cautel, cautility 1. A crafty device, artifice, stratagem; a trick, sleight, deceit. 2. Cunning, craftiness, wiliness, trickery. 3. A precaution; in Law, etc.; an exception, restriction, or reservation made for precaution's sake. 4. A caution or direction for the proper administration of the sacraments; especially in cautels of the Mass. 5. In its ...