| 释义 |
professional, a. (n.)|prəʊˈfɛʃənəl|
[f. prec. + -al1. Cf. mod.F. professionnel.]
A. adj.
I.
†1. Pertaining to or marking entrance into a religious order. Obs. rare—1.
c1420St. Etheldred 797 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 300 Hit was hurre professhennalle rynge. [Cf. profession-ring in Profession 9.]
II.
2. Pertaining to, proper to, or connected with a or one's profession or calling.
1747–8Richardson Clarissa (J.), Professional, as well as national, reflections are to be avoided. 1809Malkin Gil Blas ii. iii. ⁋2 He had got into reputation with the public by a certain professional slang. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xiv, I dislike doing anything professional in private parties. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 332 It was in these rustic priests,..who had not the smallest chance of ever attaining high professional honours, that the professional spirit was strongest. 1870Lowell Study Wind. 408 As perfectly professional as the mourning of an undertaker. 1890Cent. Dict. s.v. Education, Special or professional [education]..aims to fit one for the particular vocation or profession in which he is to engage. 1907Scott. Ch. & Univ. Almanac 266 (Aberdeen Univ.) Every candidate for the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and..of Surgery must undergo four professional examinations.
3. Engaged in one of the learned or skilled professions, or in a calling considered socially superior to a trade or handicraft. professional (middle) class, members of the learned and skilled professions regarded collectively. Freq. (with hyphen) attrib.
1793Smeaton Edystone L. §73 Called upon, not only as a professional man, but as a man of veracity. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 381 The College invites all professional men, who had an opportunity of treating the yellow fever, to communicate their observations. 1871M. E. Braddon Zoophyte's Rev. iii, Sometimes there was a party, consisting of professional people..with a sprinkling of the smaller county gentry. 1888Besant 50 Years Ago xix. 262 There has been a great upward movement of the professional class. 1919G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House p. viii, Just as Ibsen's intensely Norwegian plays exactly fitted every middle and professional class suburb in Europe. 1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day 131 The professional-class families. 1965M. Morse Unattached ii. 74 Social class (professional-middle to lower working class). 1979G. St. Aubyn Edward VII i. 29 Gibbs had been brought up as a member of the professional Middle Class.
4. a. That follows an occupation as his (or her) profession, life-work, or means of livelihood, as a professional soldier, musician, or lecturer; spec. applied to one who follows, by way of profession or business, an occupation generally engaged in as a pastime; hence used in contrast with amateur, as professional cricketer. Disparagingly applied to one who ‘makes a trade’ of anything that is properly pursued from higher motives, as a professional politician.
professional beauty, humorously applied to a lady with the implication that she makes it her business to be a beauty, or to be known as such.
1798in Deb. Congress U.S. (1852) 10th Congress 1 Sess., App. 2741 The solemn air and dictatorial manner of a professional schoolmaster. 1805T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (1806) II. 223 Professional and amateur singers. 1836New Sporting Mag. July 198 On this point I heard a remark from one of the professional [cricket] players. 1844Mem. Babylonian P'cess II. 30 Professional dancers and singers are usually engaged upon these festive occasions. 1850‘Bat’ Cricket. Man. 49 The way to ensure good practice is by engaging a professional bowler. 1882H. Spencer Princ. Sociol. v. xii. §520 The growth of a revenue which serves to pay professional soldiers. 1883J. Hawthorne Dust I. 2 More to fear from young bloods..than from professional thieves and blacklegs. 1883W. James Let. 13 Jan. in R. B. Perry Tht. & Char. W. James (1935) I. 611 [S. H.] Hodgson is..a gentleman to his finger tips and a professional philosopher as well. 1887Pall Mall G. 11 Feb. 4/2 Ladies raised..to the now extinct position of ‘professional beauty’. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. I. vii. 90 Professional politicians..conduct what is called a ‘campaign’. a1909Mod. He is a professional agitator. 1946Mind LV. 149 But is this work to bear fruit only in the narrow and specialised fields that professional philosophers inhabit? 1968P. McKellar Experience & Behav. xi. 277 Such a person might..be a professional philosopher who gets on well with other people in parties and other social situations.
b. Of play, sports, etc.: Undertaken or engaged in for money, or as a means of subsistence; engaged in by professionals (as distinct from amateurs).
1851J. Pycroft Cricket Field iv. 56 The chief patronage..was..in London. There the play was nearly all professional: even the gentlemen made a profession of it. 1884Cyclist 13 Feb. 247/2 A rule prohibiting the holding of professional events at amateur athletic meetings.
c. Disparagingly applied to one who pursues relentlessly an activity or belief that is regarded with disfavour; inveterate, habitual, ruthless.
