▪ I. practising, vbl. n.
(ˈpræktɪsɪŋ)
[f. practise + -ing1.]
The action of the verb practise.
1. Action, performance (esp. habitual); carrying out, execution; exercise of a profession; repeated performance for the sake of becoming proficient, esp. in music.
| c 1430 Freemasonry 229 That no mason schulde worche be nyȝth, But ȝef hyt be yn practesynge of wytte. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 21 That litle leasure which shalbe left you from practising on your patients. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 104 By much practising in hot Countries [he] gets a Skin not much unlike a Red Herring. 1843 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 264 The young lady..took a fit of practising on her..pianoforte. Mod. She must not neglect her practising. |
| Comb. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 10/1 The fields..were the chief practising-grounds for the City archers. |
2. Scheming, plotting; device, conspiracy, intrigue. Now rare.
| 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. ii. 60 b, Abhominable in the practisynges of their wicked hartes. 1558 in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. iv. 5 Rome..from whom nothing is to be feared, but evil will, cursing and practising. 1861 G. G. Perry Hist. Ch. Eng. I. iv. 162 The continued plottings and practisings of the Jesuits were ever a source of political danger. |
▪ II. ˈpractising, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That practises: in senses of the verb.
1. Exercising a profession, esp. medicine or law; engaged in practice.
| 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. i. ii. 16 Most of our practising Parsons and Vicars become suddenly Physitians. 1722 De Foe Plague (Rtldg.) 46 Running after..every practising old Woman, for Medicines. 1772 Junius Lett. lxviii. (1820) 334 The quirk and evasion of a practising lawyer. 1900 Expositor Sept. 236 The practising physicians seem regularly to have been Jews. 1902 Act 2 Edw. VII, c. 17 §10 Every woman..shall before holding herself out as a practising midwife..give notice in writing. |
b. Making a practice of religious duties or observances (esp. in R.C. Ch.). [After F. pratiquant: see practise v. 2 b.]
| 1906 Daily News 18 Sept. 6 A ‘practising’ Catholic bitterly disappointed with the attitude of the Pope. |
2. Plotting, scheming, intriguing. Now rare.
| 1602 [see practised 4]. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 206 A notorious Rebell..(an inward man, and a great practising instrument with Tyrone). |