Definition of "clever" []

• Mentally quick and original; bright. (adjective)
• Nimble with the hands or body; dexterous. (adjective)
• Exhibiting quick-wittedness: a clever story. (adjective)
• New England Easily managed; docile: "Oxen must be pretty clever to be bossed around the way they are” ( Dialect Notes). (adjective)
• New England Affable but not especially smart. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I _should_ like to know what her estimate is, but am always half afraid of finding a clever novel _too clever_, and of finding my own story and my own people all forestalled."
• "- I should like to know what her Estimate is-but am always half afraid of finding a clever novel too clever-& of finding my own story and my own people all forestalled."
• "Examining the brain-imaging data, Bengtsson found that the students' brains responded differently to the mistakes they made depending on whether they were primed with the word clever or the word stupid."