app ren it ice hood

[Eng. apprentice, and suffix-hood.] Apprenticeship. "Must I not serve a long apprenticehood To foreign pa ages, and in the end, Having my freedom, boast of of nothing nothin else But that I was a journeyman to grief?" Shakesp.: Rich . II ., 1. & [Eng. apprentice, ap-prěn'-tiçe-ship, s. and suffix -ship .] 1. Strictly: The term of years for which one is bound as an apprentice; also the state or condition of an apprentice. The duration of apprenticeships varies in different countries, and has not been uniform in any country. Apprenticeships seem to have been unknown among the old Romans. In England they are incidentally mentioned in an Act of Parliament in 1388, but they were then so common that their origin must be sought at a long prior date. By the "Statute of Apprenticeship," 5 Eliz., c. 4, it was enacted that no person should for the future exercise any trade, craft, or mystery at that time exercised in England, unle he had previously served an apprenticeship to it of at least seven years. The judges of the higher courts of law gave as narrow an interpretation as they could to this repre ive enactment. Adam Smith ( Wealth of Nations , bk. i., ch. x., pt. ii., and bk. iv., ch. ii.) denounced it; and the Act 54 Geo. III., c. 96, swept it away. Optional apprenticeship still flourishes, and is the common method of learning a handicraft. The enforcement of apprenticeship was never carried out to the same extent in Ireland and in Scotland as in England. In the United States apprenticeship followed the English laws and custom. It has almost died out in the larger cities, but still exists in many small towns and villages. From these towns and from immigration the supply of skilled mechanics needed in the large cities is mainly derived 2. Loosely: The time during which one is learning a profe ion, or acquiring skill in anything, even though he may not be formally bound by indentures to a master. "He had never, he said, served an apprenticeship to the military profe ion." - Macaulay: Hist. Eng. ch. vii. ap-prěn-tiç-ing, pr. par. [APPRENTICE, v.]