Category:Profession

Pro*fes"sion, n. Etym: [f., fr. L. professio. See profess, v.]

1. The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal Or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of Faith. A solemn vow, promise, and profession. Bk. of com. Prayer.

2. That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, His professions are insincere. The indians quickly perceive the coincidence or the contradiction Between professions and conduct. J. Morse.

3. That of which one professed knowledge; the occupation, if not Mechanical, agricultural, or the like, to which one devotes one's Self; the business which one professes to understand, and to follow For subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as, the profession of Arms; the profession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the Profession of lecturer on chemistry. Hi tried five or six professions in turn. Macaulay.

Note: the three professions, or learned professions, are, especially, Theology, law, and medicine.

4. The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the Profession distrust him.

5. (eccl. Law.)

Defn: the act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious Order.