▪ I. intern, a. and n.
(ɪnˈtɜːn)
Also 6–9 interne.
[a. F. interne (14th c. in Littré) = It. interno, ad. L. intern-us inward, internal, f. in adv. + -ternus suffix, as in ex-ternus, sempi-ternus, etc.]
A. adj. (Now only poet. or arch.)
1. = internal A. 1.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man vii. 90 Euery where this Membran Pleura is two fold..the one interne, the other externe. 1658 R. White tr. Digby's Powd. Symp. (1660) 89 Within a living body, such as is man's, the intern spirits do aid. 1865 L. Gidley Aletes 133 Its stubborn fibres thrill'd with some intern commotion. |
2. = internal A. 2.
| 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iv. i, Your predicaments, substance and accident, Series, extern and intern, with their causes, Efficient, material, formal, final. 1645 Howell Dodona's Gr. 3 The midland towns are most flourishing..which shews that her riches are interne and domestick. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 8 In Architecture 'tis us'd to signifie an intern Support to the Superstructure. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh viii. 548 But innermost Of the inmost, most interior of the interne, God claims his own. |
3. = internal A. 3.
| 1600 Fairfax Tasso ix. xl, The Soldan stroue his rage interne To satisfie with blood of Christians spild. 1645 Howell Dodona's Gr. 70 He being a Spirit ought to be serv'd in spirit, and chiefly with intern worship. 1683 E. Hooker Pref. Pordage's Mystic Div. 78 O the incredibl intern exercitations and extern exertions of the veri visibl form of som Persons! |
B. n. Also interne. ‘An inmate, as of a school; especially, an assistant resident physician or surgeon in a hospital, usually a student or recent graduate, acting in the absence of the attending physician or surgeon.’ (‘A recent use from Fr.’, Cent. Dict.). Now usu., a recent medical graduate who is working under supervision in a hospital (and often living there) as part of his training, prior to entering general practice or becoming a resident. (Broadly equivalent to a houseman in Great Britain.) Also transf., used of individuals in other professions (esp. teaching) who are receiving practical experience under supervision. Chiefly U.S.
Freq. pronounced with stress on first syllable.
| [1699 M. Lister Journey to Paris (ed. 3) 74 Monsieur du Pes Surgeon Interne of the Hôtel-dieu.] 1879 in Webster Suppl. 1889 Kansas City (Missouri) Times & Star 16 Oct., Convalescent women and young nurses are given too much freedom with the internes. 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 385 His brother, Dr. Jules Janet..was interne at the Salpétrière Hospital. 1914 M. Gerry Masks of Love 123 The young interne..had alarmed them. 1938 Amer. Speech XIII. 228/1 Resident ranks over intern by reason of experience, but both are medical school graduates studying in the hospital. 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. i. 41 Physicians, technicians, and internes X-rayed the boy from every possible angle. 1961 J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) xviii. 175 In the morning a helpful young English intern popped in to ask him about his liver. 1963 A. Beales Educ. under Penalty i. ii. 18 In the field of lay education the loss caused by the dissolution was less than formerly supposed, since the monasteries had long ceased, most of them, to teach any but interns. 1967 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 14 Mar. (1970) 497 One intern was giving remedial reading. 1969 Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 1A/3 Representing Springfield teachers are Rita Castleberry, Lee Elementary School instructor; Roy Van Horn, principal at Mt. Vernon Elementary School, and Moore, who is intern teacher supervisor at Lee Elementary School. 1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 31/6 (Advt.), Broderick Crawford..gives young intern Steve Brooks some food for thought. 1972 Nature 4 Feb. 291/2 Doctor of medicine and intern of the hospitals of Lyon, in 1908 Professor Lacassagne entered the Laboratory of Histology to work under the direction of Claudius Regaud. |
Hence inˈternship, interneship, the position or station of an intern; the period of such a position. Chiefly U.S.
| 1904 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 13 Aug. 469/2 From one to two years of what might be called practical apprenticeship is the privilege sought by the earnest [medical] student. To gain this privilege he..delays for the period of his interneship his start in the world and his establishment in his profession. 1924 Scribner's Mag. Feb. 183/1 My father, who had the practice..told me the story in professional confidence... I was at that time just finishing my internship. 1934 A. Woollcott While Rome Burns 46 The fiery young doctor, in the days of his interneship, had already tasted the experience of spending two months in the lockup. 1938 Internships & Residences in N.Y. City, 1934–1937 p. xxvii, An internship is a period of service as a member of the hospital staff while residing in the hospital and receiving a period of formal education subsequent to graduation from medical school. 1948 Training of a Doctor (B.M.A.) xxxii. 127 This prescribed period of compulsory pre-registration house-appointments corresponds to the post known in America as an ‘internship’, and the period is called ‘the intern year’. 1957 Kendall & Selvin in R. K. Merton Student-Physician 155 Nearly every medical student is required to take an internship when he has completed medical school, regardless of his plans for his later career. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 50 (Advt.), The internship plan for the training of elementary school teachers. 1968 New Scientist 14 Nov. 388/2 One suggestion is very similar to the principle of our sandwich systems, under the more anaesthetised name of an ‘internship’. 1971 Black Scholar June 62/1 (Advt.), An individually tailored, accelerated career program which begins with a two-year internship and leads to positions of increasing responsibility in the developing countries. 1971 Nature 1 Oct. 301/1 The money will be used to establish internships in federally funded laboratories for some 420 young unemployed scientists and engineers who hold advanced degrees. |
▪ II. intern, v.
(ɪnˈtɜːn)
Also 7 interne.
[In sense 1, ad. It. internere ‘to enter, goe, or passe in’, internare ‘to enter or pearce into ones minde secretly’ (Florio, 1598); in sense 2, a. F. interne-r (18th c. in Dict. Trévoux); these vbs. from It. interno, F. interne: see prec.; in sense 4, f. the n.]
† 1. intr. To enter or pass in; to become incorporated or united with another being. Obs.
| 1606 L. Bryskett Civ. Life 131 Now wak'd thou art among the heau'nly spirits, Where blessed soules interne within their maker...Seeming to infer that she was now interned or become inward in the contemplation of her maker. |
2. trans. To confine within the limits of a country, district, or place; to oblige to reside within prescribed limits without permission to leave them. Also fig. Hence inˈterned ppl. a.
| 1866 Pall Mall G. 31 Jan. 9 Certain prisoners in a foreign country were described as having been ‘interned’. The word, we venture to think, supplies a want. 1867 Standard 3 June 3/1 All Poles interned in Russia will be allowed to return to their homes. 1874 W. E. Hall Rights Neutrals ii. 83 To disarm troops crossing the neutral frontier and to intern them till the conclusion of peace. 1884 Lowell Wks. (1890) VI. 108 Calderon retains a Spanish accent, and is accordingly interned (if I may Anglicise a French word) in that provincialism which we call nationality. |
3. To send (merchandise, goods, etc.) into the interior of a country. U.S.
4. (Usu. pronounced with stress on first syllable.) intr. To act as an intern. U.S.
| 1933 S. Kingsley Men in White i. i. 24 You interned here? 1969 Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 5D/1 He..interned at Cook County Hospital in Chicago for one year. 1971 ‘D. Shannon’ Murder with Love (1972) v. 83 Harlow interned at the General... He had the makings of a very fine surgeon. |