1879Cornh. Mag. Oct. 414 It is one of the misfortunes of the professional Don Juan that his honour forbids him to refuse battle. 1937Time 18 Jan. 75/2 Chekhov was a strong supporter of Zola and the Dreyfusards, Suvorin was a professional anti-Semite. 1978J. Krantz Scruples vi. 167 The ‘extra man’ invited to sit next to her at dinner was either a homosexual or a professional leech who dined out every night by mere virtue of being unmarried and mildly presentable.
d. Reaching a standard or having the quality expected of a professional person or his work; competent in the manner of a professional.
1926C. Connolly Let. 8 May in Romantic Friendship (1975) 124, I think one must be pretty professional to succeed [as a writer]. 1945‘A. Gilbert’ Black Stage iv. 56 ‘This chap's got his head screwed on all right,’ exclaimed Goodier. ‘Looks like the professional touch to me.’ 1969M. Butterworth Vanishing Act xi. 124 The old and tried method of bulk-carrying—by crew members of ships and aircraft who do it on a regular, professional basis, and know all the angles—is safest and best. 1973D. Francis Slay-Ride ix. 100 The cutting edges had been sharpened like razors and the point would have been good as a needle. A professional job: no amateur could have produced that result with a few passes over a carborundum. 1979Daily Mail 31 Jan. 9/6 The average [career] adviser in schools was strictly an amateur... But those responsible for guiding university students into the right jobs were highly professional.
e. Of technical equipment: of a type or standard used by professionals.
1955Brit. Communications & Electronics II. 48/2 Professional recording equipment ranges from the fixed studio equipment, through mobile apparatus, down to portable machines. 1965Wireless World Sept. 460/1 An important thing to check, especially in professional audio amplifiers, is the stability margin. 1971Hi-Fi Sound Feb. 67/2 A professional pickup—a studio or lab component—may well be robust and dependable, but not a candidate for top hi-fi systems, in which tracking weights are at their lowest. 1975G. J. King Audio Handbk. x. 222 Professional machines operating at 38 or 76 cm/s may adopt essentially constant-current recording over the primary bandwidth.
5. That is trained and skilled in the theoretic or scientific parts of a trade or occupation, as distinct from its merely mechanical parts; that raises his trade to the dignity of a learned profession.
1860Tyndall Glac. ii. ix. 271 Having constructed, by a professional engineer, a map of the entire glacier. 1898Westm. Gaz. 18 Jan. 10/2 A witness described himself as a professional gardener... ‘There is a vast difference between professional and ordinary gardeners. I am competent to give a lecture on botany and horticulture.’
†6. = professorial. Obs. rare.
1799Med. Jrnl. I. 418 Etmuller filled a professional chair at Leipsig. 1865Dickens Lett. 16 Aug., The Scotch professional chair left vacant by Aytoun's death.
B. n.
1. One who belongs to one of the learned or skilled professions; a professional man.
1848Dickens Dombey i, The family practitioner opening the room door for that distinguished professional. 1901Westm. Gaz. 19 Mar. 2/2 Some of the speeches of the returned Generals make us glad to think that the ‘professionals’ (as Lord Salisbury says) are not the politicians.
2. a. One who makes a profession or business of any occupation, art, or sport, otherwise usually or often engaged in by amateurs, esp. as a pastime: see the adj., sense 4.
1811Jane Austen Lett. (1884) II. 86 There is to be some very good music—five professionals,..besides amateurs. 1850‘Bat’ Cricket. Man. 63 Averages of Batters—Professionals. 1859Lang Wand. India 318 In nearly all these cases, the witnesses are professionals; that is to say, men who are accustomed to sell their oaths, and who thoroughly understand their business. 1882Boy's Own Paper IV. 807 Our amateurs are improving, and the interval between them and the professionals is growing beautifully less.
b. spec. A prostitute. Cf. profession 6 e.
1861[see amateur 2]. 1973‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xxvii. 121 ‘I'm not a professional,’ she said, too coolly, ‘and he's not precisely my type.’ 1977Listener 17 Feb. 215/1 The girl he offers a client in order to clinch a deal..is already a professional.
3. Univ. slang. Short for professional examination.
In the Scottish Universities, the four necessary examinations for the degree of M.B.C.M. are commonly known as First, Second, and Third Professional, and Final.
1908in Scott. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. XXII. 528 Those who have failed in one or more of the subjects of the Second Professional.
C. Comb., as professional-looking adj.
1936A. Huxley Eyeless in Gaza vi. 64 She [sc. a model ship] was so professional-looking. 1980J. Cartwright Horse of Darius v. 67 Dieter had..prepared a very professional-looking salad. |