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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

This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship.
‘We Will Recover’ Barack Obama February 24, 2009

Historical Examples

He must serve an apprenticeship to one craft and learn that craft all the days of his life if he wishes to excel therein.
From Sea to Sea Rudyard Kipling

At the expiration of his apprenticeship, in 1832, he came to Ohio.
Cleveland Past and Present Maurice Joblin

A trade like that of a ship-carpenter requires years of apprenticeship to make a really good workman.
Peter the Great Jacob Abbott

Of his apprenticeship, and the first years of his career, no records exist.
Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia Various

Novitiate and apprenticeship in any profession, are difficult.
Delsarte System of Oratory Various

He liked the work just as little as he had in the beginning of his apprenticeship.
The Portygee Joseph Crosby Lincoln

During his apprenticeship he sat up two whole nights every week to study; yet he worked harder during the day than any labourer.
Self-Help Samuel Smiles

On the expiry of his apprenticeship he worked for some time as a journeyman plumber.
The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume V. Various

But I suffered from having had no social training or apprenticeship.
Our Philadelphia Elizabeth Robins Pennell

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.

1590s, from apprentice (n.) + -ship. Replaced earlier apprenticehood (late 14c., with -hood).
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.