The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Public School Word-Book, by John S. Farmer

THE

PUBLIC SCHOOL WORD-BOOK

A CONTRIBUTION TO

A HISTORICAL GLOSSARY OF WORDS PHRASES

AND TURNS OF EXPRESSION OBSOLETE

AND IN PRESENT USE

PECULIAR TO

OUR GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

TOGETHER WITH SOME THAT HAVE BEEN OR

ARE MODISH AT THE UNIVERSITIES

JOHN S. FARMER

EDITOR OF “AMERICANISMS—OLD AND NEW,” “REGIMENTAL RECORDS

OF THE BRITISH ARMY,” AND (WITH W. E. HENLEY)

“SLANG AND ITS ANALOGUES,” ETC.

LONDON

PRIVATELY ISSUED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

BY HIRSCHFELD BROTHERS

13 FURNIVAL STREET, E.C.

MCM

It has been a matter of note and, maybe, of surprise that no attempt has hitherto been made to gather in one volume the numerous Words, Phrases, and Turns of Expression peculiar to Our Great Public Schools. Bare lists of a dozen or more examples may be found in certain (mostly out-of-date) Records and Histories; but taking the Schools individually, only in one instance—Winchester—has there been anything but the most perfunctory attention given to the subject; and in no case has the question received that analytical, scientific treatment—historically and comparatively—which has proved so invaluable in the “Oxford Dictionary” and in “Slang and its Analogues.”

It would, however, seem almost necessary to emphasise the fact that this Word-Book is not, per se, a dictionary of school slang. On the contrary, it is far more than that. For, though such colloquialisms as are peculiar to Public School life are naturally and rightly included, yet by far the larger number of the examples here set down do not, by any accepted method of classification, fall within that category. I am led to make this clear at the outset by reason of a somewhat curious, but altogether erroneous idea that the present book was to be a mere reprint of extracts from the larger work on which, for many years, I have been engaged. That is not so.

Nor, moreover, do these words and phrases appear, save in very few instances, in any other work—not even in so admirably complete a dictionary, in other respects, as “The Century,” while the monumental Oxford undertaking will not be available, as a complete authority, for many years to come.

Having thus stated what this work is not, it seems borne on me to explain, anew, what it is, or rather, what has been my method. Briefly put, my idea has been to collect such words, phrases, names, and allusions to customs as now are, or have been, peculiar to English Public School life, and to apply to their definition and elucidation what is known as the “historical” method, illustrating such examples as lent themselves to it by quotations from old and present-day writers.

The Public Schools with which I have been concerned, arranged chronologically in order of foundation or charter, are as follows:—

How far I have been successful in my task I leave others to judge. I must confess, however, that the extent and wealth of this special field of inquiry has somewhat astonished me: yet I fear my lists are, in some cases, still incomplete. But, even so, this contribution towards a more perfect glossary will, I think, be a revelation to many.

No wonder our Mother-tongue is so vigorous, adaptable, and expansive—reaching out in its creative energy to all the forms and necessities of modern life—when even Young England shows such aptitude in coining new expressions, and adapting older forms to its ever-changing (and, shall I say, ever-increasing) needs. Studied comparatively, there will be found much significance, not alone in the survivals from past generations, but also in the relatively newer phraseology. Many an interesting side-light, too, is thrown on ancient school customs and usages.

Though primarily addressing myself to past schoolmen, it is not without a hope that the general student and scholar, as well as those still in statu pupillari, will find something of use and to interest.

Finally, I desire, though holding myself alone responsible for aught that is solecismal in these pages, to acknowledge my indebtedness to those who have afforded me such unstinted aid in compiling this work. Especially are my thanks due to Mr. P. K. Tollit (Derby); Mr. W. Durnford (Eton); Mr. R. D. Hodgson (Manchester Grammar); Mr. C. A. Ross (Royal High School, Edin.); Rev. A. E. Hillard (Durham); Mr. W. B. Wildman (Sherborne); Rev. J. F. Cornish (Christ’s Hospital); Rev. E. W. Badger (King Edward’s, Birm.); Mr. C. H. Crofts (Tonbridge); Rev. E. Gepp (Felsted); Mr. G. Townsend Warner (Harrow); the Rev. Fathers Gerard and Browne and Rev. A. Goodier (Stonyhurst); Dr. H. H. Almond (Loretto); Mr. J. F. L. Hardy (Marlborough); Mr. J. C. Isard (The Leys).

While the “Public School Word-Book” was passing through the press a certain amount of additional matter came to hand. Rather than omit altogether I have included it in an Appendix.

May I also say that I shall welcome any suggestions, additions, or corrections that may be forwarded to me?

Communications may be addressed to John S. Farmer, c/o Messrs. Hirschfeld Bros., 13 Furnival Street, London, E.C.

THE

PUBLIC SCHOOL WORD-BOOK

A, To get one’s “a,” verb. phr. (Harrow).—To pass a certain standard in the Gymnasium: the next step being to the Gymnasium Eight. See Appendix.

Abber, subs. (Harrow).—1. An abstract: on history, &c.; set as a punishment.

Abroad, adv. (Winchester).—Convalescent; out of the sick-room: e.g. “I have been (or come) ABROAD a week.” Cf. Continent.

1534. Udall, Roister Doister, ... I bid him keepe warme at home, For if he come ABROADE, he shall cough me a mome.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. I am glad to see your Lordship ABROAD. I heard say your Lordship was sicke. I hope your Lordship goes ABROAD by aduice.

1761. Letter [Wrench]. I have been exceeding ill ... am not just got ABROAD again.

Abs, adj. (Winchester).—Absent: placed against the name when away from school. [From absunt on Rolls.]

Verb. To take (get, or go) away. Formerly (circa 1840) to ABS a tolly (candle) = to put it out; it now = to take it away whether lighted or unlighted, the modern NOTION (q.v.) for putting it out being to “dump” it. As a neuter verb ABS is generally used in the imperative: e.g. “ABS!” “Oh, do ABS!” Sometimes, however, a fellow is said TO ABS quickly, and MESS THINGS (q.v.) are ABSED, or put away. To HAVE ONE’S WIND ABSED = to have it taken away by a violent blow in the stomach.

Absence, subs. (Eton).—Names-calling. [This takes place at 3 and 6 P.M. on half-holidays; at 11.30, 3, and 6 P.M. on whole-holidays; at 6 P.M. only in summer half.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 174. And the elevens were made up, as they best might, out of such adventurous spirits as dared to “skip” roll-calls and ABSENCE for the purpose. Eton, when the losers, attributed the fact to the want of their best men in consequence of these difficulties.

1886. Dickens’s Dictionary of the University of Cambridge, p. 3. Every undergraduate wishing to leave Cambridge for a whole day, not including a night, must obtain an ABSIT from his tutor. Permission to go away for a longer period, either at the end of the term or in the middle, is called an “exeat,” and no undergraduate should go down without obtaining his “exeat.”

Academy, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An exhibition given at the end of every quarter: the first by Rhetoric (q.v.), the second by Poetry (q.v.), the third by Syntax (q.v.), the last, called the Great Academies, by all three combined. This last is the crowning act of the school year, being attended by many visitors, and is followed by the annual distribution of prizes. Hence Academy Room = the large hall in which the chief exhibitions, displays, concerts, plays, &c., are held. [The name may have come from the school at Liège, which was known as the “Academy”; but more probably it is of much older date, being derived from the “Academiæ” of the Ratio Studiorum Societatis Jesu.]

Ack (or Ick), intj. (Christ’s Hospital).—No! nothing. Ex. “Lend me your book.” “Ack!” Obsolete.

Action, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.: obsolete).—A game in which a number of boys start from one end of the cloisters and run to the other, trying to avoid being captured en route by others who seek to intercept them. The game was also called Fox and dowdy. These were names in use twenty-five years ago. To-day the same game is called Bacca, because the prisoners must be held long enough for the captor to say, “one, two, three, caught, tobacco!”

Ad lib., subs. phr. (Stonyhurst).—The time when boys are not bound to study in the Study-place (q.v.).

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 116. The punishments for speaking English in hall or school, which have been before alluded to, were strictly enforced in his [Dr. Busby’s] days in the way of fines, called ADMONISHING-MONEY, which figure occasionally in his [Lynn’s] account. The custom was for the second boy of the second election to act as a sort of monitor for this purpose, and to deliver to any boy who so offended a “mark” or tally, with the words, Tu es custos; this mark he had to pass in turn to the first whom he could detect in a similar slip, and the boy with whom the mark remained when hall broke up incurred a fine. Charles Dryden, son of the poet, thought himself so hardly used by being made custos three days running (by some unfairness, as he conceived), that the father wrote a strong letter on the subject to his old master, Busby, and was very nearly removing the boy from school.

Ad portas, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A Latin speech delivered by the Senior College Prefect to the Warden of New College and the Posers (q.v.) under Middle gate at the commencement of Election week.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 61. When the Warden of New College, Oxford, with two of his Fellows, called the “posers” (or at one time “supervisors”), arrive at the college, ... they are received with a Latin oration Ad Portas by the senior scholar. Two other speeches are delivered in school just before their arrival: 1. Elizabethæ et Jacobi Laudes (commonly known as “Elizabeth and Jacob”), by the Prefect of School; 2. Fundatoris Laudes, formerly assigned to the senior “Founder’s kin” scholar, but now spoken by the third prefect.

Adsum, intj. (Charterhouse).—The response made in answer to names-calling.

1855. Thackeray, The Newcomes, p. 774. At the usual evening hour the chapel bell began to toll, and Thomas Newcome’s hands outside the bed feebly beat time. And just as the last bell struck a peculiar sweet smile shone over his face, and he lifted up his head a little and quickly said ADSUM, and fell back. It was the word we used at school when names were called; and lo, he whose heart was as that of a little child had answered to his name, and stood in the presence of the Master.

1900. Daily Telegraph, 23rd March, 8. 7. As in the old days of Colonel Newcome, “ADSUM,” or “Always ready,” is still the watch-word of the Charterhouse, whose authorities have issued a neatly-printed list of Old Carthusians serving in South Africa, in a cover of the school colours.

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, p. 97. Adsum is the name of a new institution.... There was no occasion for it when the school was in London, and none could pass beyond the school precincts. Colonel Newcome must have answered ADSUM at prayers only.

Ægrotat (or Æger), subs. (University).—(1) A medical certificate excusing attendance. (2) The degree taken by those so excused. Reading Ægrotat = leave taken (generally in December) to read for one’s degree. [Lat. ægrotare.]

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. They [at Cambridge] sported an ÆGROTAT, and they sported a new coat!

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. “That there’s the ‘All, sir, that is,—where you dines, sir, leastways when you ain’t ‘Æger,’ or elseweer.” Ibid., viii.—“Not very well, Robert, thank you. I—my head aches, and I’m afraid I shall not be able to get up for chapel.”... “If you’ll leave it to me, sir, I’ll make it all right for you, I will. Of course you’d like to take out an ÆGER, sir; and I can bring you your Commons just the same.”

1864. Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, 37. I sent my servant to the apothecary for a thing called an ÆGROTAT, which I understood ... meant a certificate that I was indisposed.

1870. Chambers’s Journal, June 18, p. 395. Dick laughed. “I’ll get the receipt from him. I often want a good thing for an ÆGER.”

1888. H. Smart, in Temple Bar, February, p. 213. “Instead of applying for leave to my tutor, I had resorted to the old device of pricking ÆGER.”

1890. Felstedian, Feb., p. 2. What’s up ... with Smith? He went ÆGER before school this afternoon. I expect he’s rather bad; he is not the fellow to go ÆGER for nothing. I do hate that ÆGER-room.

Afternoon-tea, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—Detention after 3 o’clock.

-agger, inseparable suffix (Charterhouse).—As in Combinaggers, a combination suit of pyjamas.

Alderman, subs. (Felsted: obsolete).—A qualified swimmer. [From “The Alders,” a deep pool in the river Chelmer.]

1893. Felstedian, June, p. 79. Years ago there existed at Felsted a class of beings known as “Swimming ALDERMEN.” What they were, and whence they came, I know not; perhaps some Old Felstedian will be able to enlighten me on the point. Perhaps the name was given to those who could swim so many times from the “Alders” to “Duck-pond”; or, perhaps, the name was derived from the aldermanic proportions of the swimmer. Ibid. (1895, Ap., p. 44). A fourth term, “ALDERMAN,” was not in the list. It has certainly “been dead lengthy” but was once prized by its possessors, who had to swim so many times from the “Duck Pond” to “The Alders” before they could gain the title. Ten lengths of the new bath would afford a fair test, and ALDERMEN might have some privilege or other. Its revival would be a good thing, for there has of late been a tendency to prefer diving to swimming.

Allows, subs. (Harrow).—The weekly allowance of 2s., from which breakages, &c., are stopped.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, ii. 2. A white tie and a pair of very small bands—the two articles which, with the usual academicals, form the costume demanded by ALMA MATER of all her children when they take their places in her schools.

1874. The Blue, Aug., Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital. In fact, the musical arrangements of our ALMA MATER were something exceedingly below par.

Along. All Along, subs. phr. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A kind of dribbling football practice: indulged in during a short spell of recreation.

Amen-chapel, subs. (Winchester).—A long service performed on the four days set apart for commemorating the Founder, and on the anniversary of his death.

1803. Gradus ad Cantab. The APOSTLES are the clodhoppers of literature, who have at last scrambled through the Senate House without being plucked, and have obtained the title of B.A. by a miracle. The last twelve names on the list of Bachelor of Arts are thus designated. [The term is now (1900) applied to the last twelve in the Mathematical Tripos (q.v.)]

Appii (The), subs. (Durham: obsolete).—The Three Tuns, a celebrated Durham inn. [From a misunderstanding of Acts xxviii. 15.]

