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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

‡PRENTICE, n., v. Also prentis. [′prɛntɪs, -†is]

I. n. An apprentice (w.Sc. 1741 A. McDonald Galick Vocab. 55; Sc. 1825 Jam.; Abd. 1966). Arch. or dial. in Eng. Also attrib. = unskilled, unpractised, inexpert. Deriv. prenti(ce)ship, apprenticeship; also used fig.Sc. 1707 J. Frazer Second Sight 20:
She behooved to come back and serve out her Prentiship on Earth.Sc. 1708 Edb. Courant (6–9 Aug.):
Run away from William Reid Gardner to my Lord Ross at Melvel Castle . . . Colin Matthie his Prentice, . . . with even hanging down sad Hair.Crm. 1726 Earls Crm. (Fraser 1876) II. 177:
There must be £100 sterling payed down with him as prentice fee.Ayr. 1761 Arch. and Hist. Coll. Ayr & Wgt. V. 86–7:
No stranger Prentice hereafter Shall be admitted thereto Unless he or his Master Lodge his Indenture into the Societys Box.Ayr. 1784 Burns Green Grow the Rashes v.:
Her prentice han' she tried on man, An' then she made the lasses, O.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller vi.:
I . . . was at my prenticeship in Edinburgh.Abd. 1900 C. Murray Hamewith 2:
Hard ahint, wi' the shears an' goose, His wee, pechin' 'prentice trampin'.Arg. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle iii.:
He will amuse you with his conceits of soldiering ancient and modern, a trade he thinks the more of because Heaven made him so unfit to become prentice to it.

Combs.: 1. entered prentice, in Freemasonry: one who has passed his first degree, a term derived from Sc. operative masonry of the 17th c. in reference to an indentured apprentice after his subsequent enrolment in the records of his lodge as beginning his years of service in order to qualify as a journeyman or Fellow-Craft; †2. prentice-foy, a party or entertainment given to celebrate the end of a youth's apprenticeship. See Foy, n., v. and cf. 3. below; †3. prentice-loosing, -lowsing, see Lowse, IV. 5. (1) (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 220); †4. prentice-sey, the test piece set an apprentice as a qualification for becoming a journeyman in his trade. Also fig. See also Sey, n.¹1. Sc. 1720 R. F. Gould Concise Hist Freemasonry (1920) 189:
Compeared John Gillespie, who was entered on the 24th instant, and after examination was duely passt from the Square to the Compass, and from an Entered Prentice to a Fellow of Craft.Sc. 1755 Scots Mag. (March) 134:
Nineteen fellow-crafts and thirteen entered prentices made me a mason.Sc. 1950 B. E. Jones Freemasons' Guide 182:
Peculiarly important are Anderson's uses of Scots terms, which undoubtedly have had a lasting influence on masonic ritual. He took “Entered Apprentice” from the Scots practice of entering each apprentice in the records, the apprentice then being known as an “entered prentice”.2. Knr. 1894 H. Haliburton Furth in Field 17:
There used also to be “prentice foys” in the homes of blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and such-like country craftsmen.4. Crm. a.1714 Earls Crm. (Fraser 1876) II. 468:
This ther prentice sey or first expeditione wes called in the Irish creach vachtin the young mans hership.Abd. 1723 W. Meston Poet. Wks. (1802) 8:
Being first in Eden made, The prentice-sey of taylor trade.

II. v., tr. To apprentice (a youth) to a trade or craft, to indenture or bind as an apprentice (ne.Sc. 1966). Arch. or dial. in Eng.Abd. 1790 Abd. Jnl. N. & Q. III. 283:
Robert Garvock, son of Jas. Garvock, . . . prenticed . . . to Alexander Ferguson.Ags. 1891 Barrie Little Minister vi.:
I was taking my laddie down to be prenticed to a writer there.Fif. 1896 D. S. Meldrum Grey Mantle 204:
Hugh's going to be 'prenticed to Mr Tosh come September.