Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A student or a recent graduate undergoing supervised practical training.
  • noun A physician who has recently graduated from medical school and is learning medical practice in a hospital under supervision, prior to beginning a residency program.
  • noun One who is interned; an internee.
  • intransitive verb To train or serve as an intern.
  • intransitive verb To confine, especially in wartime.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Internal.
  • noun An inmate, as of a school; especially, an assistant resident physician or surgeon in a hospital, usually a student or recent graduate, acting in the absence of the attending physician or surgeon.
  • To send into the interior of a country, as merchandise.
  • To confine within fixed or prescribed limits; specifically, to cause to reside in an interior locality without permission to leave it.
  • Specifically, to confine (a ship of a belligerent) in a neutral port into which it may put: a duty of the neutral power, under the provisions of international law, in time of war.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Internal.
  • transitive verb To put for safe keeping in the interior of a place or country; to confine to one locality.
  • transitive verb To hold until the end of a war, as enemy citizens in a country at the time of outbreak of hostilities; -- an action performed by countries.
  • noun (Med.) A resident physician in a hospital, especially one who has recently received the Doctorate and is practising under supervision of experienced physicians, as a continuation of the training process; a house physician; also called houseman in Britain.
  • noun A person working as an apprentice to gain experience in an occupation; sometimes the position is paid a salary, and other times it is not.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
  • noun A med student or recently graduated medical student working in a hospital as a final part of medical training
  • noun A person who is interned, forceably or voluntarily.
  • verb transitive To imprison somebody, usually without trial.
  • verb transitive, computing To internalize.
  • verb intransitive To work as an intern. Usually with little or no pay or other legal prerogatives of employment, for the purpose of furthering a program of education.
  • adjective archaic Internal.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb work as an intern
  • noun an advanced student or graduate in medicine gaining supervised practical experience (`houseman' is a British term)
  • verb deprive of freedom

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French interne, from Latin internus, internal; see internal.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French interne 'inner, internal', from Latin internus "within, internal", from inter "between"; compare etymology 1

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French interner, from interne ("inner, internal"), from Latin internus ("within, internal"), compare Etymology 2

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Examples

  • Zemzem's other children range in age from 2 to 12, the intern translates as he gently pulls down her gown to cover up her back.

    Hanna Ingber Win: Mothers Of Ethiopia Part I: Zemzem's Journey 2009

  • Mimi Alford was terrified in 1998 when the Monica Lewinsky scandal turned the word "intern" into a dirty joke, exposing an affair with a president.

    The Seattle Times 2012

  • Mimi Alford was terrified in 1998 when the Monica Lewinsky scandal turned the word "intern" into a dirty joke, exposing an affair with a president.

    The Seattle Times 2012

  • Mimi Alford was terrified in 1998 when the Monica Lewinsky scandal turned the word "intern" into a dirty joke, exposing an affair with a president.

    The Seattle Times 2012

  • Mimi Alford was terrified in 1998 when the Monica Lewinsky scandal turned the word "intern" into a dirty joke, exposing an affair with a president.

    The Seattle Times 2012

  • The Harlem-born Mount Vernon raised businessman had humble beginnings, first working as a label intern ...

    Examiner California Headlines 2010

  • The Harlem-born Mount Vernon raised businessman had humble beginnings, first working as a label intern ...

    Examiner California Headlines 2010

  • The Harlem-born Mount Vernon raised businessman had humble beginnings, first working as a label intern ...

    Examiner California Headlines 2010

  • The Harlem-born Mount Vernon raised businessman had humble beginnings, first working as a label intern ...

    Examiner California Headlines 2010

  • The Harlem-born Mount Vernon raised businessman had humble beginnings, first working as a label intern ...

    Examiner California Headlines 2010

Comments

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  • Sister Michael . . . was an "extern." There were six externs at the convent, negotiating with the outside world on behalf of the "interns"—the ones who never left, who spent their days, day after day, until they died, in prayer and contemplation.
    Kate Atkinson, Case Histories (New York: Little Brown & Co., 2004), p. 224.

    May 30, 2016