clever

Definitions


[ˈklɛvə], (Adjective)

Definitions:
- quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligent
(e.g: she was an extremely clever and studious young woman)

- healthy or well
(e.g: I was up and about by this time though still not too clever)


Phrases:
- too clever by half

Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘quick to catch hold’, only recorded in this period): perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin, and related to cleave. In the late 16th century the term came to mean (probably through dialect use) ‘manually skilful’; the sense ‘possessing mental agility’ dates from the early 18th century




definition by Oxford Dictionaries