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career

 - 4 dictionary results

ca⋅reer

[kuh-reer]
–noun
1. an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework: He sought a career as a lawyer.
2. a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking: His career as a soldier ended with the armistice.
3. success in a profession, occupation, etc.
4. a course, esp. a swift one.
5. speed, esp. full speed: The horse stumbled in full career.
6. Archaic. a charge at full speed.
–verb (used without object)
7. to run or move rapidly along; go at full speed.
–adjective
8. having or following a career; professional: a career diplomat.

Origin:
1525–35; < MF carriere < OPr carriera lit., road < LL carrāria (via) vehicular (road), equiv. to L carr(us) wagon (see car 1 ) + -āria, fem. of -ārius -ary


2. vocation, calling, work, lifework, livelihood.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To career
ca·reer   (kə-rîr')   
n.  
    1. A chosen pursuit; a profession or occupation.

    2. The general course or progression of one's working life or one's professional achievements: an officer with a distinguished career; a teacher in the midst of a long career.

  1. A path or course, as of the sun through the heavens.

  2. Speed: "My hasting days fly on with full career" (John Milton).

adj.  Doing what one does as a permanent occupation or lifework: career diplomats; a career criminal.
intr.v.   ca·reered, ca·reer·ing, ca·reers
To move or run at full speed; rush. See Usage Note at careen.

[French carrière, from Old French, racecourse, from Old Provençal carriera, street, from Medieval Latin (via) carrāria, (road) for carts, feminine of carrārius, from Latin carrus, a Gallic type of wagon; see kers- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

career  (n.)
c.1534, "a running course" (especially of the sun, etc., across the sky), from M.Fr. carriere "road, racecourse," from O.Prov. carriera, from V.L. *(via) cararia "carriage (road), track for wheeled vehicles," from L. carrus "chariot" (see car). Sense of "course of a working life" first attested 1803. The verb is first attested in 1594 from the notion of a horse "passing a career" on the jousting field, etc. Careerist is from 1917.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

career

see checkered career.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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