Apple-pie Day, subs. (Winchester).—The day on which Six-and-Six (q.v.) is played—the Thursday after the first Tuesday in December. [Because hot apple-pies were served on GOMERS (q.v.) in College for dinner.]

Aquatics, subs. (Eton).—Where boys “in the boats” play cricket; also the Wet-bob cricket team.

Armoury, The (Harrow).—The room under the Old Schools where rifles, belonging to the Rifle Corps, are kept.

Arrow, subs. (Harrow).—A challenge arrow, of silver: given to the Cock-house (q.v.) at shooting.

Ascensio Scholarum, subs. phr. (Stonyhurst).—The opening ceremony of the school year. The whole house assembles in the Study-place (q.v.), and the Prefect of Studies reads out the new forms, prefixing the formula “Maneant in” or “Ascendant in” as the case may be. The day is known as “Ascension Day.”

1843. Stonyhurst Mag., Nov. 1883, p. 232. The Ascensio Scholarum was managed quite otherwise then than now [1843-83].... Ascension Day.—The opening day of schools. Mass of the Holy Ghost is said in the church, after breakfast. The different schools, headed by their masters, then return to the schoolrooms which they occupied the preceding scholastic year. Presently the large bell tolls, and then the Prefect of Studies opens the door of Poetry (q.v.), and announces that “Rhetoric (q.v.) is empty.” The Poets (q.v.) leave their room and ascend to Rhetoric, and forthwith become Rhetoricians, with all their privileges. Then the (late) Poet’s doorkeeper knocks at Syntax’ (q.v.) door and sings out that “Poetry is empty”; and so on through the different schools. The little fellows newly arrived have to wait in the gallery until “Little Figures” (q.v.) is vacant, when they become Little Figuricians, “Little Figures,” it will be observed, being what we [1883] call “Elements” (q.v.).

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 349. In this room [Over-School] it was that, in the latter half of the last century, the punishment of ASH-PLANTING used to take place. It was inflicted by order and in the presence of a judicial committee of the præposters (Sixth Form) for some few grave offences against the recognised internal discipline of the school, e.g. personal assault upon one of their body by a mutinous fag—an offence which would still be severely punished by the masters, if not by the Sixth themselves. Three ash-saplings were used; in theory, at least, the two first were to be broken upon the person of the culprit. The punishment was severe—perhaps unjustifiably so; but it had the character of being only inflicted in extreme cases, and with strict justice, and was not regarded as a cruelty in the school.

1865. Etoniana, p. 162. No boy is now allowed to go into a boat until he has passed an examination in swimming before a committee of masters at ATHENS or at Cuckoo Weir.

Audit-ale (or Audit), subs. (Cambridge).—A special brew of ale, peculiar to Trinity College. [First-made draught on AUDIT days.]

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, “Lay of St. Dunstan.” The “Trinity AUDIT ALE” is not come-at-able, as I’ve found to my great grief when dining at that table.

1876. Trevelyan, Life of Macaulay (1884), ch. iv. p. 127. A glass of the AUDIT ALE, which reminded him that he was still a Fellow of Trinity.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 55. A lot of Freshmen got together after Hall (it was a Saints’ day, and they’d been drinking AUDIT) and went and made hay in Marling’s rooms.

Aul. præ, subs. (Winchester).—Prefect of Hall. [Abbreviation of Præfectus Aulæ.]

B, subs. (Harrow).—A standard in Gymnasium the next below the A (q.v.). See Appendix.

1865. Etoniana, 27. On Shrove-Tuesday verses were written [c. 1561] in honour or dispraise of Bacchus—“because poets were considered the clients of Bacchus”—and those composed by the senior boys were fixed on the inside of the folding-doors of the hall, as was the old fashion in all schools and colleges. This custom was continued almost into modern days, and though the subject was changed, the copy of verses was still called “a BACCHUS.” When Pepys paid a visit to the school in 1665, he found the subject given out for that year was the one topic of absorbing interest—the Plague.

Back. To BACK UP, verb (Winchester).—To call out: e.g. “Why didn’t you BACK UP? I should have come.” [In College various times are BACKED-UP by Junior in Chambers, such as “Three quarters!” “Hour!” “Bells go single!” “Bells down!”]

Back Alley (The Leys: obsolete).—A passage dividing “Upper” and “Lower” Quadrangle: now done away with.

Backings-up, subs. (Winchester).—Half-burned fagot-ends. [Backing (prov. in Linc., Leices., and North country) = slack; small-coal; turf.]

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 23. I’m in training now for the Lent races, and have to be out for a walk in the BACKS before breakfast every morning.

Badger, subs. (Wellington).—A member of the Second XV. at football. [A “badge” is bestowed when permission is given to play in this team.]

Bags (or Bags I), intj. (common).—Used to assert a claim to some article or privilege. Analogous school slang is FAINS or FAIN IT (q.v.) for demanding a truce during the progress of a game, and which is always granted by the opposing party. In other schools pike I or PRIOR PIKE serve to lay claim to anything, or for asserting priority. Also BAR: e.g. “He wanted me to do so and so, but I BARRED not.” Cf. Fain.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 363. On the Dunchurch Road there was a stile long known as BAGS’ STILE; here a certain set of boys, of whom Lyttelton was one [c. 1793], used to sit and “chaff” the passing “bagsmen”—for the commercial travellers to Rugby then rode with actual saddle-bags; and this practice led to terrible fights occasionally with the aggrieved riders.

Bake, verb (Winchester).—To rest; to sit or lie at ease. Hence BAKER (q.v.); BAKESTER (obsolete) = a sluggard; BAKING-LEAVE (q.v.); BAKING-PLACE (q.v.); BAKER-LAYER (q.v.). [North. Dial. beak = to bask in the heat. Jamieson, beik, beke, beek = to bask.]

1648. Symmons, Vindication of Chas. I. Wherefore if that Pope of Rome when he lay BEAKING himself in the midst of his luxuries, had cause to cry out, Heu quantum patimur pro Christo.

Baker, subs. (Winchester).—A cushion; also anything used to sit or kneel upon, as a blotting-book, &c. [Bakers were of two kinds: that used in “College” was of large size, oblong in shape, and green in colour. The other, used in “Commoners,” was thin, narrow, much smaller, and of red colour.] Hence BAKER-LAYER (obsolete) = a Junior who used to take a Prefect’s green BAKER in and out of Hall at meal-times.

Baking-leave, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—1. Permission to BAKE (q.v.) in a study in Commoners, or in a Scob (q.v.) place in College. 2. Leave to sit in another’s Toys (q.v.).

Baking-place, subs. (Winchester).—Any place in which to BAKE (q.v.), or in connection with which BAKING-LEAVE (q.v.) was given.

Balbus, subs. (University).—A Latin prose composition. [From the frequency with which Balbus is quoted in Arnold’s well-known text-book, Latin Prose Composition.]

Ball. Call the ball! phr. (Stonyhurst).—The “Foul!” of Association Football.

Balls, subs. (Winchester).—A Junior in College collects footballs from the lockers in school and takes them through at 6 o’clock to the Ball-keeper in Commoners to be blown or repaired. The Ball-keeper is an Inferior who, for service in looking after cricket and foot-balls, is exempted from KICKING-IN (q.v.) and WATCHING-OUT (q.v.).

Bally, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—Ball court, the old name for the Fives’ courts; there was a game, evidently like fives, played at Sherborne against the north transept of the church as early as 1585. The word has long ago passed out of use.

Banco, subs. (Charterhouse).—Evening preparation at House under the superintendence of a monitor; the Winchester Toy-time (q.v.).

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, 81. At old Charterhouse monitors had unlimited powers.... They were seldom interfered with by any master; for instance, the visit of a house master to BANCO was intensely resented. There was a “boule” in the Sixth Form of 1872, as to what a monitor should do who was thus insulted. Should he at once put his cap on, and take no notice of the master? or would it be more dignified to walk straight out of the room? Ibid., 84. The chief duties of a monitor now are to keep BANCO, and to see that order is preserved in the cubicles, and in his house generally. Banco is the time from 7.30 to 8.55 every week-day evening except Saturday, and from 8.15 to 8.55 on Sundays, when the Under School sit in Long Room and prepare their work for the next day. The keeping of BANCO is a fine exercise in discipline for the monitor, and a very convenient arrangement for the house master. It is a tradition that a monitor helps every Under School boy with his work during BANCO if he can. Ibid., 95. The term BANCO was suggested by H. W. Phillott, afterwards Canon of Hereford ... in 1832, or a little later.

Bandy, subs. (Stonyhurst: nearly obsolete).—The Stonyhurst form of Hockey: prominent in the Tichborne trial, when the Claimant at first thought it a nickname, and afterwards a part of the College buildings.

1823. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Bandy-ball. A Yorkshire game, played with a crooked bat and a ball. It is the same as the Scottish game of golf. See Stowe’s Survey, ed. 1720, i. 251.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Bandy. A game played with sticks called BANDIES, bent and round at one end, and a small wooden ball, which each party endeavours to drive to opposite fixed points. Northbrooke, in 1577, mentions it as a favourite game in Devonshire. It is sometimes called BANDY-BALL, and an early drawing of the game is copied in Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, p. 102.

Bangy (or Bangay), subs. (Winchester).—Brown sugar. Also as adj. = brown. Hence BANGAY BAGS (or BANGIES) = brown-coloured trousers. Wrench says the strong objection to these in former times probably arose from Tony Lumpkin coming to school in corduroys. [Suggested derivations are: (1) from Bangalore, a coarse-sugar growing country; (2) bhang = hemp; (3) banjy (Essex) = dull, gloomy.] A brown gate formerly leading from Grass Court into Sick House Meads was known as the Bangy Gate. The term is now often applied to the gate by Racquet Court into Kingsgate Street.

Bar. To bar out, verb. phr. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—To lock or barricade the doors to exclude the masters. This custom has been practically extinct since the day that Bailie John Macmorrane was shot by a pupil, William Sinclair, son of the Chancellor of Caithness, while endeavouring to get the door battered down (Sept. 15, 1595).

Barbar, subs. (Durham).—A candidate for scholarship from another school. [That is, “barbarian” = foreigner.]

Barber, subs. (Winchester).—A thick fagot or bough; one was included in each bundle. Also any large piece of wood.

Verb (University).—To work off impositions by deputy. [Tradition relates that a learned barber was at one time frequently employed as a scapegoat in working off this species of punishment inflicted on peccant students.] Also TO BARBERISE.

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, xii. As for impositions, why ... ’Aint there coves to BARBERISE ’em for you?

Barge, subs. (Sherborne).—Small cricket: played, with a stump for bat, against a wall.

Barn, The (Charterhouse).—A temporary wooden building, constructed in 1876 to meet deficiencies in class-room accommodation. It stood on the site now occupied by the Museum. It disappeared in 1884.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 367. Dr. James found there [Rugby in 1777] 52 boys; in five years he had raised them to 165. The one large schoolroom was no longer sufficient ... a new building was added.... Even the new schools overflowed, for the members rose in time to near 300; and the head-master was obliged to migrate into a barn adjoining the Dunchurch Road.... There for more than twenty years successive head-masters taught the two senior forms.... Connecting these buildings with the three schools adjoining the old manor-house was a line of cow-sheds, which served as a shelter in rainy weather.... Such was the Rugby of 1809; for it was not till long afterwards that barn and cow-sheds disappeared, though the present school buildings were begun in that year.

Barracks, subs. (Loretto).—A Form occasionally interpolated between Nippers (q.v.) and Fourth. [In the Sixties a master at Loretto was known as the Captain, and when the first overflow from the school-house took place, the house in which a few boys slept, and over which he was master, was called the Garrison. The adjoining house was afterwards occupied and was called the BARRACKS. Whence the interpolated Form, which for a time had for its schoolroom a room at that house, getting the name of the Barracks Form. The name clung to it when moved to one of the regular schoolrooms.]

Barter, subs. (Winchester).—A half volley at cricket. Also as verb. [From Warden Barter, who was famous in the cricket-field for dealing with such balls.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 65. None showed more enthusiastic interest in these [Public School Cricket] matches than the late excellent Warden, Robert Speckott Barter.... He seldom missed a match at Lord’s from the time he played in the school eleven himself. He was a tremendous hitter in his day; and the remarkable punishment which he dealt out to the ball, when he was lucky enough to catch it on the “half-volley,” has given to a long hit of this character at Winchester (and even elsewhere) the name of a BARTER.

Basinite, subs. (Charterhouse: obsolete).—A hot-water fag: he had to get hot water and towels ready for a monitor when he descended to wash in COCKS (q.v.).

Bat-mugger, subs. (Winchester).—A wooden instrument used in oiling cricket-bats.

Battal, subs. (Harrow and Charterhouse).—Battalion drill for the Rifle Corps: usually (at Harrow) in the evening. [The second is the syllable accentuated.]

Battlings (or Battels), subs. (general).—An allowance, in money or kind; apparently originally intended to supplement the meagre fare of fast-days. Cf. quots. Hence TO BATTEL = to take provisions from the buttery.

1607. Wentworth Smith, Puritan [Malone, Suppl., ii. 543]. Eat my commons with a good stomach, and BATTLED with discretion.

1611. Cotgrave, Dict.... To BATTLE (as scholars do in Oxford), être debiteur au collège pour ses vivres. Ibid., Mot usé seulement des jeunes écoliers de l’université d’Oxford.

16 [?]. Account rendered to Arch. of York [William of Wykeham and His Colleges]. Item for BATTLINGS on fasting days with the lent. 0. 9. 8. [i.e., 9s. 8d.]

1678. Phillips, Dict., s.v. Battel. In the University of Oxford is taken for to run on to exceedings above the ordinary stint of the appointed Commons.

