noviciate, novitiate
(nəʊˈvɪʃ(ɪ)ət)
Also 7 nouitiat.
[ad. F. noviciat, † novitiat, = Sp. and Pg. noviciado, It. noviziato, or med.L. novitiatus: see novice and -ate1.]
1. The probationary period of a novice before finally taking religious vows.
| 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 90 He sent him to Antwerpe to haue his Nouitiat by the Prouincial there. 1671 Woodhead St. Teresa ii. vii. 50 Let them not admit them to make profession, if in the year of their Noviciate they find not [etc.]. 1757 Burke Abridg. Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 188 None were admitted into this order but after a long and laborious novitiate. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxvi, The aspirants after this holy Order wore during their noviciate the cast-off garments of the knights. 1884 Tennyson Becket v. ii, Breaking already from thy noviciate To plunge into this bitter world again. |
b. transf. and
fig. The state or time of being a novice or beginner in anything; time of initiation, apprenticeship, or probation.
| 1610 Donne Pseudo-martyr 6 But those..God doth ordinarily bring vp in a nouitiate, and Apprentisage of worldly Crosses. a 1716 South Serm. (1727) II. 179 He must have pass'd his Tyrocinium, or Novitiate, in Sinning, before he can come to this. 1723 Swift Corr. Wks. 1841 II. 565, I know no vows so solemn as those of friendship, and therefore a pretty long noviciate of acquaintance should..precede them. 1791 Burke Th. French Aff. Wks. 1842 I. 573 After they have passed the novitiate, those who take any sort of lead are placed in very lucrative offices. 1822–56 De Quincey Confess. (1862) 189 The calamities of my novitiate in London had struck root. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. ii. iv. 319 Fix yourself for the period of your noviciate at one of the great Alpine centres of interest. |
2. A novice in a religious order.
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. xvi. 92 These Colledges..dispatch their ripe Noviciats for England. 1679 M. Prance Add. Narrative 40 The Ecclesiasticks..yearly receive young Students or Novitiates from hence. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 164 ¶7 The Abbess had been informed..of all that had passed between her Noviciate and Father Francis. 1775 Jebb Corr. (1894) 24 A preparatory sermon addressed entirely to the novitiate. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India I. ii. ii. 114 The noviciates to the sacerdotal office are commanded to find their subsistence by begging. 1888 Bernard Fr. World to Cloister ii, Former novitiates..had to make use of the floor as a seat. |
b. A beginner, tyro; one who is new to anything.
| a 1734 North Examen i. ii. §11 (1740) 36 Scarce enough..for a Novitiate as he was to acquire an ordinary Prattique of the cursory part of Business. 1793 J. Williams Calm Exam. 60 Political Novitiates rush into the Chamber of the third Estate. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 178 Such indeed as may frequently induce the desponding noviciate..to lament the hour in which he became a tiller of our untamed soils. 1849 Escape fr. Toil 13/1 The sincere noviciate..setting candidly and resolutely to the work will never give up, nor go back. |
3. The quarters occupied by novices during their period of probation; a noviceship.
| 1626 L. Owen Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 48 Their house of approbation or Nouiciat. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 3 The Novitiate of the Jesuites stands upon a Hill higher than any place of the Town. 1704 Collect. Voy. (Churchill) III. 19/1 The Jesuites have also a Novitiate. 1761 Ann. Reg. i. 172 In the year 1710, there were [in France]..612 jesuits colleges,..59 noviciates. 1826 Southey Vind. Eccl. Angl. 449 When St. Francisco.., as Commissary for the Order in Spain, visited a noviciate. 1888 Bernard Fr. World to Cloister ii, The novitiate was situated on the third floor at the top of the house. |
| transf. 1760–72 tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) I. 223 The deserts of the mountains..were the noviciates, in which we were inured to the severe life we led. |
4. attrib., as
noviciate chapel,
noviciate guide,
noviciate habit, etc.
| 1704 Collect. Voy. (Churchill) III. 6/2 The Founder of our Novitiat-House. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 52 The tomb..is in the novitiate chapel of the convent. 1789 Trifler No. 32. 408 The whole family, in which I passed my noviciate year. 1799 Sheridan Pizarro v. ii, The noviciate habit which you first beheld her in. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 355/2 Persons who apply to enter the noviciate state. 1869 Daily News 6 Feb., The vow of poverty, as explained by the Noviciate Guide. |
b. Appositive, as
noviciate candidate, etc.
| 1775 Sheridan Art of Reading 39 Such..as for a long time to baffle all the efforts of the noviciate tongue. 1788 tr. Swedenborg's Wisd. Angels iv. §341. 311 When they are opened a little, as is the Case when novitiate Devils enter. 1802 Lamb in Athenæum (1888) 4 Aug. 171/3 Now that..Mr. Cooke is no longer a novitiate candidate for public favour. 1885 H. O. Forbes Wandr. Archip. 468 The novitiate gold⁓washer..accompanies the Dato to the river. |
Hence
noˈviciateship.
| a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 77 It was much that in his novitiatship in that house, he durst contradict such mighty ones in so tender a cause. 1835 Lytton Student, New Phædo iii, The habit of thinking, by degrees, cures the faults of its novitiateship. |