- clever (adj.)
- late 16c., "handy, dexterous," from East Anglian dialectal cliver "expert at seizing," perhaps from East Frisian klufer or Norwegian dialectic klover "ready, skillful," and perhaps influenced by Old English clifer "claw, hand" (early usages seem to refer to dexterity); extension to intellect is first recorded 1704.
This is a low word, scarcely ever used but in burlesque or conversation; and applied to any thing a man likes, without a settled meaning. [Johnson, 1755]