The craft or art practised or required at court; statecraft in the interest or service of the court.
1646. Fanshawe, Pastor Fido (1676), 158. And in Court-craft not having any skill.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., viii. (1851), 190. You are made the King’s Chief Treasurer and Steward of his Court-Craft [L. aulicæ astutiæ].
1735–8. Bolingbroke, On Parties, Ded. 13. The Throne is now establish’d, not on the narrow and sandy Foundations of Court-Craft, and unconstitutional Expedients, but on the Popularity of the Prince.
