Contextualizebeta

canny

adj
/ˈkæni/

Etymology

Northern English dialect, from can (“to know”) ( + -y), from Middle English can, first and third person singular of cunnen, connen (“to be able, know how to”), from Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). Compare Scots canny, English cunny, Old English cann (“knowledge, assertion”). More at can, cunning.

  1. derived from cunnan
  2. derived from can

Definitions

  1. Careful, prudent, cautious.

    • The politician gave a canny response to the reporter’s questions.
    • O! as thou art bonny, be prudent and canny,
    • “Canny now, lads, canny now!” exclaimed old Mucklebackit, who acted as commodore; “swerve the yard a bit—Now—there! there she sits safe on dry land.”

  2. Knowing, shrewd, astute.

    • The canny lawyer knew just how to get what he wanted.
    • ‘Paris Hilton is A-list. She’s a genuinely really big star,’ said Professor Robert Thompson, a popular culture expert at Syracuse University. She’s also a canny money-making machine.
    • Then again, in war, politics and life, it’s always wiser to treat your adversary as a canny fox, not a crazy fool.

  3. Frugal, thrifty.

    • canny investments
    • Whate’er he wins, I’ll guide with canny care.
  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. Friendly, pleasant, fair, agreeable

      Friendly, pleasant, fair, agreeable; (sometimes) funny.

      • She’s a canny lass hor like!
      • But gie me a cannie hour at e’en, My arms about my dearie O; An’ warl’y cares, an’ warl’y men, Mae a’ gae tapsalteerie O!

    2. Gentle, quiet, steady.

      • a canny horse
      • Be canny with this letter.

    3. Very, considerably

      Very, considerably; quite, rather.

      • a canny long journey
      • canny near home
      • That’s a canny big horse, man!

    4. Gently, quietly

      Gently, quietly; carefully, skilfully.

      • he sits very canny
      • drive canny

    5. Natural, normal.

      • I should have been glad to be assured that she prayed when on her knees, or read when that book was before her; I should have felt that she was more canny and human.
      • “Live here with a lot of blooming performing animals! No fear,” they said. “And ghosts too,” some added with a shudder. “That’s what those Dryads really are. It’s not canny.”

    6. Sounding as if it is coming through a tin can.

      • The rear sounds sounded canny compared to the front ones. And you also have to adjust the volume so both pair of speakers are at the same level, […]
      • I am using the stereo outs, I am getting nice reverb out of it but the probelm^([sic]) is the entire sound is like i said like its coming through a can. even when in bypass mode it sound "canny". Thank you for your input. Stacey
      • I was approch. 3 meters from the stage and the sound was very good from there. But if you had seats way up at the sides or at the back I can understand that you could have experienced a "canny" sound.

    7. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for canny. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA