apprenticeship
(əˈprɛntɪsʃɪp)
Also 6–7 apprentiship(pe.
[f. apprentice n. + -ship; superseding apprenticehood.]
1. The position of an apprentice; service in the capacity of an apprentice; initiatory training, under legal agreement, in a trade, etc.; esp. in the phr. to serve apprenticeship.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. 1653 Pref. 18 Holding them in more base subjection then their masters ever did in their apprentiship. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. i. x. 106 During the continuance of the apprenticeship the whole labour of the apprentice belongs to the master. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 625 Prince George..was serving his apprenticeship in the military art. |
2. transf. or fig.
| 1592 Greene Disput. 22 Such as onely ayme at your faire lookes, tye but their loues to an apprentishippe of beauty. 1638 Baker Balzac's Lett. ii. (1654) 46 On whose banks the Romans have performed the Apprentiships of their rare victories. 1862 Max Müller Chips (1880) I. v. 118 Men who have passed through a regular apprenticeship in Sanskrit grammar. |
3. The period for which an apprentice is bound.
| a 1667 Cowley Liberty Wks. 1710 II. 677 This is but a short Apprenticeship, after which we are made free of a Royal Company. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 47 ¶2 Three months after the expiration of his apprenticeship. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. x. 218 That long apprenticeship of sorrow. |
4. Hence: A period of seven years.
| 1780 Mrs. Delany Corr. Ser. ii. II. 506 Two apprenticeships have past since my dearest Mrs. Dewes celebrated her birth-day here. a 1845 Hood Sniffing a Birthd. i, Three 'prenticeships have past away..Since I was bound to life. |