-artsuff. Variant of -ard.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.-art suffix forming nouns a variant of -ard Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014art1 (?rt) n. 1. the quality, production, expression, or realm of what is beautiful or of more than ordinary significance. 2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings. 3. a field or category of art: Dance is an art. 4. the fine arts collectively. 5. any field using the skills or techniques of art: industrial art. 6. (in printed matter) illustrative or decorative material. 7. the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking. 8. the craft or trade using these principles or methods. 9. skill in conducting any human activity: the art of conversation. 10. a branch of learning or university study, esp. one of the fine arts or the humanities, as music, philosophy, or literature. 11. arts, a. (used with a sing. v.) the humanities. b. (used with a pl. v.) liberal arts. 12. skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature. 13. trickery; cunning. 14. studied action; artificiality in behavior. 15. an artifice or artful device: the arts of politics. 16. Archaic. science; learning. [1175?1225; Middle English