apprentice
[uh-pren-tis]
- a person who works for another in order to learn a trade: an apprentice to a plumber.
- History/Historical. a person legally bound through indenture to a master craftsman in order to learn a trade.
- a learner; novice; tyro.
- U.S. Navy. an enlisted person receiving specialized training.
- a jockey with less than one year's experience who has won fewer than 40 races.
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- to bind to or place with an employer, master craftsman, or the like, for instruction in a trade.
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- 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for apprenticed
Contemporary Examples
Likewise the English immigrant John is 11 when he goes off to be apprenticed.
Moriyama, among the photographers most widely exhibited in the U.S., had apprenticed to both Hosoe and Tomatsu.
Jessica, a pro-domme in her late twenties, apprenticed at a dungeon before striking out on her own.
Historical Examples
Born at Champagne, in Lorraine, of poor parents, he was first apprenticed to a pastrycook.
Self-HelpSamuel Smiles
"You couldn't be wicked if you was apprenticed to the Old Harry for ten years, Zoeth," he said.
Mary-'GustaJoseph 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-HunterJohn Hill Burton
In his sixteenth year he apprenticed himself to a stone-mason.
apprentice
- someone who works for a skilled or qualified person in order to learn a trade or profession, esp for a recognized period
- any beginner or novice
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- (tr) to take, place, or bind as an apprentice
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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
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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