(ärt) noun
1. The skilful, systematic arrangement or adaptation of means for the attainment of some end, especially by human endeavor as opposed to natural forces.
2. The practical application of knowledge or natural ability; skilled workmanship; mastery; dexterity.
3. A set or system of rules, principles, etc., devised for procuring some scientific, esthetic, or practical result, as by exercise; a branch of learning to be studied in order to be applied.
4 a The application, or the principles of application, of skill, knowledge, etc., in a creative effort to produce works that have form or beauty, esthetic expression of feeling, etc., as in music, painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, and the dance. b Any particular branch of this, especially painting, drawing, etc. c The works thus created; statues; paintings, etc.
5. Usually plural Any of certain branches of academic learning, as rhetoric, grammar, music, mathematics, etc.; the liberal arts, especially as distinguished from the sciences.
6. An illustration, as in a magazine or newspaper.
7. Craft; cunning; artfulness.
8. Usually plural Stratagem; wiles; tricks.
9. An organized body of men trained in some trade or vocation; guild.
—fine arts Those arts considered purely esthetic or expressive, as distinguished from the “useful arts”: painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, architecture, literature, music, and the dance.
—household arts The duties involved in managing a household.
—industrial arts The technical skills used in industry, especially as subjects of study in schools.
—liberal arts The course of study, including literature, philosophy, languages, history, etc., distinguished from professional or technical subjects, offered by an academic college: also called arts: a translation of Latin artes liberates, arts suitable for liberi, or free men. [<OF<L ars, artis skill] Synonyms: address, aptitude, artifice, business, cleverness, dexterity, esthetics, ingenuity, knack, science, skill, tact. In the highest sense, art has no synonym. The term esthetics denotes the theory of the beautiful which furnishes the basis of art. For subordinate senses, see ARTIFICE, BUSINESS. For the distinction between science and art, see synonyms for SCIENCE.

(ärt)
Archaic or poetic second person singular present tense of BE: used with thou.