1. a master of one's craft or art, an adept , of a diviner, (Herdotus Historicus); of poets, (Pindar); of the Creator, (Plato Philosophus); metaphorically, ς. πημάτων an adept in misery, (Euripides) 2. like φρόνιμος, one who is clever in matters of life, a wise man , in which sense the seven Sages are called σοφισταί, (Herdotus Historicus); of Prometheus, (Aeschulus Tragicus) 3. at Athens, a Sophist , i. e. a professor of grammar, rhetoric, politics, mathematics, such as Prodicus, Gorgias, Protagoras, (Thucydides), etc. At first the Sophists were held in honour; but from their loose principles they fell into ill repute, and the word came to mean, 4. a sophist (in bad sense), a quibbler, cheat , (Aristophanes Comicus), etc. (ML)