a. [a. Fr. adroit, orig. adv. phrase à droit according to right, rightly, properly, f. à to + droit right, OFr. dreit:—late L. drictum, dirictum:-cl. L. directum right: see DIRECT. Subseq. used as adj., and in this sense adopted in Eng.] Possessing address or readiness of resource, either bodily or mental; having ready skill, dexterous, active, clever.
1652. Evelyn, France (R.). The best esteemed and most adroit cavalry in Europe.
1678. Butler, Hudibras, III. i. 365. He held his talent most adroit, For any mystical exploit.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 150, 326. The Right-Hand and Arm of most Men are … more adroit than the Left.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., XI. vii. (1849), 122. The adroit bargain by which the island of Manhattan was bought for sixty guilders.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 269. They played about one another now like adroit wrestlers.
1860. Motley, Netherl. (1868), II. xiii. 139. Adroit intriguers burned incense to him as to a god.
