Definition of "rookie"

rookie

/ˈɹʊki/

noun
plural rookies
1. An inexperienced recruit, especially in the police or armed forces.
2. A novice.
3. An athlete either new to the sport or to a team or in his first year of professional competition, especially said of baseball, basketball, hockey and American football players.
4. (Britain) A type of firecracker, used by farmers to scare rooks.
adjective
comparative rookier, superlative rookiest
1. non-professional; amateur
verb
third-person singular simple present rookies, present participle rookying, simple past and past participle rookied
1. (intransitive) To be a rookie; to go through one's inexperienced learning period in a job, team, or organization.
  Quotations
  In 1977 he rookied as a smokejumper with the International Forest Fire Systems, a private firm that contracted smokejumping services to Canada's Northwest Territories.
  2002, Smokejumpers, page 67
  As they go ton the stretch of road that ran between the park and the 5 Freeway, Stu said 'Schoelkopf gave me the kind of lecture I haven't heard since I rookied. […] '
  2009, Jonathan Kellerman, Billy Straight
  He rookied in 1980 and settled in to play right field for the Detroit Tigers from 1983 to 1987 and was critical to the Tigers winning the 1984 World Series against the San Diego Padres.
  2016, Bill Loomis, On This Day in Detroit History, page 89
  Grath and I had joined the Iron Bandits MC the same year; pledged together, rookied together.
  2019, Heather West, Jax: Iron Bandits MC
2. (transitive, chiefly sports) To haze one or more rookies as an initiation ritual.
  Quotations
  Great was my surprise when I found that I had been "rookied" in for a policing-up detail with no chance to "allez."
  1919, Harold C. Bloxham, “Training at La Courtine”, in The History of Battery E, 66th Artillery C. A. C., page 86
  There is none of that 'rookying stuff' but they don't pay any attention to you either, and that is worse.
  1947, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Bulletin, page 40
  I was rookied in women's (ice) hockey mid-winter. I was made to strip nude and walk into McDonald's and order a big Mac.
  2002, Celia Brackenridge, ‎Kari Fasting, Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport
  Last year when I was 'rookied' they had this whole agenda where you had to do a ' shot ' [ of alcohol ] and run around and do this little circuit [ race ] —the idea was to get everyone to puke that night or just get totally hammered ... the majority of the people [rookies] were knocked out [physically unable to continue] by ten o'clock.
  2007, Kevin Young, ‎Philip White, Sport and Gender in Canada, page 313
  As long as a player is a rookie, they are susceptible to being "rookied,” although initiations typically occur at the beginning of the season, or just before.
  2013, Curtis Fogel, Game-Day Gangsters: Crime and Deviance in Canadian Football, page 59

Definition of "rookie"

rookie

noun

adjective

verb

Quotations

Quotations