1744. Salmon, Present State of Univ., i. 423. Undergraduates consisting of Noblemen, Gentlemen-Commoners, Commoners, Scholars of the Foundation, Exhibitioners, Battlers, and Servitors.... The Commoners, I presume, are so called from their Commoning together, and having a certain portion of Meat and Drink provided for them, denominated Commons.... The Battlers are entitled to no Commons, but purchase their Meat and Drink of the Cook and Butler.

1786-1805. Tooke, Purley, 390, s.v. Battel, a term used at Eton for the small portion of food which, in addition to the College allowance, the Collegers receive from the Dames.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 184. The expense was defrayed by the boys subscribing the last three BATTLINGS (i.e. the weekly shilling allowed each boy). This was rather an illusory coin, for we seldom actually fingered it, as some one of the College servants generally had a kind of prescriptive right to a benefit; and whenever Saturday arrived, Præfect of Hall’s valet was sure to come round to ask the boys if they would give their BATTLING to Rat Williams, or Dungy, or Pulver, or Long John, or some other equally deserving individual.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II. vii. [Note]. Battels are the accounts of the expenses of each student. It is stated in Todd’s Johnson that this singular word is derived from the Saxon verb, meaning “to count or reckon.” But it is stated in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1792, that the word may probably be derived from the Low-German word bettahlen, “to pay,” whence may come our English word tale or score.

1864. Household Words, p. 188. The business of the latter was to call us of a morning to distribute amongst us our BATTLINGS, or pocket-money.

1880. Trollope, Autobiogr., i. 13. Every boy had a shilling a week pocket-money, which we called BATTELS. [This is probably a misprint—the Winchester term, as that used at other schools, is BATTLING. It was advanced out of the pocket of the Second Master.]

1886-87. Dickens, Dictionary of Oxford and Cambridge, p. 16. Battels is properly a designation of the food obtained from the College Buttery. An account of this, and of the account due to the Kitchen, is sent in to every undergraduate weekly, hence these bills also are known as BATTELS, and the name, further, is extended to the total amount of the term’s expenses furnished by the College. In some Colleges it is made essential to the keeping of an undergraduates’ term that he should BATTEL, i.e. obtain food in College on a certain number of days each week.

1889. Murray, Hist. Eng. Dict., s.v. Battels. Much depends on the original sense at Oxford: if this was ‘food, provisions,’ it is natural to connect it with “BATTLE,” to feed, or receive nourishment.... It appears that the word has apparently undergone progressive extensions of application, owing partly to changes in the internal economy of the colleges. Some Oxford men of a previous generation state that it was understood by them to apply to the buttery accounts alone, or even to the provisions ordered from the buttery, as distinct from the “commons” supplied from the kitchen; but this latter use is disavowed by others, ... but whether the BATTELS were originally the provisions themselves, or the sums due on account of them, must at present be left undecided.

Baulk, subs. (Winchester).—A false report. This is SPORTED (q.v.), not spread.

Bearded Cad, subs. (Winchester).—A porter employed by the College to convey luggage from the railway station to the school. [The term originated in an extremely hirsute individual, who, at one time, acted in the capacity.]

Beast, subs. (Cambridge).—A student who, having left school, goes up to Cambridge to study before entering the university. [Because (so it is stated) he is neither man nor boy.]

Bedmaker (or Bedder) subs. 1. (Cambridge).—A charwoman; a servant who makes beds and does other necessary domestic duties for residents in College.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 6. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Bloggins. I shall never forget how good she was when we were at Cambridge last term.... These BEDMAKERS are kind souls after all.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 247. The dinners themselves [c. 1800-40] were fairly good, with the exception of the “boiled beef” days, which were highly unpopular. The beef was probably good enough, but it was cured with saltpetre, and the consequent redness was, in the boys’ eyes, objectionable. Remonstrances had been made in vain; and the result was something like a school rebellion, well remembered as the BEEF ROW. By concerted arrangement, on one day the boys in every hall rose from the table in a body, and left the masters and the boiled beef in sole occupation. Butler was indignant; he came into each of the halls after locking up, and demanded from the heads of the school a public apology for the insult, giving them an hour for consideration, and placing before them the alternative of immediate dismissal. The boys held together, and, early the next morning the whole of the Sixth Form, comprising no less than three who were to be future heads of Colleges, were started by chaise or coach for their respective homes. The rest of the boys declared themselves en revolte; they would not go into school, and the masters walked about the court alternately threatening and persuading. At last a gentleman in the town, an old Shrewsbury boy, much respected, harangued the rebels, and persuaded them to surrender. Some sort of concession seems almost to have been made by a portion of the absent Sixth Form under home influence, and the affair ended in the return of all the exiles.

Beeswaxers, subs. (Winchester).—Thick boots for football. [Pronounced Bĕswaxers.]

Behind, subs. (Eton and Winchester).—A back at football. At Eton SHORT BEHIND and LONG BEHIND: usually abbreviated to “short” and “long.” At Winchester, SECOND BEHIND and LAST BEHIND. These answer to the half-back and back of Association football. At Winchester, in the Fifteens, there is also a THIRD BEHIND.

Bejant, subs. (Aberdeen).—A new student: one of the first or lowest class. See Semi-bejants, Tertians, and Magistrands.

Bells. Bells go single, phr. (Winchester).—A single bell is rung for five minutes before the hour at which chapel commences. For College evening chapel three three’s are rung, and then follows a “bell,” one for every man in College—70. Bells down = see quots.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 62. The junior in chamber had a hard time of it; ... while endeavouring to get through his multifarious duties, he had to keep a sharp ear on the performance of the chapel bell, and to call out accordingly, “first peal!” “second peal!” and BELLS DOWN!

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 256. At a quarter to six the peal again rang out, and the cry of BELLS GO was sounded in shrill tones through every chamber of College and Commoners.... After ten minutes the peal changed, and only a single bell continued to ring. This was notified by the cry BELLS GO SINGLE, and five minutes afterwards, by that of “BELLS DOWN.”... Presently the head-master ... would descend from his library: or the second master ... would appear at the archway near Sixth Chamber, and the warning voice would be heard “Gabell,” or “Williams through,” “Williams,” or “Ridding in.” Straightway there would be a general rush, the college-boys darting across the quadrangle in the rear of the Præfect of Chapel; while the Commoners hurried in, keeping up a continuous stream from their more distant quarters.

Belly-hedge, subs. (Shrewsbury).—An obstruction of such a height that it can easily be cleared: of school steeplechases. [That is, about belly high.]

1873. Dr. Blackley, Hay Fever, p. 145. The first kite was six feet in length by three feet in width, and was made of the usual form, namely, with a central shaft or “standard,” and a semicircular top or BENDER.

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, 131. Besides prizes, BENE-BOOKS are awarded to the Sixth Forms on the following system: Every boy generally does four classical exercises a week, viz., Greek and Latin prose, Greek and Latin verse, and one mathematical exercise; these are marked, according to their merit, B, b, sb, s, vs, m, M; that is to say, Big bene, bene, satis bene, satis, vix satis, male, Big male.... A BENE-BOOK (value 12s. 6d.) is earned by the winner of two BENES a week throughout the quarter. There used to be a yet higher mark, i.e., B†, or a Write-out, which counted four. A B† denoted that the composition to which it was attached was worthy of being written out in a book kept with a view to forming a new edition of “Sertum Carthusianum.” There are many volumes of old Write-out books on the shelves of the library, but for years no addition has been made to them. The Write-out is quite obsolete.

Bevers, subs. (general).—An afternoon meal or refreshment; a snack between meals. Whence (Winchester) BEVERS (or BEVER-TIME) = an interval from 4.30 to 5 in afternoon school, observed (says Wrench) long after the distribution of bread and beer had ceased on whole school-days. [See Beaumont and Fletcher, i. 20; Ford, i. 392; Florio, in v. Merénda; Cooper, in v. Antecænium; Stanihurst’s Descr. of Ireland, p. 18; Nomenclator, p. 79; Sir John Oldcastle, p. 42; Howell, sect. 43; Middleton’s Works, iv. 427, v. 141.]

1580. Lingua [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reid, 1825), v. 148]. Appetitus. Your gallants never sup, breakfast, nor BEVER without me.

1585. Nomenclator, p. 79. A middaies meale: an undermeale: a boire or BEAVER: a refreshing betwixt meales.

1597. Harrison, Desc. of England. Of old we had breakfastes in the forenoone, BEUARAGES or nuntions after dinner, and thereto reare suppers, generallie when it was time to go to rest, a toie brought into England by hardie Canutus; but nowe these are very well past, and each one, except some young hungrie stomach, that cannot fast till dinner-time, contenteth him self with dinner and supper.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Merenda, Plauto. Propriè olim prandium dicebatur quod meridie daretur. Nonius cibum qui post meridiem sumitur interpretatur. ἑσπέρισμα. Le reciner.

1607. Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman Hater, i. 3. He is none of those same ordinary eaters, that will devour three breakfasts, and as many dinners, without any prejudice to their BEVERS, drinkings, or suppers.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 83. In summer time we were let out of afternoon school for a short time about 4 P.M., when there was a slight refection of bread and cheese laid out in Hall. It was called BEEVER-TIME, and the pieces of bread BEEVERS.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. BEVER. An intermediate refreshment between breakfast and dinner. The term is now applied to the afternoon snack of harvest-men and other labourers, and perhaps may be explained more correctly as any refreshment taken between the regular meals. Sometimes refreshments of drink, or drinkings, were called BEVERS; but potations were not BEVERS, as Mr. Dyce asserts.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools [Winchester], p. 23. School opened again at two o’clock; at half-past three came an interval called BEVER-TIME, when the boys had again bread and beer allowed them. At five the school was dismissed, and the whole resident society—warden, fellows, masters, and scholars—went in procession round the cloisters and the whole interior circuit of the college.

1884. M. Morris, in English Illustrated Magazine, Nov., p. 73. [At Eton, we] came up from cricket in the summer afternoons for BEAVER.

Bible-Clerk, subs. (Winchester).—A College Prefect in full power, appointed for one week. Formerly (with Ostiarius, q.v.) he kept order in school, and assisted at floggings. He now reads lessons in Chapel, and takes round ROLLS (q.v.). He is absolved from going up to BOOKS (q.v.) during his term of office. The Prefect of Hall need not act as BIBLE-CLERK unless he likes, and the Prefect of School may choose any week he pleases; the rest take weeks in rotation, in the order of their Chambers in College.

15 [?]. Chris. Johnson [Wrench]. In Testamento Veteri caput alter in Aulâ Clarâ voce legit, qui BIBLIOCLERICUS inde Dicitur; hebdomadam propriis habet ille Camænsis.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 103. Order was kept during school hours by the BIBLE-CLERK and Ostiarius, two of the Præfects, who held these offices in rotation—the former lasting for a week, the latter for one day only. They paraded School armed with sticks, and brought up to the Head and Second Masters (who alone had the power of flogging) the names of the delinquents which had been “ordered” for punishment; the names of the more heinous offenders being confided to the BIBLE-CLERK, the others to the Ostiarius.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Bible. A great book. (A.-N.) The term was constantly used without any reference to the Scriptures. Ibid., s.v. Bible-clerkship. A very ancient scholarship in the Universities, so called because the student who was promoted to that office was enjoined to read the Bible at meal-times.

1864. Blackwood’s Magazine, XCV., p. 73. [At dinner] portions of beef were served out to the boys ... the BIBLE-CLERK meanwhile reading a chapter from the Old Testament. Ibid., p. 87. An hour ... is expected to be employed in working under the superintendence of the BIBLE-CLERK, as the Præfect in daily “course” is termed, who is responsible for a decent amount of order and silence at these hours.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 59. There appears to have been no regular BIBLE-CLERK.... From this it has been inferred that the institution of these offices must have been subsequent, and (some think) long subsequent, to the Founder’s time.

Bibling (or Bibler), subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A flogging of six strokes. Hence BIBLING-ROD = the instrument used in BIBLING: it consisted of a handle with four apple twigs in the end twisted together. It was first used by Warden Baker in 1454, and is represented in the Aut Disce. Bibling under nail = a BIBLING administered for very heinous offences after an offender had stood under NAIL (q.v.).

1864. Blackwood’s Magazine, XCV., p. 79. Underneath is the place of execution, where delinquents are BIBLED. Ibid., p. 72. It need hardly be said that it [the rod] is applied in the ordinary fashion: six cuts forming what is technically called a BIBLING—on which occasions the Bible-Clerk introduces the victim; four being the sum of a less terrible operation called a “scrubbing.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 37. Underneath is the place of execution, where delinquents are BIBLED; and near it is a socket for a candle-sconce, known as the “nail,” under which any boy who has been detected in any disgraceful fault—lying, &c.—is placed as in a sort of pillory to await his punishment; a piece of ancient discipline for which happily there is seldom occasion.

Bicker, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A fray between the boys of the school and the town boys, or KEELIES (q.v.); generally waged with the aid of stones (cf. George Borrow’s Lavengro, ch. vii.; also Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. i.). In the present Rector’s boyhood these school fights were often waged with “Cowts,” made of a rope twisted firmly into a thick end, with about four feet attached with which to swing it.

... Cursor Mundi, MS. Coll. Trin. Cantab., f. 87. And for she loveth me out of BIKER, Of my love she may be siker.

1581. Riche, Farewell to Militarie Profession. My captaine, feelyng suche a BICKERYNG within himself, the like whereof he had never indured upon the sea, was like to bee taken prisoner aboard his owne shippe.

1585. Nomenclator. Naturæ et morbi conflictus, Aurel. κρίσις. The conflict or BICKERMENT of nature and sicknesse.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Bicker. To fight; to quarrel; to act with hostility. Ibid., Bickerment. Conflict. Ibid., s.v. Bikere. To skirmish; to fight; to quarrel. Also a substantive, a quarrel. (A.-S.) Cf. Leg. Wom., 2650; Piers Ploughman, p. 429; Minot’s Poems, p. 51; Arthour and Merlin, p. 206.

