tyro

plural tyros · plural tyroes · alternative tiro

1. A beginner; a novice.First known use 17th c.

   There ſtands a Structure on a riſing Hill, / VVhere Tyro's take their Freedom out to kill.

   1699, [Samuel Garth], “Canto III”, in The Dispensary; a Poem, London: […] John Nutt […], →OCLC, page 31

   5 more examples

   I had propos'd to conclude this Inſtitution vvith a Catalogue (by vvay of Specimen) of both Antient Greek and Roman Medals, for the Eaſe and Benefit of Tyros, and ſuch as are not yet accuſtomed, and ſo ready to Decipher their Inſcriptions after the Method of Monſieur Baudelot [Charles César Baudelot de Dairval], […]

   1697, J[ohn] Evelyn, “Of Mints, and of the Most Skilful Artists, Authors, Collectors and Collections: How to Methodize and Dispose of Medals for the Cabinet and Library, with Some Reflections on the Modern Clipping and Diminution of Coin”, in Numismata. A Discourse of Medals, Antient and Modern. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke […], →OCLC, page 252

   Schools, unleſs diſcipline vvhere doubly ſtrong, / Detain their adoleſcent charge too long. / The management of Tiro's of eighteen / Is difficult, their puniſhment obſcene.

   1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 305

   I ask if in the calm of their measured reveries, if in the deep meditations which fill their hours, they fill the ecstasy of a youthful tyro in the school of pleasure.

   1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 68

   Now there is no doubt nor capability of dispute about such painting as this; it is the work of a mere tyro, and a weak and childish tyro ignorant of the common laws of light and shadow; it is what beginners always do, and always have done, but what, if they have either sense or feeling, they soon cease to do.

   1843, [John Ruskin], “Of the Inferior Mountains”, in Modern Painters […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part II (Of Truth), section IV (Of Truth of Earth), § 22, page 299

   Master of that woodland-cunning enabling the adept to subsist where the tyro would perish, and expert in all those arts by which an enemy is pursued for weeks, perhaps months, without once suspecting it, he kept to the forest.

   1857 April 1, Herman Melville, “Some Account of a Man of Questionable Morality, but Who, Nevertheless, Would Seem Entitled to the Esteem of that Eminent English Moralist who Said He Liked a Good Hater”, in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, New York, N.Y.: Dix, Edwards & Co., […], →OCLC, page 240

   Synonyms: tyrone, abecedarian, alphabetarian, apprentice, amateur, beginner, bun, colt