novice
(ˈnɒvɪs)
Forms: α. 4 nouys, 5 novys, novise, Sc. nowis, 6 nouise, nou-, novesse, 7 nouasse. β. 5 nouyce, 4, 6 novyce, 5–7 nouice, 6– novice.
[a. OF. novisse, novice, = Sp. novicio masc., novicia fem., Pg. novi{cced}o, -i{cced}a, It. novizio, -izia, ad. L. novīcius, -īcia, f. novus new: see -itious1.]
1. a. Eccl. One who has entered a religious house, and is under probation or trial, before taking the required vows; a candidate for admission into a religious order; a probationer.
| α 13.. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.) in Herrig Archiv LVII. 278 In þis hous Nouys was I And aftur Monk ȝeres moni. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxx. (Theodora) 411 Þane wes he tane & mad nowis & leryt sa. 1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 20 Why will ye not suffer your novises hear your councels in your chapter house? c 1440 Promp. Parv. 360/1 Nouyce, or novys, novisius. 1571 Satir. Poems Reform. xxviii. 53 Than twa ȝeiris Noueis..Ȝond in Kiluinning my prentischip I past. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. v. xxvii. (1602) 133 The Lady Prioresse Did taunt the Nouasse bitterly. |
| β c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 397 Freris..bynden novycis to unknowen þing. c 1380 Abbey Holy Ghost in Hampole's Wks. (1895) I. 330 Honeste es maystresse of þe nouyce, and teches þam alle curtasye. 1530 Palsgr. 248/2 Novyce a newe relygious persone, nouice. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 156 b, We thinke mete, that all yong Novices..be presently removed from thence. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iv. 19 Can you so steed me, As bring me to the sight of Isabella, A Nouice of this place? 1663 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. iii. 5 Above four thousand Priests, besides a great Number of Novices. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian viii, She was seated among the novices. 1849 James Woodman ii, It was very different from the veil of the nun or even of the novice. 1859 Jephson Brittany xv. 246 He then assumes the dress of the Order, a cassock and bands, and becomes a novice. |
b. A newly converted person.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 35 In them that be nouices, newly conuerted to religyon. 1611 Bible I Tim. iii. 6 Not a nouice, lest being lifted vp with pride, hee fall into the condemnation of the deuill. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. Disc. xvi. 53 Christ's litle ones, that is such as are novices and babes in Christianity. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 188 St. Paul was still a suspected novice. |
2. An inexperienced person; one who is new to the circumstances in which he is placed; a beginner, tyro.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 61 That tyme alle the senate was but as a nouice. 1502 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione i. xxiii. 172 It were expedient that they were instructe as Nouices, begynners to growe in more perfyte vertues. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 47 Such is the Nature of these nouises, that thinke to haue learning without labour, and treasure without trauaile. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 30 Small profit the Novices of these Arts receive by meere Imitation. 1699 Bentley Phal. 94 Every Novice in Geography knows they were Maritime. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 102 Though they came to us under the name of Veterans, [they] proved to be ignorant Novices. 1795 Burke Regic. Peace Wks. VIII. 343 You are but novices in the art of naval resources. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. x. 100 Refraction will deceive a novice on the ice. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 109 As the haschisch-man Prepares a novice to receive his drug. |
3. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
novice life,
novice modesty,
novice time,
novice way;
novice-like adj.| 1530 Palsgr. 248/2 Novyce tyme, nouicerie. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 241 With novice modesty. 1689 Hickeringill Ceremony Monger Concl. iii, No Mortal ever did or can discharge it, but in this Novice way. 1842 Mrs. Clavers Forest Life II. 56 Seymour, novice-like, was amusingly conscious. 1888 Bernard Fr. World to Cloister ii, The cell in which my novice life was to be lived. |
b. Appositive, as
novice lover,
novice thief, etc.; also
novice hand,
novice heart,
novice thought.
| 1605 Sylvester Imposture 338 A novice Thief. 1606 ― Du Bartas ii. iv. Magnificence 836 These novice Lovers at their first arrive Are bashfull both. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 19, I need no information of any Romane Nouice Traueller. 1654 Vilvain Chronography Title-p., To lead the wandring steps of Novice Chronologers in a right cours. 1708 Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin 20 His Artless Novice-hand he lends. 1751 Female Foundling I. 78 But perhaps..my Novice⁓heart may be deceived. 1794 Coleridge Relig. Musings I. 108, I discipline my young and novice thought. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems Ded., Whene'er my novice hand presum'd To wake the chords of grief or glee. 1888 Bernard Fr. World to Cloister ii, The novitiate..had its own special door and enclosure, with its own special novice porter. |
c. In sense ‘of the novices’.
| 1850 Newman Serm. (1881) xii. 239 He acted as novice⁓master to the children of St. Dominic. 1898 Dubl. Rev. Apr. 356 When Clara was made novice-mistress he dedicated a small book to her. |
d. Applied to animals entered in a competitive event which have not previously (or before a specified date) won other than very minor prizes; also a competition restricted to such animals.
| 1903 Forest & Stream 21 Feb. 151 (Cent. Suppl.), Novice dogs was a large class, 28 in all. 1909 Daily Chron. 19 June 7/6 ‘Canterbury Belle’ headed the list in a fine show of novice hacks. 1962 D. Francis Dead Cert iii. 26, I was riding him in novice hurdle races. 1969 [see chase n.1 1 f]. 1975 Country Life 13 Nov. 1281/2 Brown Lad was a novice chaser last year... He is an absolutely top-class horse, and he stays three miles readily. |
Hence
ˈnovicehood, the condition of a novice.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 132, I encouraged and collected every thing of this sort that I had ever had from novicehood to maturity. |