Big, adj. (Harrow).—Upwards of sixteen years of age; as “only able to go in for BIG sports.” See Small.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 312. There is now a spacious piece of ground kept for the especial purpose, where as many as six separate games can be played at once, besides four smaller grounds belonging to different houses. The BIG-GAME, in which only the élite of the school players take part, is managed by the monitors under very stringent regulations. [Now called Sixth Form game.—Ed.]

Big-school, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—The room in which the school assembles for prayers, or on any occasion when it is addressed as a whole by the Head Master. The room is also used for teaching, though not so entirely so as twenty-five years ago.

Big-side, subs. (Rugby and elsewhere).—The combination of all the bigger fellows in the school in one and the same game or run. Also the ground specially used for the game so denominated. Hence Big-side run = a paper-chase, in which picked representatives of all Houses take part, as opposed to a House run. See Little-side.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, vii. “Well, I’m going to have a try,” said Tadpole; “it’s the last run of the half, and if a fellow gets in at the end, BIG-SIDE stands ale and bread and cheese and a bowl of punch; and the Cock’s such a famous place for ale.”

Bill, subs. 1. (Eton).—A list of the boys who go to the Head Master at 12 o’clock; also of those who get off ABSENCE (q.v.): e.g. an eleven playing in a match are thus exempt. See Appendix.

c. 1850. Brodrick, Memories and Impressions. ... It is credibly reported of Mr. Cookesley—who, in spite of a tendency to buffoonery, was an inspiring teacher—that he addressed a remarkably stupid boy in the following terms: “I tell you what it is, sir, if you ever show me up a copy of your own verses again, I’ll put you in the BILL” (an Etonian euphemism for a capital punishment). “Why, a great strong fellow like you can have no difficulty in getting a decent copy of verses written for him, and if you ever again bring me one of your own concoction I’ll have you flogged.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 100. Bagshawe even went so far as to rebuke one of the monitors for rising in Mr. James’ presence; and when told that it was by Mr. Busby’s order, desired him to write that down on his BILL; a proceeding equivalent, as Mr. Busby declared, and as Westminster and Eton men will perhaps agree, to ordering the head-master up for corporal punishment.

1876. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton. Some of the small boys whom this delightful youth tempted to ape his habits, had often occasion to rue it when they staggered back to College giddy and sick, carrying with them a perfume which told its tale to their tutors, and caused them to be put in the BILL.

2. (Harrow).—The “call-over” of the whole school on half-holidays; at 4 P.M. in summer, at 4.15 P.M. in other terms. Whence BILL-BOOK = the book—the list of the school in order of forms—from which BILL is called; BILL-ORDER = the order of the school as in the BILL-BOOK; BILL-MONITOR = a member of the “First Fourth” who is in charge of the paper on which monitors sign their names during BILL. Also used at Westminster.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 284. His pupils were chiefly boys of rank, and during Thackeray’s time had been exempted from appearing at BILLS. Sumner stopped this privilege, to the great disgust of Dr. Glasse and some of his aristocratic friends. Earl Radnor even threatened to “ruin the school” if Sumner refused to give way; but the new head-master was firm. Lord Dartmoor, on the other hand, supported him, and removed his sons into his House from Glasse’s, who was beaten in the struggle, and left Harrow. Ibid., 293. At the time of his appointment he was only twenty-six, but his reputation as a scholar stood very high. It is enough to say that under his rule Harrow has increased in numbers, and certainly not lost in reputation. The last BILL-BOOK contains 492 names.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 446. The uniformity of daily life at Harrow was interrupted by a pleasant interlude not long ago. The Chinese Ambassador paid a visit to the school. His Excellency made an inspection of the school buildings, and was finally cheered at BILL.

Bill-brighter, subs. (Winchester).—A small fagot used for lighting coal fires in kitchen. [From a servant, Bill Bright, who was living in 1830.]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 89. The Kitchen is a spacious apartment with a vaulted roof, occupying the entire height of the building on the west side of the quadrangle, and at least half its length; here we might see a few Fags endeavouring to coax Jem Sims, John Coward, or Mother Mariner (the cooks) for an extra supply of mashed potatoes, till Kitchen is cleared by the exasperated Manciple, who has just detected a delinquent in the act of secreting under his gown an armful of the small faggots used for lighting the Kitchen fires (called BILL BRIGHTERS), an opportunity for purloining which was never allowed to slip by a Junior of a properly regulated mind.

Bim (or Bimb), verb (Tonbridge).—To cane. Hence BIMB-STICK = a cane.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 178. Behind is the “French room,” once known as the BIRCH-ROOM (in which those useful implements were manufactured and used), where a bench is carefully preserved bearing the name of “John Dryden,” no doubt cut by the poet himself, as the style of the letters corresponds with his date.

Bird, subs. (Durham).—A credulous boy; one easily cajoled; a “soft.”

Bishop, subs. (Winchester).—The sapling with which a fagot is bound together.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, I. vi. “There’s plenty of youngsters don’t care about it,” said Walker. “Here, here’s Scud East—you’ll be tossed, won’t you, young un?” Scud was East’s nickname, or BLACK, as we called it, gained by his fleetness of foot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 241. There used to be a small four-square apartment, not much larger than a Punch-and-Judy box, lighted by a single narrow loop-hole—a receptacle for the flogging-block and other like apparatus. This was known as the BLACK-HOLE, or sometimes more familiarly as “Rome’s Hole,” from a traditionary culprit who had been a very regular occupant.

Black-jack, subs. (Winchester).—A large leathern beer jug used in College. It holds two gallons. In olden times BLACK-JACKS were in common use for small beer. [See Unton, Inventories, p. 1; Brand’s Pop. Antiq., ii. 206; Ord. and Reg., p. 392; Heywood’s Edward IV., p. 97. Also Jack: whence (Christ’s Hospital) JACK-BOY = a boy servitor of beer.]

15—. Simon the Cellarer. But oh, oh, oh! his nose doth show, How oft the BLACK-JACK to his lips doth go.

1592. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), viii. 59]. Rise up, Sir Robert Toss-pot. [Here he dubs Will Summer with the BLACK-JACK.]

1606. Return from Parnassus [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 207]. A BLACK-JACK of beer and a Christmas pie.

1630. Taylor, Works, i. 113. Nor of BLACK-JACKS at gentle buttery bars, Whose liquor oftentimes breeds household wars.

18[?]. T. Warton, “The Happy Junior of Sixth Chamber.” Yet still with pleasure shall we think on The Junior’s happy life at Winton ... lozenges and snacks ... dispars, gomers, JACKS.

c. 1844. Reminiscences of Christ’s Hospital (The Blue, Aug. 1874). By mistake the Cask was found to contain a fine old ale. The news soon spread from boy to boy and from ward to ward; and there was an extraordinary call upon the services of the JACK-BOYS, whose utmost exertions were scarcely equal to the demand. As might be expected, these latter took care of themselves upon the occasion.

Black-sheep, verb (Winchester: obsolete).—To get above (or “jockey”) a fellow in Middle Part: of men in Junior Part.

Black Tiger, The (Rugby).—A nickname given to Dr. Ingles, head-master from 1793 to 1803.

Blandyke (Stonyhurst).—The monthly recreation day. [From the village of Blandyke (now Blandecques), a league from St. Omers, where was a country house or villa at which such days were spent during the summer months.] See Appendix.

Blazer, subs. (originally Cambridge: now general).—A light jacket of bright colour. Originally applied to the bright red uniform of the Lady Margaret Boat Club of St. John’s College, Cambridge. [Prof. Skeat (N. and Q., 7 S., iii. 436), speaking of the Johnian BLAZER, says it was always of the most brilliant scarlet, and thinks it not improbable that the fact suggested the name which subsequently became general.]

1885. Punch, June 27, p. 304. Harkaway turns up clad in what he calls a BLAZER, which makes him look like a nigger minstrel out for a holiday.

1889. Daily News, Aug. 22, p. 6, col. 6. Dress by the Sea. Sir,—In your article of to-day, under the above heading, you speak of “a striped red and black BLAZER,” “the BLAZER,” also of “the pale toned” ones. This is worth noting as a case of the specific becoming the generic. A BLAZER is the red flannel boating jacket worn by the Lady Margaret, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Boat Club. When I was at Cambridge it meant that and nothing else. It seems from your article that a BLAZER now means a coloured flannel jacket, whether for cricket, tennis, boating, or seaside wear.—Yours faithfully, Walter Wren.

Bleyis-sylver (or Bent-sylver), subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A gratuity given in olden times by pupils to masters. He who gave most was proclaimed “victor” or “king.” [Bleyis is derived from bleis = a torch or blaze (mod. Scot. bleeze). Bleyis-sylver = silver given at Candlemas on the time of the bleeze. Dr. Jamieson (Dict.) suggests bent = Fr. benit, i.e. blessed, because money was given on a Saint’s day. Dr. Stevens, the school historian, suggests bent = coarse grass. In sixteenth and seventeenth centuries pupils had leave to go and cut this coarse grass to strew on floor of school. Afterwards annual holidays were instituted on first Mondays of May, June, and July, when a money payment was made to the master to purchase “bent.” (Cf. Stevens’ Hist. of High School, p. 678.) This is more probable.]

Block, The (Eton).—A wooden step in the library of the Upper School upon which a boy set down for flogging kneels. He is “held down” by two junior Collegers, and the Sixth Form Preposter hands to the head-master the necessary birch or birches.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 320. Harrow fagging had no special reputation for cruelty; yet there are those living who can remember having been called out of their beds at night to have cold water poured down their backs—for no special reason, but as a part of the hardening process considered good for fags generally; or to start from Leith’s boarding-house in the dark, to go round the church-yard by the north porch—BLOODY PORCH, as it was called, from some obscure legend. Once a boy was sent upon this dreaded tour at night, when it so happened that there were a party concealed in the porch, watching the grave of a newly-buried relative—for these were the days of resurrection-men; they mistook the unfortunate fag for a body-snatcher, and fired at him, wounding him slightly, and frightening him almost to death.

Blow, subs. (old University).—A drunken frolic; a spree. [Blowboll = a drunkard: cf. Skelton (Works, i. 23), “Thou blynkerd blowboll, thou wakyst too late.”]

1645. Habington, Works. Th’enamoured spring by kissing BLOWS soft blushes on her cheek.

1709. Steele and Swift, Tatler, No. 71, p. 8. If a Virgin blushes, we no longer cry she BLUES.

Blucher, subs. (Winchester: obsolete: ch hard).—A College præfect in half power. His jurisdiction did not extend beyond “Seventh Chamber passage,” though his privileges were the same as those of other præfects. These were eight in number.

c. 1840. MANSFIELD, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 30. The eight senior præfects were said to have “full power,” and had some slight privileges not enjoyed by the remaining ten, who were generally called BLUCHERS.

1864. Blackwood, p. 86. The remaining eight college præfects (called in Winchester tongue, BLUCHERS) have a more limited authority, confined to Chambers and the Quadrangle.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 55. The remaining eight college prefects (called in Winchester tongue BLUCHERS) have a more limited authority, confined to chambers and the quadrangle; the form of making these is—“Præficio te sociis concameralibus.” At least two prefects are located in each of the seven chambers—one from the first seven in rank, and one from the next seven. The juniors are also divided into ranks of seven, and out of each rank the prefects, according to their seniority, chose one each to fill up the numbers in their own chamber; so that each chamber has, to a certain extent, ties and associations of its own.

Blue, subs. 1. (Christ’s Hospital).—A scholar of Christ’s Hospital; a blue-coat boy. [Derived from the colour of the clothes—a blue drugget gown or body with ample skirts to it, a yellow vest underneath in winter time, small-clothes of Russia duck, worsted yellow stockings, a leathern girdle, and a little black worsted cap, usually carried in the hand, being the complete costume. This was the ordinary dress of children in humble life during the reigns of the Tudors.] See Appendix.

1834. W. Trollope (Title), Christ’s Hospital ... with Memoirs of Eminent Blues. Ibid. At the Spital did they first earn the title of BLUE by appearing in raiment of that hue. Hitherto they had worn russet cotton. The bands are supposed to be a relic of the ruff, as the girdle was of the hempen cord. The ruff was regal, or reginal, and the cord monkish, so a BLUE hovers ’twixt palace and monastery (one picture pourtrays the dresses of the various Orders of Friars).

1877. W. H. Blanch, Blue-Coat Boys, p. 33. To some extent it holds also with regard to Civil Engineers, amongst whom, however, one well-known name is that of a BLUE.

1895. Gleanings from “The Blue” Dedication. To all Blues Past and Present this Book is dedicated.

2. (University).—A member of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge. [The colours for inter-University sports are dark and light blue respectively.]

To get one’s blue, verb. phr. (University).—To be selected as a competitor in inter-University sports: cf. “to get silk” (of Q.C.’s). [From the University colours.]

1899. Stonyhurst Mag., Feb., p. 194. The expression “to get a BLUE” is a phrase which is universally recognised as applying to the athletics and games of the sister Universities, Oxford and Cambridge, and to them only. As an ardent Oxford man I do not appreciate his compliment; as an old Stonyhurst boy, I cannot but deplore his servility.

Blue-book, subs. (Harrow).—A school register (alphabetically arranged) comprising name, form, house, tutor, age, term of coming, prizes, and honours.

Bluer, subs. (Harrow).—A blue flannel coat: worn by all going to Footer (q.v.) in winter, and cricket in summer.

B. N. C., subs. (Oxford).—The popular abbreviation of Brasenose College.

1885. Daily News, March 13, p. 5, col. 1. As when Corpus bumped B. N. C. years ago, and went head of the river, whereon a spirit of wrath entered into the B. N. C. men, and next night they bumped Corpus back again.

