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a person who works for another in order to learn a trade:
an apprentice to a plumber.
history/historical. a person legally bound through indenture to a master craftsman in order to learn a trade.
a learner; novice; tyro.
u.s. navy. an enlisted person receiving specialized training.
a jockey with less than one year’s experience who has won fewer than 40 races.
to bind to or place with an employer, master craftsman, or the like, for instruction in a trade.
to serve as an apprentice:
he apprenticed for 14 years under a master silversmith.
contemporary examples

moriyama, among the photographers most widely exhibited in the u.s., had apprenticed to both hosoe and tomatsu.
photography that provokes philip gefter october 14, 2009

jessica, a pro-domme in her late twenties, apprenticed at a dungeon before striking out on her own.
kinkonomics tracy quan february 2, 2009

likewise the english immigrant john is 11 when he goes off to be apprenticed.
she who came after tolkien, before rowling john garth august 30, 2013

historical examples

from his boyhood b-ss wanted to be a sailor, but was apprenticed, sorely against his will, to a boston apothecary.
the naval pioneers of australia and walter jeffery louis becke

born at champagne, in lorraine, of poor parents, he was first apprenticed to a pastrycook.
self-help samuel smiles

the schoolroom had not very many charms for him, and at fifteen he was apprenticed to a saddler, with whom he remained two years.
the blue and the gray a. r. white

“you couldn’t be wicked if you was apprenticed to the old harry for ten years, zoeth,” he said.
mary-‘gusta joseph c. lincoln

this was how he came to be apprenticed to hudson, the painter.
pictures every child should know dolores bacon

as soon as i had p-ssed my fourteenth birthday i was apprenticed to madama.
lippincott’s magazine, september, 1885 various

why, ’tis old fezziwig, to whom i was apprenticed—he is alive again!
a christmas carol c. z. barnett

noun
someone who works for a skilled or qualified person in order to learn a trade or profession, esp for a recognized period
any beginner or novice
verb
(transitive) to take, place, or bind as an apprentice
n.

c.1300, from old french aprentiz “someone learning” (13c., modern french apprenti, taking the older form as a plural), also as an adjective, “unskilled, inexperienced,” from aprendre (modern french apprendre) “to learn; to teach,” contracted from latin apprehendere (see apprehend). shortened form prentice long was more usual in english.
v.

1630s, from apprentice (n.). related: apprenticed; apprenticing.