practice

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To do or perform habitually or customarily; make a habit of: practices courtesy in social situations.
2. v. To do or perform (something) repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill: practice a dance step.
3. v. To give lessons or repeated instructions to; drill: practiced the students in handwriting.
4. v. To work at, especially as a profession: practice law.
5. v. To carry out in action; observe: practices a religion piously.
6. v. Obsolete To plot (something evil).
7. v. To do or perform something habitually or repeatedly.
8. v. To do something repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill.
9. v. To work at a profession.
10. v. Archaic To intrigue or plot.
11. n. A habitual or customary action or way of doing something: makes a practice of being punctual.
12. n. Repeated performance of an activity in order to learn or perfect a skill: Practice will make you a good musician.
13. n. A session of preparation or performance undertaken to acquire or polish a skill: goes to piano practice weekly; scheduled a soccer practice for Saturday.
14. n. Archaic The skill so learned or perfected.
15. n. The condition of being skilled through repeated exercise: out of practice.
16. n. The act or process of doing something; performance or action: a theory that is difficult to put into practice.
17. n. Exercise of an occupation or profession: the practice of law.
18. n. The business of a professional person: an obstetrician with her own practice.
19. n. A habitual or customary action or act. Often used in the plural: That company engages in questionable business practices. Facial tattooing is a standard practice among certain peoples.
20. n. Law The methods of procedure used in a court of law.
21. n. Archaic The act of tricking or scheming, especially with malicious intent.
22. n. Archaic A trick, scheme, or intrigue.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. See practise.
2. n. Action; exercise; performance; the process of accomplishing or carrying out; performance or execution as opposed to speculation or theory.
3. n. An action; act; proceeding; doing: in the plural, generally in a bad sense.
4. n. Frequent or customary performance; habit; usage; custom.
5. n. The regular pursuit of some employment or business; the exercise of a profession; hence, the business of a practitioner: as, to dispose of one's practice; a physician in lucrative practice.
6. n. Exercise for instruction or discipline; training; drill: as, practice makes perfect.
7. n. The state of being used; customary use; actual application.
8. n. Skill acquired through use; experience; dexterity.
9. n. Artifice; treachery; a plot; a stratagem.
10. n. In arithmetic, a rule for expeditiously solving questions in proportion, or rather for abridging the operation of multiplying quantities expressed in different denominations, as when it is required to find the value of a number of articles at so many pounds, shillings, and pence each.
11. n. The form and manner of conducting legal proceedings, whether at law, or in equity, or in criminal procedure, according to the principles of law and the rules of the court; those legal rules which direct the course of proceeding to bring parties into court, and the course of the court after they are brought in. Bishop. Pleading is generally considered as another branch of the law, because it involves questions of substantive right.
12. n. Hence, in possession of (or lacking) that skill or facility which comes from the continuous exercise of bodily or mental power.
13. n. Synonyms Habit, Usage, etc. See custom.
14. n. Practice, Experience. Practice is sometimes erroneously used for experience, which is a much broader word. Practice is the repetition of an act: as, to become a skilled marksman by practice. Experience is, by derivation, a going clear through, and may mean action, but much oftener views the person as acted upon, taught, disciplined, by what befalls him.

Wiktionary

1. n. Repetition of an activity to improve skill.
2. n. uncountable The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession, particularly in medicine or the fine arts.
3. n. countable A place where a professional service is provided, such as a general practice.
4. n. The observance of religious duties which a church requires of its members.
5. n. A customary action, habit, or behavior; a manner or routine.
6. n. Actual operation or experiment, in contrast to theory.
7. n. law synonym for "practice of law" or the methods and procedures appurtenant thereto, particularly with regard to special actions such as "motion practice", "trail practice", etc. Also with regard to specialties, eg., "family law practice", "media law practice"
8. v. transitive, US To repeat (an activity) as a way of improving one's skill in that activity.
9. v. intransitive, US To repeat an activity in this way.
10. v. transitive, US To perform or observe in a habitual fashion.
11. v. transitive, US To pursue (a career, especially law, fine art or medicine).
12. v. intransitive, archaic, US To conspire.
13. v. alternative spelling of practise.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Frequently repeated or customary action; habitual performance; a succession of acts of a similar kind; usage; habit; custom.
2. n. Customary or constant use; state of being used.
3. n. rare Skill or dexterity acquired by use; expertness.
4. n. Actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed to theory.
5. n. Systematic exercise for instruction or discipline
6. n. Application of science to the wants of men; the exercise of any profession; professional business
7. n. obsolete Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense.
8. n. (Math.) A easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.
9. n. (Law) The form, manner, and order of conducting and carrying on suits and prosecutions through their various stages, according to the principles of law and the rules laid down by the courts.
10. v. To do or perform frequently, customarily, or habitually; to make a practice of.
11. v. To exercise, or follow, as a profession, trade, art, etc., .
12. v. To exercise one's self in, for instruction or improvement, or to acquire discipline or dexterity
13. v. To put into practice; to carry out; to act upon; to commit; to execute; to do.
14. v. obsolete To make use of; to employ.
15. v. To teach or accustom by practice; to train.
16. v. To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit, or amusement
17. v. To learn by practice; to form a habit.
18. v. To try artifices or stratagems.
19. v. To apply theoretical science or knowledge, esp. by way of experiment; to exercise or pursue an employment or profession, esp. that of medicine or of law.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a customary way of operation or behavior
2. n. the exercise of a profession
3. v. avail oneself to
4. n. translating an idea into action
5. v. learn by repetition
6. v. engage in a rehearsal (of)
7. n. systematic training by multiple repetitions
8. v. carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions
9. n. knowledge of how something is usually done
10. v. engage in or perform