Board. To keep one’s name on the board, verb. phr. (Cambridge).—To remain a member of a College.

To sit a boat, verb. phr. (Eton).—See quot., and Fourth of June. [Long since abandoned.]

1865. Etoniana, p. 170. The time-honoured custom of SITTING A BOAT must here claim mention. Some old Etonian, of generous and festive disposition (generally an old “oar”), signifies to the captain of a boat his intention of presenting the crew with a certain quantity of champagne. In return he is entitled to be rowed up to Surly in the boat to which he presents the wine; he occupies the coxswain’s seat, who kneels or stands behind him. This giver of good things is called, from this circumstance, a “sitter”; and the question, “Who SITS YOUR BOAT?” or, “Have you a sitter?” is one of some interest, which may often be heard addressed to a captain. The seat of honour in the ten-oar is usually offered to some distinguished old Etonian. Mr. Canning occupied it in 1824.

Bob, subs. (Winchester).—A large white beer-jug, about a gallon in capacity.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 85. Each end and præfect’s mess had their beer served up in a large white jug, or BOB. The vessel used for the same purpose in Commoners’ was called a “Joram.”

1888. T. A. Trollope, What I Remember. Only those “Juniors” attended whose office it was to bring away the portions of bread and cheese and BOBS of beer for consumption in the afternoon.

Bodleian, The (Oxford).—A famous library, popularly known as the Bodley, founded by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1445-80. Despoiled in 1550 and again in 1556, it was restored and added to in 1598 by Sir Thomas Bodley. It now contains some 600,000 volumes, and is especially rich in manuscripts (some 30,000 volumes) and other literary treasures. James Russell Lowell, the distinguished American, says of this famous library: “Directly we enter, we are struck by the stillness and solemnity that reign around, helped by the dim light, the windows with painted glass, the ponderous shelves, the illuminated missals, the graduates or attendants conversing in low whispers or moving quietly about. For reading purposes the library is as free and as good as the library of the British Museum; with the advantages that you may be seated in front of a window commanding a beautiful garden prospect, that your arm-chair is not disturbed, that books are allowed to accumulate around you, and that you are not obliged to return them to the care of the custodian on leaving the library. The visitor will not fail to notice the portraits in the upper library, and especially to cast a grateful look at the fine portrait of Bodley. He will see the exercise-books used by Edward VI. and Elizabeth when children, and, close by, the autographs of distinguished visitors.”

Boiler, subs. (Winchester).—A plain coffee-pot used for heating water—fourpenny and sixpenny boilers, not from their price, but from the quantity of milk they held. το παν BOILERS = large tin saucepan-like vessels in which water for a BIDDY (q.v.) was heated.

Bom, subs. (The Leys).—A servant; a waiter. [A waiter was once dubbed “a vile abomination”; whence the contractions “vile bom” and “BOM.”]

Bond Street (Stonyhurst).—A walk along one side of the playground. Once obsolete but now restored, being applied to another walk.

Bonnet. To hold the bonnets, verb. phr. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—To hold the bonnet or handkerchief used to divide High School boys when fighting.

Bonnet-fire, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—The process otherwise known as “running the gauntlet.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 172. They also claim a right to BOOK the performer (i.e. hurl a shower of books at him) if he fails more than once. This right was liberally exercised in 1865, when the wrath of the school had culminated owing to repeated failures in that and the previous year. The exasperated cook replied to the attack with his only available missile—the frying-pan—and a serious row was the consequence.

Books, subs. (Winchester).—1. The prizes formerly presented by Lord Say and Sele, now given by the governing body, to the “Senior” in each division at the end of “Half.” 2. The school is thus divided:—Sixth Book—Senior and Junior Division; the whole of the rest of the School (but see quotations), is in Fifth Book—Senior Part, Middle Part, Junior Part, each part being divided into so many divisions, Senior, Middle, and Junior, or Senior, 2nd, 3rd, and Junior, as the case may require. Formerly there was also “Fourth Book,” but it ceased to exist about the middle of the Sixties.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 104. The school was divided into three classes, or BOOKS, as they were called. Of these, the Præfects formed one, Sixth Book; Fifth Book was subdivided into three parts, called respectively “Senior, Middle, and Junior part of the Fifth”; in speaking of them, the words “of the Fifth” were generally omitted. The rest of the boys made up “Fourth Book.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 24. The tiers of stone seats, which may still be noticed in the deep recesses of the windows, were the places in which the prefects sat when the boys were arranged in their respective BOOKS; the term still used at Winchester for what in other schools would be called “forms” or “classes.” There were then, as now, four BOOKS only, though the highest was and is numbered as the “sixth.” Then followed the fifth, fourth, and second fourth. The work of the sixth BOOK comprised Homer, Hesiod, Virgil, Cicero, Martial, and “Robinson’s Rhetoric.” Ibid., 36. Ninety feet long and thirty-six in breadth, it is sufficiently spacious to allow all the BOOKS to be assembled there without more confusion than is inseparable from the system of teaching so many distinct classes in a single room—an arrangement peculiar to Winchester alone amongst our large Public Schools.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Books. The name of the Classes into which the School is divided. The VI^th, V^th, and II^nd only remain. From Liber in the sense of Roll probably.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 101. At each end of school are three tiers of benches rising gradually one above the other,—that on the ground being called “Senior Row,” and the others “Middle” and “Junior Row” respectively. On these the Classes sit when UP AT BOOKS, i.e. when repeating lessons.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Book. This word was formerly used for any composition, from a volume to a single sheet, particularly where a list is spoken of. See the State Papers, i. 402.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 37. Three tiers of fixed seats rise against the wainscotted walls on the east and west, where the boys are arranged when UP TO BOOKS, the chairs of the different masters being in front of each.

1872. Walcott, Traditions and Customs of Cathedrals, “Statutes of Chichester Cathedral.” Four wax candles are always distributed at the end of Lauds, at the four uppermost BOOKS, to the Senior set of the BOOKS, to find the lights to the same BOOKS for that time. [Note to foregoing:—At Winchester College the Forms are still called BOOKS.]

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Books. It has been suggested that this phrase arose from the school having originally to go up to the Donatus—the one book which College boasted; and an entry is extant of a three days’ remedy being entailed by the book going to be bound. The pluralization would be no more than an ordinary Wykehamical inflection.... The following mysterious use of Libri, however, suggests a much more probable origin. Chris. Johnson says: “Seu Chandlerus erat, seu Custos ordine primus, Durus ab inductis dicitur esse LIBRIS!” To which a contemporaneous note is appended: “Lectionum a cæna repetitiones instituisse creditur, quas Wiccamici materna lingua Libros dicunt.” What these “repetitiones” were is not clear; but they were some form of lesson which præ-Elizabethan Wykehamists had christened BOOKS in their materna lingua, and Johnson’s annotator thought the word strange enough to deserve a note. We may, therefore, very possibly be only perpetuating this word in our use of UP TO BOOKS.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 103. On Remedies (a kind of whole holiday) we also went into school in the morning and afternoon for an hour or two without masters; this was called BOOKS CHAMBERS; and on Sundays, from four till a quarter to five.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Books-chambers. Hours of preparation in College: in the evening called Toy-time.

To get (or MAKE) BOOKS.—To get the first place, or to make the highest score at anything. Cf. Books, sense 1.

Bookwork, subs. (University).—Mathematics that can be learned verbatim from books—anything not a problem.

Bostruchyzer, subs. (Oxford: obsolete).—A small comb for curling the whiskers.—Hotten.

Botany-bay, subs. (University).—(1) Worcester College, Oxford; and (2) part of Trinity College, Dublin. [On account of their remote situations.]

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, xx. note. Botany Bay was the slang name given by college men to a new square rather remotely situated from the remainder of the college [i.e. Trinity, Dublin].

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Adventures of Verdant Green, i. p. 63. Botany-bay, a name given to Worcester College, from its being the most distant college.

1886. Graves, Way about Oxfordshire, 19. At the end is Worcester College (1714), from its remote position dubbed ... BOTANY-BAY, but called by those who wish to speak endearingly of it “Wuggins.”

1900. Athenæum, 17th Feb., 208. Botany-bay is often found as strangely misapplied as the “Paradise” of so many rows. For instance, the “Quad” of Trinity College, Dublin, which has been so called for generations, can hardly have ever been remarkable for its flora. The probable explanation is that its buildings were old and uncomfortable, and it was the favourite abode of the youngest and noisiest members of the University.

Bottle, verb (Durham: obsolete).—To make hot: e.g. I got regularly BOTTLED in that room; specifically, “to roast” a boy before a fire. See Appendix.

Bottom-side, subs. (Harrow).—A wing: at football. The lower wing (if one be lower than the other); as a rule the one farthest from the hill.

Boule, subs. (Charterhouse).—A general confab or conversation. See Privee.

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, 82. There was a BOULE (βουλή) once in the Sixth Form of 1872 as to what a monitor should do if he were thus insulted [by a visit of a master to Banco].

Bounce. First Bounce, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A goal (which is never allowed) taken by a “drop-kick” at football.

Second bounce, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A kind of HANDBALL (q.v.) once very popular.

1887. Stonyhurst Mag., July, p. 18, “Stonyhurst in the Fifties.” Second bounce, a variety of handball played with small balls most artistically made of strips of indiarubber, and covered with the best kid-leather. These balls had to be taken to pieces and remade after every match, and they had to be quite freshly made when used. Their seams required to be frequently rubbed over with wax, some of which was always smeared on the handball wall for the purpose. For a game of SECOND BOUNCE a whole side of one of the big handballs was required, and it was played by eight players, four a side. The “over-all” of ordinary handball was the “over line,” and the bulk of the players stood out yards beyond it. He whose “hand” it was bounced the ball, and with a long strong swing of his arm hit it up against the wall, whence with a sharp smack it rebounded high in the air and far out into the ground. As it descended one of the opposite party stopped it with his hand and let it BOUNCE twice on the ground, the FIRST BOUNCE being, as a rule, too high to let him strike it, and then with a similar swing hit it up again. The rules, except as to permitting the ball to be taken up at the SECOND BOUNCE, were similar to those of handball. Balls perished quickly in such a game, nearly a dozen being required for one. Second bounce used chiefly to be played on Sunday afternoon, after Vespers, and almost all not engaged in the game would range themselves on the flanks to watch.

Bounds, subs. (general).—The limit or the boundaries beyond which it is not permissible to go.

On bounds (Stonyhurst).—A punishment to which a boy who has been flagrantly “out of bounds” (the term as in other Public Schools) is subjected. He is confined during ordinary recreations to a very limited portion of the playground. Such a boy is said to be “put ON BOUNDS.”

Bowing-round Sunday, subs. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—See Public-supping.

1854. “Our Rebellion” [The Blue (1871) July]. Next day was BOWING-ROUND SUNDAY. “Hand down, don’t bow,” was the signal that passed down our ranks as we stood in the Hall Cloisters, and many were the black looks, but few the nods of reverence, our Treasurer and his two attendant governors got that morning.

Bowl, verb. 1. (general).—To master; to succeed: as in a paper, a lesson, an examination, &c.; to overcome: as a difficulty, an examiner, &c. See Floor and Throw.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 55. My Coach says he thinks I shall BOWL over the Examiners next term in the General.

2. (Winchester).—To “pluck” or “plough” up to books; TO CROPPLE (q.v.).

2. (Stonyhurst).—To strike a ball with the closed hand when in the air. See Stonyhurst-football.

3. (Charterhouse).—Of books: if a member of a House Library Committee finds a library book lying about, he calls out the name of the book three times at the top of his voice, and adds, “BOXED!” The boy who has taken out the book thus BOXED is fined sixpence, saving the fine if he shouts “Mine!” before the word of confiscation is uttered.

Box-buildings, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—The Sanatorium: in the seventeenth century called Sick-house (q.v.), and subsequently BOX-BUILDINGS. These buildings were pulled down in 1850 and the name disappeared.

Boy, subs. (Harrow).—A grade of fag. The Lower School are put ON BOY, in turns, to go messages, &c., for the Sixth Form. See Appendix.

Brasenose (or B. N. C.), subs. (Oxford).—Brasenose College. [Founded in 1509 on the site of four ancient Halls—Little University Hall was one, another being Brasenose Hall (thirteenth century). Authorities differ as to the origin of the curious name. See quots.]

1800. Churton, Life of Bishop Smith, 227. Brazen Nose Hall, as the Oxford antiquary has shown, may be traced as far back as the time of Henry III., about the middle of the thirteenth century; and early in the succeeding reign, 6 Edward I., 1278, it was known by the name of Brasen Nose Hall, which peculiar name was undoubtedly owing, as the same author observes, to the circumstance of a nose of brass affixed to the gate. It is presumed, however, that this conspicuous appendage of the portal was not formed of the mixed metal which the word now denotes, but the genuine produce of the mine; as is the nose, or rather face, of a lion or leopard still remaining at Stamford, which also gave name to the edifice it adorned. And hence, when Henry VIII. debased the coin by an alloy of copper, it was a common remark or proverb, that “Testons were gone to Oxford, to study in Brasen Nose.”

1837. Ingram, Memorials of Oxford. Brasenose.... This curious appellation, which, whatever was the origin of it, has been perpetuated by the symbol of a brazen nose here and at Stamford, occurs with the modern orthography, but in one undivided word, so early as 1278, in an inquisition now printed in The Hundred Rolls, though quoted by Wood from the manuscript record.

1837. British Critic, xxiv. 139. There is a spot in the centre of the city where Alfred is said to have lived. Brasenose claims his palace, Oriel his church, and University his school or academy. Of these Brasenose is still called “the King’s Hall,” which is the name by which Alfred himself, in his laws, calls his palace; and it has its present singular name from a corruption of brasinium, or brasin-huse, as having been originally located in that part of the royal mansion which was devoted to the then important accommodation of a brew-house.

