canninessn.

1638 R. Baillie Let. 22 July (1841) I. 89 It feares me his censure shall be deep; so much the more as he is not liklie to carry himself with any cannyness in tyme comeing.

1645 R. Baillie Let. 25 Apr. (1841) II. 260 When the canniness of Rothes had brought in Montrose to our party.

1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 517 I gave up travelling the country with the pack, having at that time two hundred pounds in the Ship Bank, besides a character for sobriety and cannyness among the merchants, which was worth more than double that sum.

1857 M. Grogan Roua Pass I. vi. 194 It is the national gift of shrewdness which enables a Highland drover, almost ignorant of the English tongue, to drive his bargain with pawkiness and canniness.

1878 P. Bayne Chief Actors Puritan Revol. iii. 81 Native Scotch prudence and canniness.

1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles (1964) ix. 81 Was it just the canniness of his Scots ancestry coming out, or was there a presentiment.

1973 Field & Stream Sept. 127/1 The real reason for the act was pure New England canniness. When you came upon him, whatever he had caught was out of sight.

1993 New Yorker 19 July 86/1 The game between soloist and orchestra is played with canniness, pouncing speed, and bared claws.

2017 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 4 June (Sunday Review) 4 Regular border-crossers developed a canniness for dealing with customs officials. My father knew how to chat to them.