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, chapter 28, in The House by the Church Yard
Cite this entry
APA

gentle craft. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gentle%20craft

MLA

“gentle craft.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gentle%20craft. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gentle craft,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gentle%20craft.

Source: gentle craft on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.