1898. Alden, Oxford Guide, 52. Brasenose Hall (thirteenth century) is said to have derived the name from its occupying the site of a brasen-hus or brewhouse. Over the old entrance-gate is the representation of a brazen nose, probably added at a much later date, when punning rebuses of this kind were in fashion.

Bread-and-beer, subs. phr. (Stonyhurst).—The name given to the snack which boys may take at five o’clock.

1798. Narrative “Christ’s Hospital, Three quarters of a Century ago” [Chelmsford Chronicle (1875), Ap. 16]. The breakfast-bell rang about seven, when we all went into the hall, the nurses following, with boys from each ward (called BREAD-BOYS) carrying large baskets on their shoulders containing bread, which were taken to the head of each table, where stood the nurse, who, after “grace,” went down the table, serving out to each boy half of a twopenny loaf of bread. “Well,” you’ll say, “but where’s the butter?” None was allowed—nothing but bare bread. Those who had been sparing over night to save a portion of the small piece of cheese they had for their supper, pulled it out of their pockets. Sometimes a great fellow would make a little boy always supply him with cheese of mornings, out of the piece the poor fellow had had for his supper the night previous. Beer we had certainly, served out in wooden vessels of an extraordinary shape, called “piggins”; about six of them for four boys to drink out of, but such beer! The piggins were seldom replenished, for we could not drink it. We used to call it “the washings of the brewers’ aprons.”

1900. Pall Mall Gazette, 20th March, 3. 2. “A Lenten Supper.” Last of all the BREAD-BOY hoists the tall bread-basket shoulder high and bows round with it, never failing to raise a laugh as well as a basket.

Bread-picker, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A Junior appointed by the four senior Præfects in Commoners: at one time to put candles in outhouses; but formerly the word is supposed to relate to the duty of securing bread when served out. The office exempted from fagging at meal times.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” Each undergraduate has two rooms, a bedroom and a sitting-room. In these he lives, studies, and, with the exception of evening dinner in the Hall, has his meals. He is thus able to entertain. The fashionable meal to which to invite a friend is breakfast, or vernacularly BREKKER.

Brick, verb (Charterhouse).—To hustle; TO MOB UP (q.v.); TO BARGE (q.v.).

Bricks, subs. (Wellington).—A kind of pudding. [Also (var. dial.) = a kind of loaf.]

Bring-on, subs. (The Leys).—A SIZING (q.v.), or extra in the way of food (as jam, tinned meat, &c.). [That is, what a boy “BRINGS ON” to his table, chiefly at tea.]

Broad-sheet, subs. (Harrow).—The printed school list: issued after the TRIALS (q.v.).

Brock, subs. (Winchester).—To bully; to tease; to badger. [Brock, provincial in North and Hants = a badger, and baiting these animals was a school sport till 1870.] Hence BROCKSTER = a bully.

Brogues, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—Breeches. [An old English survival: still dial. in Suffolk.]

Brooke Hall (Charterhouse).—At Old Charterhouse the officers’ common room; at New Charterhouse the masters’ common room: it is the place to which impositions must be taken.

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, p. 94. In the seventeenth century schoolmasters had to be careful of their politics. Thus Master Robert Brooke, the fourth of the “schoolmasters,” is said to have refused to sign the Solemn League and Covenant, and to have flogged some of his boys for Parliamentary proclivities. He was ejected from his office in 1643. At the Restoration, though not fully restored, he was given “two chambers in cloisters and a pension of £30 a year.” After his death these two chambers were knocked into one and it became Brooke hall.

Brosier (or Brozier). To brozier my dame, verb. phr. (Eton).—To “eat out of house and home.” When a DAME (q.v.) keeps an unusually bad table, the boys agree on a certain day to eat him literally “out of house and home.” Hence BROZIERED = cleaned out. [Brozier (Cheshire) = bankrupt.]

1796. Merton, Way to get Married (Inchbald, British Theatre, vol. xxvi.). [The term is so used here.]

Browse, subs. (Marlborough).—A pleasant or easy time; a treat; anything enjoyable: e.g. MORNING BROWSE = leave off early school; French is a BROWSE. Hence, Captain’s browse = an expedition to which a master takes his House Captains. [From browse = to eat lazily.]

Adj. Pleasant; enjoyable. Also (more frequently) BROWSY: e.g. a BROWSY morning = a morning in which little work is done; an awfully BROWSY day, or time = an enjoyable time.

Verb. To enjoy; to like: generally with on: e.g. “I BROWSE ON old Smith,” or, “ON Science hour.”

Brum, adj. (Winchester).—(1) Poor; (2) mean, stingy. Dead brum = penniless.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. The punishment ... next in severity was flogging with the birch (called BRUSHING).

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. Brute, in Cambridge University slang, is a man who has not yet matriculated. The play is evident. A “man” in college phrase is a collegian; and as matriculation is the sign and seal of acceptance, a scholar before that ceremony is not a “man,” and therefore only a “BIPED BRUTE.”

1897. Felstedian, July, p. 129. What’s the good of a Præfect? he never gets anybody up, and has never been known to be in time himself. He’s a BUCK lot of use.

Budder, subs. (Felsted: obsolete).—A hard worker; a SWOTTER. [From a proper name.]

Bug and Tick, subs. phr. (The Leys).—The Natural History Society. See Bug and Snail (Appendix).

1823. Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, I., x. (1842), 59. Long forgotten stories about proctors bit and BULL-DOGS baffled.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. iii. chap. iii. The proctor and his BULL-DOGS came up ... and gave chase to the delinquents; ... the night was dark, and they reached the College in safety.

1847. Tennyson, Princess, Prologue. We unworthier told Of college; he had climb’d across the spikes, And he had squeezed himself betwixt the bars, And he had breath’d the Proctor’s DOGS.

1880. Brewer, Reader’s Handbook. Bull-dogs, the two servants of a university proctor, who follow him in his rounds, to assist him in apprehending students who are violating the university statutes, such as appearing in the streets after dinner without cap and gown, &c.

Bully, subs. (Eton).—A mellay at football: the equivalent of the Rugby SCRUMMAGE (q.v.), and the Winchester HOT (q.v.).

Bunker’s Hill (Stonyhurst).—A row of cottages outside Hodder grounds. Originally called Bankhurst, but after a battle here between the inhabitants and the new-comers a century ago, its present name was given to it. (See Stonyhurst Mag., ii. 92.)

1704. T. Brown, Works (1760), ii. 86. [Dionysius] was forced to turn BUM-BRUSHER.

1788. New London Magazine, p. 137. A successor was immediately called from that great nursery of BUM-BRUSHERS, Appleby School.

1832. Blackwood’s Mag., Oct., p. 426. To protract existence ... in the shape of BUM-BRUSHERS, and so forth, after the fashion of the exalted emigrés of 1792.

1838. Comic Almanac, Dec. [Schoolmaster’s Letter signed] Barnabas Bom-brush.

Bum-curtain, subs. (Cambridge).—An academical gown—scant and short; especially applied to the short black gown worn till 1835 by members of Caius College.

1835. (Quoted in Whibley’s Three Centuries of Cambridge Wit [1889].) ’Tis the College of Caius—’tis the land where the “BUM-CURTAIN” lately was sported by each jolly chum, But now black and blue are the gowns that they wear Like the eye of a drunkard returned from a fair.

Bumping-race, subs. (University).—Eight-oared inter-Collegiate races, rowed in two divisions of fifteen and sixteen boats respectively, including a SANDWICH BOAT (q.v.), i.e. the top boat of the second division, which rows bottom of the first. The boats in each division start at a distance apart of 175 feet from stern to stern in the order at which they left off at the last preceding race, and any boat which overtakes and BUMPS another (i.e. touches it in any part) before the winning post is reached, changes places with it for the next race. Hence BUMP-SUPPER = a supper to commemorate the event.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, iii. He listened, and with respect too, to Mr. Foker’s accounts of what the men did at the University of which Mr. F. was an ornament, and encountered a long series of stories about boat-racing, BUMPING, College grass-plats, and milk-punch.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, x. A BUMP-SUPPER—that is, O ye uninitiated! a supper to commemorate the fact of the boat of one College having, in the annual races, BUMPED, or touched the boat of another College immediately in its front, thereby gaining a place towards the head of the river,—a BUMP-SUPPER was a famous opportunity for discovering both the rowing and paying capabilities of Freshmen, who, in the enthusiasm of the moment, would put down their two or three guineas, and at once propose their names to be enrolled as members at the next meeting of the club.

1860. Macmillan’s Magazine, March, p. 331. The chances of St. Ambrose’s making a BUMP the first night were weighed.

1865. Sketches from Cambridge, p. 7. I can still condescend to give our boat a stout when it makes a BUMP.

1886-7. Dickens, Dictionary of Cambridge, p. 11. Any boat which overtakes and BUMPS another ... before the winning post is reached, changes place with it for the next race.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 2. I’m rowing in our first Lent boat. We ought to make some BUMPS. Ibid., 51. We had a grand BUMP-SUPPER, with lots of speeches.

1900. Westminster Gaz., 21st Feb., 8. 3. In the Second Division, Worcester BUMPED Christ Church II. at the Ferry. Hertford left off at the head of the division.

Burr, verb (Marlborough).—To tussle or fight in a noisy, but friendly manner. Also as subs.

Butcher. To butcher about, verb. phr. (Wellington).—To make a great noise; to humbug.

Buttery, subs. (University).—A college kitchen. [See Twelfth Night, i. 3; Taylor, Works, i. 113.]

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. He was bearing a jug of BUTTERY ale (they are renowned for their ale at Brazenface).

Buying, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An opportunity which is given for the purchase of pastry in the refectory at “Bread-and-beer” (q.v.) time.

Cab, subs. (general).—An adventitious aid to study; a CRIB (q.v.); a PONY (q.v.). [From CABBAGE (q.v.) = pilferings.]

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Adventures of Verdant Green. Those who can’t afford a coach get a CAB, alias a crib, alias a translation.

1876. Academy, 4th Nov., p. 448, col. 2. The use of translations, “cribs,” or CABS as boys call them, must at some time or other engage the serious attention of schoolmasters.

Cabbage, subs. (general).—A translation; a CAB (q.v.). Also as verb = to use a translation or other adventitious aid in preparing exercises; to “crib.”

1837. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), iv. 234. A speech, which ... had been what schoolboys call CABBAGED, from some of the forms of oration ... published by way of caricature.

1862. H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, ii. 387. Steelyards ... sent by Gustaf Wasa as checks upon country dealers, who CABBAGED, giving short weight.

1888. Stonyhurst Mag., July, p. 185. The dust and darkness of CACUS is destined to give place to the (comparatively) gilded splendour of a Philosopher’s room. Two new windows are being opened in the wall of the Elizabethan front over the old Bailey window.... Hitherto CACUS has been shrouded in utter darkness, ... a receptacle for ... all the literature, which ... had not been assigned a place in the Library.

Cad, subs. (general).—A non-school or non-University man: in contempt. At Cambridge SNOB, the word Thackeray used, has long been a common term for a townsman; now the undergrad. says Townee or Towner (q.v.). The German analogue is Philister.

1831. Hone, Year-Book, 670. Preceded by one or two bands of music in two boats, rowed by CADS.

1856. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Adventures of Verdant Green, i. p. 117. And I can chaff a CAD.

1860. Macmillan’s Mag., March, p. 327. You don’t think a gentleman can lick a CAD, unless he is the biggest and strongest of the two.

1873. Saturday Review, September, p. 305. At Oxford the population of the University and city is divided into “Dons, men, and CADS.”

Cake, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A stroke with a cane. Also as verb.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. The mildest punishment consisted of caning on the open hand (ironically termed CAKES).

Caker, subs. (The Leys).—A bicycle. [Originally “boneshaker”; whence “shaker” and “CAKER.”]

Call, subs. (Eton).—A remission of ABSENCE (q.v.). “It is a CALL,” i.e. “There is no ABSENCE.”

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, v. The master of the week came down in cap and gown to CALLING-OVER, and the whole school of three hundred boys swept into the big school to answer to their names.

Calton. See you on the Calton, phr. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A challenge to fight. [The Calton Hill lies at the back of the school; it and The Dungeons (q.v.) are the two fighting grounds.]

Calx, subs. (Eton).—The goal line at football. [From a Latin sense of CALX = a goal, anciently marked with lime or chalk.] At Eton CALX is a space so marked off at each end of WALL; GOOD CALX is the end at which there is a door for a goal; BAD CALX the end where part of an elm-tree serves the purpose.

1864. Daily Telegraph, Dec. 1. The Collegers were over-weighted ... and the Oppidans managed to get the ball down into their CALX several times.

Campus Martius, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—Until recently the name by which the battle-ground in The Dungeons (q.v.) was known; now dying out. Formerly the scene of encounters between different classes.

Canals, The (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The two ponds in front of the College.

Candle-keepers, subs. (Winchester).—The seven seniors in College by election who are not Præfects. They enjoy most of the privileges of Præfects without their powers.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 30. The Seven CANDLE-KEEPERS (why so called I have no idea, nor have I ever heard any interpretation of the appellation). These were the seven inferiors who had been longest in the school, quite independently of their position in it; they were generally old and tough. Of these, the senior had almost as much power as a Præfect; he had a “valet” in chambers, one or two “breakfast fags,” and the power of fagging the twenty juniors when in school or in meads. The junior CANDLE-KEEPER was called the “Deputy,” and had also some slight privileges besides that of having a valet and breakfast fag, which was common to all of them.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” The CANDLE-KEEPERS are the next in chambers to the præfects; generally fellows who have not much brains, but from having been a long time in the school, having a certain number of “juniors,” and are excused fagging and have certain minor privileges approaching those of a præfect.

Candlestick, subs. (Winchester).—A humorous corruption of the word “candidate.”

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 175. Each of these [the Electors] had in turn the privilege of nominating a boy for admission into Winchester till all vacancies were filled, of which there were generally about twelve, but always many more “Candidates” (or CANDLESTICKS, as they were often called).

1878. H. C. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 418. Candlestick, merely a facetious version of “candidate.”

1893. Felstedian, June, p. 718, “Oxford Correspondence.” The Char has been daily gay with bright yellow “CANAGGER-CANOODLES,” and pink-and-green Japanese parasols and wobbling punts with their sleeping occupants.

Cannibal, subs. (Cambridge).—In a BUMPING-RACE (q.v.) a College may be represented by more than one boat. The best talent is put into the first, but it has sometimes happened that the crew of the second have got so well together that it has disappointed the prophets and bumped the first of its own College. In this case it is termed A CANNIBAL, it having eaten up its own kind, and a fine is exacted from it by the University Boat Club.

1879. E. H. MARSHALL, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., xi. 375. When I was an undergraduate at Oxford, to CANOODLE was the slang expression for paddling one’s own canoe on the bosom of the Cherwell or the Isis.

Cantab, subs. (Cambridge).—A student at Cambridge University. [An abbreviation of “Cantabrigian.”]

1750. Coventry, Pompey Litt., II. x. (1785), p. 18, col. 1. The young CANTAB ... had come up to London.

1821. Byron, Don Juan, c. iii., st. 126. And I grown out of many “wooden spoons” Of verse (the name with which we CANTABS please To dub the last of honours in degrees).

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 66. The Winchester football game is peculiar. It is played in CANVAS, as it is called. A portion of Meads, some 80 feet by 25, is marked off by screens of canvas on each side, within which the game is played, the two open ends forming the lines of goal, across which the ball is to be kicked. It is placed in the middle of the ground to begin with, and a “hot” formed round it by the players stooping down all close together, with their heads down, and at a given signal trying to force the ball or each other away. The canvas screens answer to the Rugby “line of touch”; when the ball escapes over these it is returned into play by juniors stationed for the purpose, and a hot is formed afresh.

To go on the canvas, verb. phr. (Manchester Grammar).—To finish drill (dumb-bells, clubs, &c.), and do gymnastic exercises on the ladder, bars, rings, and ropes. [The floor beneath the latter was once covered with stuffed canvas; the phrase is retained, though the canvas has given way to mats.]

Cap, subs. 1. (Westminster).—The collection at Play and Election dinners. [The College cap was passed round on the last night of Play for contributions. Cf. “to send round the cap.”]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 157. Queen Elizabeth seems to have been present on at least one occasion, and to have contributed liberally to the CAP, for she is recorded to have paid, in January 1564, the sum of £8, 6s. 8d. for certain plays by the grammar school at Westminster and the children at Powle’s. A shout of “CAP, CAP!” arises, and all available trenchers having been pressed into the service, the captain distributes them amongst the Old Westminster portion of the audience, who present substantial proofs of their satisfaction. The sum collected in the CAP has frequently amounted to above £200. After discharging all expenses of the play the surplus is divided among the performers. But as these expenses have a natural tendency to increase rather than diminish, while the number of old Westminsters present is necessarily fewer than in the more prosperous days of the school, the balance has of late been now and then on the wrong side.

2. (Harrow).—A cap of House Colours, given by Captains of House Cricket elevens to the House eleven, or to some of them. The gift confers permanent membership. Hence, the recipient of such a distinction. See Fez.

1890. Great Public Schools, 94. Second Eleven matches are played between the various Houses, and a challenge cup is presented at the end of the term to the best house. No CAP may play in these matches.

3. (Rugby).—Each House had [1871] two CAPS, one the football cap and the other the house-cap. The former was a sign of distinction, and worn only by the few boys in the school to whom it had been given.... If a boy distinguished himself in cricket, he was allowed to wear a red band; or, as a higher distinction, a blue band.... Distinctions might be varied in all manner of ways according as a boy had won his red or his blue band, his flannels, or his cap.... Caps are now (1890) given by the head of the School Fifteen. After the Caps come the Flannels (q.v.), and then come the players without distinction. The Caps and Flannels in each House go to make up the House Fifteen; the Flannels, without the Caps, go to make up the second fifteen in each House, which is called Below Caps, or for brevity, Below. The next fifteen in each House are called Two Belows, and so on, though it rarely happens that a House has more Belows than two.—Lees Knowles.

Verb (general).—To take off or touch one’s hat in salutation: also TO CAP TO and TO CAP IT.

1593. H. Smith, Scrm. (1871), i. 203. How would they CAP me were I in velvets.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, p. 23, s.v. BORE. Other bores are to attend a sermon at St. Mary’s on Sunday ... TO CAP a fellow.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 183. The CAPTAIN OF ELECTION—the boy who gains first place—has the privilege of being almost entirely exempted from the fagging incidental to his junior year, and has his name painted on the election board in gold letters. These tablets, fixed up in the dormitory, go back as far as 1629; and among the names of the CAPTAINS, besides Lord Mansfield, as already mentioned, may be read those of Markman, Warren Hastings, Cyril Jackson and his brother the bishop, Randolph (Bishop), Abbot (Speaker), Longley, &c.

1865. Etoniana, p. 164. The CAPTAIN OF THE BOATS is perhaps the greatest person in the school next to the head-master—if, indeed, he does not rival that great authority in the estimation of the boys. The whole regulation of the boats, both as to the selection of the crew of the racing “eight,” and of the CAPTAINS of the several boats which form the Fourth of June procession, rests entirely with him; and as he has a great deal of this kind of patronage at his disposal, his influence is very considerable. The boat crews are in some sort looked upon as the aristocracy of the school, and for this reason the position is an object of social ambition amongst the boys.

Cargo, subs. (Winchester).—A hamper from home. The word is still in use.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 77. The boys, eager for breakfast, tumultuously rushed out from school-court ... to see if Poole, the porter, had letters, or, what was even more delightful, a CARGO (a hamper of game or eatables from home).

1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life in our Public Schools. Scholars may supplement their fare with jam, potted meats, ... or, better still, from the contents of CARGOES, i.e. hampers from home.

Cart, verb (University).—To defeat: in a match, a fight, an examination, a race, &c. “We CARTED them home” = we gave them an awful licking.

Case, subs. (Westminster).—The discussion by Seniors and Upper Election preceding a TANNING (q.v.), and the tanning itself.

Cathedral, subs. (Winchester).—A silk hat. [Because worn when going to Cathedral.]

Cat’s, subs. (University).—St. Catharine’s Hall. Hence CAT’S-MEN = members of St. Catharine’s Hall.

Intj. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—The II^nd Class. [Formerly it used to be a custom for the II^nd class to pursue the I^st shouting “Gaits! Gaits! Gai-ai-aits,” to which they replied, “Cats! Cats! Caa-ats!”] See Dogs.

Cat’s Head, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—The end of a shoulder of mutton.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 84. His meal [dinner] took place at six o’clock P.M. in College (in Commoners’ it was at one); it was ample in quantity, and excellent in quality. That of the Præfects was nicely served in joints, that of the Inferiors was divided into portions (Dispars); there were, if I remember rightly, six of these to a shoulder, and eight to a leg of mutton, the other joints being divided in like proportion. All these “Dispars” had different names; the thick slice out of the centre was called “a Middle Cut,” that out of the shoulder a “Fleshy,” the ribs “Racks,” the loin “Long Dispars”; these were the best, the more indifferent were the end of the shoulder, or CAT’S HEAD, the breast, or “Fat Flab,” &c. &c.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, v. His go-to-meeting roof, as his new friend called it. But this didn’t quite suit his fastidious taste in another minute, being too shiny; so, as they walk up the town, they dive into Nixon’s the hatter’s, and Tom is arrayed, to his utter astonishment, and without paying for it, in a regulation CAT-SKIN at seven-and-sixpence.

Cause-money, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—Up-keep money for the path leading to Hills (q.v.).

1891. Wrench, Word-Book, s.v. Cause-money. Money paid for the maintenance of the path leading from College towards Hills.

Causey, The (Stonyhurst).—The avenue between the two ponds in front of the College.

Cave, intj. (Eton).—“Beware!” A byword among boys out of bounds when a master is in sight. [From the Latin.]

Cedar, subs. (Eton).—A pair-oared boat inrigged, without canvas, and very “crank.” [No longer in use.]

Chaff, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A small article or plaything. Also as verb = to exchange; to barter. [A.S. chaffere = to deal, exchange, or barter: as sub. = merchandise. Also (North) chaffle = to haggle.]

1388. Wimbelton, Sermon [MS. Hatton, 57, p. 4]. If thou art a margchaunt, disceyve not thi brother in CHAFFARYNG.

1440. Promptorium Parvulorum [MS. Harl. 221, ff. 206]. Rooryne or chaungyne on CHAFFARE for another.

1450. MS. Bibl. Reg. 12 B. i. f. 19. Emere vel vendere, Anglice to CHAFFARYN.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. Pocket-knives, combs, “precious” marbles, tops, and all the other numerous nondescript articles which go to make up the CHAFFS of a Blue.

Adj. Pleasant; glad. Also CHAFFY. [Possibly, in this sense, a memory of chaff = banter.] Whence, CHAFF FOR YOU = “So much the better for you.” Cf. Vex.

Challenge, subs. (Westminster).—The entrance examination for Queen’s Scholarship. See quot. [In ancient times (vide Stow) St. Peter’s was one of the three great schools whose scholars were accustomed on the days of their patron Saints to challenge each other to a contest of grammar and versification, which was apparently the earliest form of what was afterwards developed not only into the Westminster Challenge, but into the Eton Montem (q.v.).]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 182. He undergoes a very severe examination, called the CHALLENGE, the form of which must have been preserved from Queen Elizabeth’s days, and is the last surviving relic of the old scholastic disputations.

Chamber-day, subs. (Winchester).—A day on which access was allowed to CHAMBERS (q.v.) during the whole day.—Mansfield.

Chambers, subs. (Winchester).—The College bedrooms: in Commoners called Galleries (q.v.). [Chamber is commonly dialectical for bedroom.] See Election Chamber.

Charity-remove, subs. (Harrow).—A “remove” assigned to boys who have remained in the Form below for several successive school quarters.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 297. The intention of these CHARITY-REMOVES (as they are called) is to prevent boys of dull abilities being continually outstripped in the race of promotion by boys younger than themselves; but practically the cases are very few of boys who would be left in the same Form for above three quarters; and even then the promotion is removed if the boy has been “notoriously and ostentatiously” idle.

Charlies, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—Thick gloves made of twine. [Introduced by a Mr. Charles Griffith: hence the name.]

Chase, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To abscond; to run away; as from school.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. At length, to the consternation and perplexity of the authorities, and the delight, admiration, and envy of the fellows, this incorrigible character capped all his former misdeeds by an act of pluck and daring which gained for himself, from that time forth, all the honours of a hero—he CHASED.

2. (Harrow).—A CAD (q.v.); any non-member of the school. Whence Worker-chaw = the boy who runs messages, &c., for the work-shop. Also as verb (football), to play roughly. To be chawed = to be injured.

Check-nights, subs. (Eton).—Rehearsals of the Fourth of June (q.v.) performance. Held every alternate Saturday in the boating season, when the crews rowed up to Surly in their uniform and there regaled themselves—the staple luxury being ducks and green pease. These suppers were open to much objection, and the custom has lately been done away with.—Etoniana (1865).

Cheese, subs. (Schools and University).—An adept; one who “takes the shine out of another”; at Cambridge an overdressed dandy = a HOWLING CHEESE.

1864. Hemyng, Eton School-days. “Do you know Homer, Purefoy?” asked Chudleigh. “No, I have not looked at the lesson yet.” “I am sure I don’t know why you ever do; you are such a CHEESE. I want you to give me a construe.”

1547. Inj. Ed. VI. Commiss. [William of Wykeham, 152]. Item: that all graces to be said or sung at meals within the said College, and other prayers which the said scholars or CHILDREN are bound to use shall be henceforth sung or said evermore in English.

d. 1711. Ken, Manual ... for the use of ... Winchester College. If you are a Commoner, you may say your prayers in your own Chamber; but if you are a CHILD or a Chorister, then to avoid the interruptions of the Common Chambers, go into the Chappel, between first and second Peal in the morning, to say your Morning Prayers, and say your Evening Prayers when you go Circum.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Child. The word “Scholar,” as used by Ken, included the three classes—“Children,” Commoners, and Choristers; and it is observable that, though it has been adopted of late officially to designate the “Children” exclusively, this usage has not extended to the school. “Child” has fallen into desuetude, but its place has not been supplied by any other term.

1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Child ... The “CHILDREN of the Chapel” signifies the boys of the Chapel.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 64. One table, by a curious traditionary custom, is called the CHILDREN’S table—the electors present each choosing one of the junior scholars for their CHILD, and presenting him with a guinea and a luxurious dinner at this privileged table.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Child. Each of the Electors (q.v.) might choose a Scholar on the foundation to attend upon him (a nominal duty in recent times) at election time. These were known as Warden’s CHILD, Warden of New College’s CHILD, &c. Of late the Head Master always chose for his CHILD the head scholar in Cloisters, and the Warden the second. Each CHILD received a guinea from the Elector who appointed him. The Children got off all fagging on DOMUM DAY (q.v.); at Election Dinner they sat at the same table with Writers and Election Grace Singers, where the fare was better than that served to the scholars generally; and they had wine and dessert afterwards in CHILD’S-room in the Warden’s house. Warden’s CHILD had during the following year the duty of applying to the Head Master for every REMEDY (q.v.), and half-remedy that came in the ordinary course. In applying he used the set phrase, “The Præpostors’ duty, and they would be obliged for a remedy” (or “half-remedy”). Whenever the application was something more than a mere form, it was made by the Præfect of Hall, e.g. where a leave out day disturbed the ordinary arrangements of the week.

