Definition of "handicraft"

handicraft

/ˈhændɪkɹæft/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural handicrafts
1. A trade requiring skill of hand; manual occupation; handcraft.
  Quotations
  I regard the Grand Seignior , who is obliged , by an express command in the Alcoran , to learn and practise some handicraft trade
  1712 April 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “TUESDAY, April 15, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 354; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853
2. An artifact produced by handicraft.
3. (rare, obsolete) A man who earns his living by handicraft; a handicraftsman.
  Quotations
  his men were all baſe handie craftes, as coblers, and curriers, and tinkers, whereof ſome had barres of yron […]
  1596, Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traueller: or, The Life of Jacke Wilton
  the Handicrafts-Shops begin to open
  1672, John Dryden, The Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery
  The M[e]chanicks, and handy-crafts were Induſtrious, Thrifty, and the main ſupporters of the Trade of France.
  1691, Sam Norris, The English Spy; Or, the Intrigues, Pollicies, and Stratagems of the French King with His Secret Contrivances, for Undermining the Princes of Christendom, Discovered
  "Why, thou knowest, father," he said, smiling, "that we handicrafts best love the folks we live by; […]
  1828 (reprinted 1842), Sir Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth‎, Schlesinger