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apprentice

[uh-pren-tis]
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noun
  1. a person who works for another in order to learn a trade: an apprentice to a plumber.
  2. History/Historical. a person legally bound through indenture to a master craftsman in order to learn a trade.
  3. a learner; novice; tyro.
  4. U.S. Navy. an enlisted person receiving specialized training.
  5. a jockey with less than one year's experience who has won fewer than 40 races.
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verb (used with object), ap·pren·ticed, ap·pren·tic·ing.
  1. to bind to or place with an employer, master craftsman, or the like, for instruction in a trade.
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verb (used without object), ap·pren·ticed, ap·pren·tic·ing.
  1. to serve as an apprentice: He apprenticed for 14 years under a master silversmith.
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Origin of apprentice

1300–50; Middle English ap(p)rentis < Anglo-French, Old French ap(p)rentiz < Vulgar Latin *apprenditīcius, equivalent to *apprendit(us) (for Latin apprehēnsus; see apprehensible) + Latin -īcius suffix forming adjectives from past participles, here nominalized
Related formsap·pren·tice·ship, nounun·ap·pren·ticed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

constrainedobligatedrestrainedenslavedilliterateuninformednaiveobtuseinnocentuneducatedobliviousenrollgetreadstudyreceivemastergaindeterminegrasp

Examples from the Web for apprenticed

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Born at Champagne, in Lorraine, of poor parents, he was first apprenticed to a pastrycook.

    Self-Help

    Samuel Smiles

  • "You couldn't be wicked if you was apprenticed to the Old Harry for ten years, Zoeth," he said.

    Mary-'Gusta

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • As soon as I had passed my fourteenth birthday I was apprenticed to Madama.

  • On the completion of his studies, John Burton was apprenticed to a writer in Aberdeen.

    The Book-Hunter

    John Hill Burton

  • In his sixteenth year he apprenticed himself to a stone-mason.

British Dictionary definitions for apprenticed

apprentice

noun
  1. someone who works for a skilled or qualified person in order to learn a trade or profession, esp for a recognized period
  2. any beginner or novice
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verb
  1. (tr) to take, place, or bind as an apprentice
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Derived Formsapprenticeship, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Old French aprentis, from Old French aprendre to learn, from Latin apprehendere to apprehend
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for apprenticed

apprentice

n.

c.1300, from Old French aprentiz "someone learning" (13c., Modern French apprenti, taking the older form as a plural), also as an adjective, "unskilled, inexperienced," from aprendre (Modern French apprendre) "to learn; to teach," contracted from Latin apprehendere (see apprehend). Shortened form prentice long was more usual in English.

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apprentice

v.

1630s, from apprentice (n.). Related: Apprenticed; apprenticing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper