Definitions

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

  • noun Clearance granted to a ship to proceed into port after compliance with health regulations or quarantine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In com., intercourse; the communication between a ship and the port in which she arrives; hence, a license or permission to hold intercourse and trade with the inhabitants of a place, especially after quarantine, or certificate of non-infectiveness.
  • noun Experience; practice.

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

  • noun (Com.) Primarily, liberty of converse; intercourse; hence, a certificate, given after compliance with quarantine regulations, permitting a ship to land passengers and crew; -- a term used particularly in the south of Europe.
  • noun obsolete Practice; habits.

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

  • noun Permission to use a port given to a ship after compliance with a quarantine or on conviction that she is free of contagious disease.
  • noun obsolete practice; habits

Etymologies

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

[French, from Old French practique, from Medieval Latin prāctica, ultimately from Greek prāktikē, from feminine of prāktikos, practical; see practical.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Originated 1600—10 from French pratique from Medieval Latin practica.

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Examples

  • Ordinary preventive measures went no further than the withdrawal of "pratique," as communication with the shore was called, for a period varying usually from ten to sixty-five days, and during this period no gang was allowed to board the ship.

    The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore

  • As the epidemic on board the Kate had been contracted at Nassau, and still prevailed on shore, we were at a loss to understand why we should be refused "pratique"; but it gave our little party no concern, as the town did not present an attractive or inviting appearance from the quarantine ground; nor were our unfavorable impressions removed upon a nearer acquaintance with it two or three months afterwards.

    The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner John Wilkinson

  • The officers pronounced him an incurably audacious "pratique"; he was always in mischief, and the regimental rules he broke through like a terrier through a gauze net; but they knew that when once the trumpets sounded

    Under Two Flags 1839-1908 Ouida 1873

  • Intention de faire quelque chose qui n'est finalement pas mise en pratique.

    velleite - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Cependant, au fil des ans, cette expression a fini par désigner une coutume, pratique ou règle plus souvent bafouée que respectée.

    Archive 2010-03-01 Rene Meertens 2010

  • "L'architecture dominicaine au XIIIe siècle, legislation et pratique," AFP 16 (1946): 136 – 90.

    Sensual Encounters: Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany 2008

  • Plusieurs de ses livres furent écrits au cours des longs séjours en prison auxquels il fut condamné pour avoir mis en pratique ses théories.

    Archive 2010-05-01 Rene Meertens 2010

  • Aux Etats-Unis, une personne qui pratique le droit est appelée lawyer ou attorney.

    Archive 2010-03-01 Rene Meertens 2010

  • Ces compétences ne sont pas apprises en théorie ; elles sont apprises par la pratique.

    apophenia » Blog Archive » Sociality Is Learning 2009

  • Avec leur cordon amovible, je les apprécie également lors de la pratique de mes sports favoris!

    Pro-Consumerist Poet #2 : Kenneth Goldsmith : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007

Comments

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  • "Then there was the question of pratique: after the fifteen covenanted guns had boomed to and fro across Chaves Bay, a man from the captain of the port came out in a handsome galley, and on hearing that the squadron was last from the Slave Coast he looked grave and said that since there had been an outbreak of the plague in Whydah three years ago they would have to perform quarantine before anyone could be allowed on shore."

    --P. O'Brian, The Commodore, 244

    March 18, 2008