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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.

Of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming to the rules or standards of a profession; following a profession; as, professional knowledge; professional conduct. "Pride, not personal, but professional." Macaulay. "A professional sneerer." De Quincey.

The following of a profession, sport, etc., as an occupation; - - opposed to Ant: amateurism.

professional person. [R.]

In a professional manner or capacity; by profession or calling; in the exercise of one's profession; one employed professionally.

Foreign to a profession; not within the ordinary limits of professional duty or business.

Not belonging to a profession; not done by, or proceeding from, professional men; contrary to professional usage.

The computing official of an insurance company; one whose profession it is to calculate for insurance companies the risks and premiums for life, fire, and other insurances.

ions: by acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions. Perhaps, also, he felt his professional acuteness interested in bringing it to a successful close. Sir W. Scott.

One who adheres; one who adheres; one who follows a leader, party, or profession; a follower, or partisan; a believer in a particular faith or church.

one; matter; concern; as, a difficult affair to manage; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public; -- often in the plural. "At the head of affairs." Junius. "A talent for affairs." Prescott.

; esp. one who cultivates any study or art, from taste or attachment, without pursuing it professionally.

One who, after having received sacred orders, renounces his clerical profession.

The legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot. Halliwell. Bred to arms, educated to the profession of a soldier. -- In arms, armed for war; in a state of hostility. -- Small arms, portable firearms known as muskets, rifles, carbines, pistols, etc. -- A stand of arms, a complete set for one soldier, as a musket, bayo…

a vast multitude; a host. An army of good words. Shak. Standing army, a permanent army of professional soldiers, as distinguished from militia or volunteers.

. Every candid critic would be ashamed to cast wholesale aspersions on the entire body of professional teachers. Grote. Who would by base aspersions blot thy virtue. Dryden.

To go or stay with, as a companion, nurse, or servant; to visit professionally, as a physician; to accompany or follow in order to do service; to escort; to wait on; to serve. The fifth had charge sick persons to attend. Spenser. Attends the emperor in his royal court. Shak. With a sore heart and a gloomy brow, he prep…

The office or profession of an attorney; agency for another. Shak.

Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation. There are professions, among the men, no more favorable to these studies than the common avocations of women. Richardson. In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations. Macaulay. An ir…

to turn back from; to abandon; to betray; as, to go back on a friend; to go back on one's professions. [Colloq.]