practised, ppl. a.
(ˈpræktɪst)
[f. practise v. + -ed1.]
1. That has had practice; experienced, expert, skilled, proficient. (See also practise v. 6 b.)
1568 Grafton Chron. II. 507 A companie of warlike and practised souldiours. 1638 Mayne Lucian (1664) 332 Your Art, of which you seem to be so practised a master. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxii. IV. 714 To the practised eyes of the Kentish fishermen she looked much like a French privateer. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. vi. 209 My practised men fastened the sail at the top. |
2. Executed or gone through beforehand in order to acquire proficiency in performance.
1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 97, I haue seene them shiuer and looke pale,..Throttle their practiz'd accent in their feares. 1611 ― Wint. T. i. ii. 116 Making practis'd Smiles As in a Looking-Glasse. |
† 3. Habitually used or frequented; accustomed.
1654–66 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 658 He led us into a less practis'd walk. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 945 To serve thir Lord..with songs to hymne his Throne, And practis'd distances to cringe, not fight. |
† 4. (app.) Plotted against, made the object of conspiracy. Obs. rare—1.
1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. lv. (1612) 245 Throckmorton yeat, more priuie and more practising than those,..Did mischiefes that imported more our practiz'd State disclose. |
Hence ˈpractisedness, the quality or fact of being practised or experienced.
1883 J. Purves in Contemp. Rev. Sept. 352 Honesty he ascribes to practisedness in the world's ways. |