Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

deft

deft (deft) , adjective

[Old English daft, deft, becoming, mild, gentle, stupid (compare Old English daffe, deffe, fool, coward), Anglo-Saxon daft (in derivatives only) mild, gentle, fitting, seasonable; akin to dafen, gedafen, becoming, fit, Gothic gadaban to be fit. Compare Daft, Daff, Dapper.]

1.
Apt; fit; spruce; neat. [Archaic or Poetic]
The deftest way. — Shakespeare
Deftest feats. — Gay
Let me be deft and debonair. — Byron
2.
dexterous; clever; handy; as, a deft feat of legerdemain.
The limping god, so deft at his new ministry. — Dryden