Chince (or Chinse), subs. (Winchester).—A chance. [Apparently a corrupted form of the word.]

1884. Stonyhurst Mag., June, p. 294. The old kitchen was very near the site of the present one, but a part of it jutted into what is now the end of the Higher Line Washing-place. Just outside this was a flight of old oaken steps leading to the refectory. Beyond these stairs, leading out to the back, there was a very old round-headed oaken door, which is now in the buttery; it is about three hundred years old. This was called CHIP-ENTRY.

Choice, subs. (Harrow).—A candidate in course of trial for an Eleven (House or School), and who has not got his Cap (q.v.), Fez (q.v.), or Flannels (q.v.).

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 33. Besides the Warden, Fellows, masters, and boys, there were twelve “CHORISTERS,” who must by no means be omitted, as they formed an important part of the internal economy. I suppose they were called CHORISTERS because they had not to sing; certainly if ever that was a part of their duty, it had entirely lapsed. Their office was to wait on boys, in hall and chambers, till seven o’clock, and especially to go on errands in the town,—the boys themselves never being allowed to go there, except when invited by friends on Saints’ days. These little CHORISTERS wore chocolate-coloured tail-coats and trousers, with metal buttons; and, on the whole, I think their life must have been a weary one.... Ibid., 189. The CHORISTERS really do sing now, and have not to run errands in the town for boys, but wait on them in the hall instead.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 22. The Bible-clerk meanwhile reading aloud a chapter from the Old Testament, the CHORISTERS waited at table. An antiphonal grace and psalm were sung, after which the CHORISTERS and college servants took their dinner.

Chouse, subs. (Eton and Winchester).—A shame; an imposition. Hence CHOUSER. [A derivative of chouse = trick; swindle: see quot. 1890.]

1864. Athenæum. When an Eton boy says that anything is “a beastly CHOUSE,” he means that it is a great shame; and when an Eton peripatetic tradesman is playful enough to call his customer “a little CHOUSER,” he means that a leaf has been taken out of his own book by one on whom he has practised.

1883. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton. The boy ... was told that what he had done was an awful CHOUSE.

1890. Hist. Eng. Dict. [Murray], s.v. CHOUSE. “As to the origin of the Eng. use, Gifford (1814), in a note on the quot. from Ben Jonson, says, ‘In 1609, Sir Robt. Shirley sent a messenger or CHIAUS to this country, as his agent from the Grand Signior and the Sophy to transact some preparatory business.’ The latter ‘CHIAUSED the Turkish and Persian merchants of £4000,’ and decamped. But no trace of this incident has yet been found outside of Gifford’s note; it was unknown to Peter Whalley, a previous editor of Ben Jonson, 1756; also to Skinner, Henshaw, Dr. Johnson, Todd, and others who discussed the history of the word. Yet most of these recognised the likeness of CHOUSE to the Turkish word, which Henshaw even proposed as the etymon on the ground that the Turkish CHIAUS ‘is little better than a fool.’ Gifford’s note must therefore be taken with reserve.”

Christians, subs. pl. (Cambridge).—Fellows of Christ’s College. [Derivation obvious.]

1865. Etoniana, 23. On the great festivals ... they had permission to spend part of the day in a country walk; not without a strong caution (so similar are the temptations of schoolboys and the anxieties of masters in all ages) against turning into taverns and beer-shops by the way. The “Tap” and the CHRISTOPHER had their earlier prototypes....

Chucks! intj. (general).—A signal of a master’s approach. A French equivalent is Vesse!

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 23 [temp. 1570]. At five the school was dismissed, and the whole resident society—warden, fellows, masters, and scholars—went in procession round the cloisters and the whole interior circuit of the college, which was called GOING CIRCUM. Thus they passed into the hall, where a supper of mutton was served—one dispar to every three boys.

Clacken, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A wooden bat about two feet long with a thin handle and rounded head (e.g. clacken

), flat on both sides, originally used for the game of hails. The game is no longer played at the school, but survives in the Edin. Academy. [A “Hail” in Scotland denotes the place from which a ball is driven off at the commencement of a game. “Clacken” is from “clack,” the clapper of a mill.]

Clarian, subs. (Cambridge).—A member of Clare Hall, Cambridge; also Greyhound (q.v.).

Classicus, subs. (Winchester).—A Junior in each Part (q.v.): his duty is to get lessons set, &c. Classicus-paper = CUSE (q.v.).

Clean-straw, subs. (Winchester).—Clean sheets. [Before 1540 the beds were bundles of straw on a stone floor. At that date Dean Fleshmonger put in oaken floors, and provided proper beds, such as existed in 1871 in Third, and later in the case of the Præfect of Hall’s unused beds in Sixth. The term is never used in reference to mattresses of any kind, straw or other.] The dormitory arrangements are now thoroughly modernised.

Clodding, subs. (Rugby).—A ceremony of initiation [put down by Dr. Wooll, temp. 1808-28] performed on those who were promoted into the Fifth. They had to run along the course of a small gutter which flowed from the cow-sheds (see Barn-school), through a double line of boys, who pelted them with clods of clay moistened in that not very delicate stream. Unpopular boys had these clods specially hardened for their benefit—it was even said with stones inside. On promotion from the Fourth to the Remove a boy had to run the gauntlet up and down the big school between a double line of his fellows, armed with handkerchiefs tied in “Westminster knots.” He was allowed to protect himself with books stuffed inside his trousers; but the punishment was fearful.—Collins.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 117. We had some singular customs at the commencement of Cloister time. Senior part and Cloisters, just before the entrance of the Masters into School, used to engage in a kind of general tournament; this was called CLOISTER-ROUSH.

Cloisters, subs. (Winchester).—The name given to Middle and Junior Part of Fifth Book (q.v.), when combined together in Cloister-time (q.v.).

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 24. But the younger commoners probably seldom came into school, being taught chiefly in the chamber of the warden or fellow under whose charge they were placed; and in summer-time the whole of the scholars usually adjourned for lessons into the adjacent CLOISTERS: a delightful arrangement, from which the latter portion of the “long-half” is still called CLOISTER-TIME.

Cloister-time, subs. (Winchester).—Ten or twelve weeks at the latter end of Long Half, commencing about Whitsunday and ending at Standing-up week (q.v.).

Clow, subs. (Winchester).—Pronounced clō. A box on the ear. [Possibly from clout. Halliwell, clow (Cumberland) = to scratch. Also clew (Glouc.) = a blow.] Also as verb: it was customary to preface the action by an injunction to “hold down.”

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 140. The juniors did not get much fun out of the regular games, as their part consisted solely in kicking in the ball, and receiving divers kicks and CLOWS in return for their vigilance. Ibid., p. 39. Nor, when ordered to “hold down” (i.e. put your head in a convenient position) for a CLOW, would the victim dare to ward off the blow.

Club-keeper, subs. (Harrow).—A Captain of the side in a game: at cricket or football.

1820-5. Wordsworth [Letter, 1889]. The old ground which we played upon was too much upon a slope, and when I was one of the Club-keepers, and head of the eleven, a considerable sum was spent in endeavouring to improve it, and we succeeded in levelling a sufficient space for a tolerably good wicket.

Coach, subs. (formerly University and Public Schools: now common).—A private tutor; and in a transferred sense one who trains another in mental or physical acquirements: e.g. in Sanskrit, Shakspeare, cricket, or rowing. Analagous terms are Crammer, Feeder, and Grinder. Also as verb = to prepare for an examination by private instruction; to train: in general use both by coacher and coachee.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. v. The superb Cuff himself ... helped him on with his Latin verses, COACHED him in play-hours.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxix. p. 240. Besides the regular college tutor, I secured the assistance of what, in the slang of the day, we irreverently termed a COACH.

1853. C. Bede, Verdant Green, pt. I., pp. 63-4. “That man is Cram, the patent safety. He’s the first COACH in Oxford.” “A COACH,” said our freshman in some wonder. “Oh, I forgot you didn’t know college slang. I suppose a royal mail is the only gentleman COACH you know of. Why, in Oxford a COACH means a private tutor, you must know; and those who can’t afford a COACH, get a cab, alias a crib, alias translation.”

1864. Eton School-days, ch. ix. p. 103. Lord Fitzwinton, one of the smallest and best COACHES—in aquatics—in the school.

1870. London Figaro, June 10, “Quadrille Conversation.” It is, we fear, Quixotic to hope that ladies and gentlemen invited to the same ball would COACH with the same master.

1871. Times, “Report of the Debate in House of Lords on University Test Bill.” The test proposed would be wholly ineffective; ... while it would apply to the college tutors, who had little influence over the young men, it would not affect the COACHES, who had the chief direction of their studies.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 29th Nov., p. 1, col. 3. The schoolmaster is concerned with the education of boys up to eighteen; all beyond that falls either to the COACH or the professor.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 15. Our COACH is always finding fault with me.

Coat. To get one’s coat, verb. phr. (Harrow).—To be made a member of the “Sixth Form Game”; the equivalent of the “Twenty-two” at other schools: cricket.

Cob, subs. (Winchester).—A hard hit at cricket; a slogger: a recent introduction. Also as verb (common), to detect; to catch.

Verb. 1. (Stonyhurst).—To purloin oranges, &c., after a Do (q.v.): e.g. “Cob for me,” sometimes whispered by an envious disappointed one to a fortunate friend as he goes into the “Do-room.”

2. (Harrow).—In the verbal sense of COB = to detect; to catch (see subs., ante); the practice at Harrow is almost always to use the word in the passive, with “badly”: e.g. “I was badly COBBED ‘tollying-up’” (q.v.).

Cock, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An elevation from which, at football, a GUARDER (q.v.) kicks balls which “go out”: it corresponds to the “tee” at golf.

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, 85. Fags [at Old Charterhouse] had to fag in reality at cricket; they got COCKED UP if they cut, and they got COCKED UP if they missed a catch, or muffed a ball. A stump was always handy.

Cock-house, subs. (general). A champion house; as at cricket, football—anything.

1890. Great Public Schools, 95. (Harrow) The various Houses are divided into “Upper Round” Houses (being those which possess a member of the School Eleven at the beginning of the term), and “Lower Round” Houses (being those which possess no member of the School Eleven at the beginning of the term). The “Upper Round” Houses are drawn together, and play against each other; and the same course is pursued with regard to the “Lower Round” Houses. When all these ties are played off, the winner of the “Upper Round” plays the winner of the “Lower Round” for COCK-HOUSE. A silver challenge cup is presented to the COCK-HOUSE of the year.

1898. Warner in Harrow School, 271. Coming back from the holidays a boy will eagerly discuss with his comrades the prospects of the term. Have they any chance of being “COCK-HOUSE” in football or cricket—and no chance is too small on which to build a mighty castle of hope.

Cockloft, The (Harrow).—A small room at the top of the Old Schools; in turn a school-room or the limbo for the School-stock (q.v.) of confiscated books.

Cocks, subs. (Charterhouse).—The old washing place. [Early in the century a leaden trough, into which six taps discharged water, was fixed in a corner of Writing School, behind a partition which was constructed to hold Gownboys Library. These taps suggested the term COCKS. Formerly Gownboys washed at the pump.]

Cocoa-club, subs. (The Leys).—Afternoon tea, &c., at four in winter in House rooms or studies.

1854. Thackeray, The Newcomes. Yonder sit some threescore old gentlemen, pensioners of the hospital; ... the Cistercian lads called these old gentlemen CODDS.

Cog. To cog on, verb. phr. (Durham).—To swindle; to cheat: e.g. “To cog on marks.” Also TO COCK ON.

1743. Daniel Wray, Letter from Cambridge [quoted in Etoniana (1865), 70]. One blowing a chafing-dish with a surplice sleeve, another warming a little negus or sipping “COKE UPON LITTLETON,” i.e. tent and brandy.

1899. Public School Mag., Nov., p. 345. To deal first with the outward appearance of the COLL.—(COLL, be it noted, not College.) “That long white barrack by the sea Stares blankly seaward still,” sings Kipling in one of his very early poems.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II. viii. Witless men were cramming for COLLECTIONS.

College-John (Westminster).—The porter and factotum of College: invariably so-called, whatever his name may be.

1899. Public School Mag., Nov., p. 367. The discussion continues as to whether the COLLEGERS should compete for the House Cup. As we have always said, this seems a ridiculous suggestion. If COLLEGE is on a separate foundation to the Oppidans, we can see no reason for them to desire to join in competing for Oppidan events.

1890. Great Public Schools, 14. Parents of independent means rejoice when their sons obtain places on the Foundation at Eton. Admitted after a severe competitive examination, and specially encouraged in the habits of industry, the seventy COLLEGERS generally win a large proportion of the prizes and other distinctions that are offered to Etonians, and maintain the high reputation of their old school in the class lists at Oxford and Cambridge.

College-ware, subs. (Winchester).—Crockery that falls without breaking.—Mansfield.

Combie, subs. (University).—The “Combination room,” a parlour in which college dons drink wine after Hall.

Come. Come up! intj. (Sherborne).—The order given by the Captain of the Games, after 3 Roll on a half-holiday, to start the games at football.

Come-up, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A regulation as to the conditions by which one player might try to take the ball from another: football.

Commoner, subs. (general).—A boy not on the foundation. Whence (Winchester) Commoners = the building they lived in. [Now abolished as a residence and converted into class-rooms with a handsome library. The old building, which presented externally (vide Mansfield) the appearance of an inferior workhouse, was successfully altered by Mr. Butterfield, and is now, in its architecture, worthy of its purpose and surroundings.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 26. Of the fellow-commoners, or COMMONERS, as they are now termed, who have so increased as to form a supplementary body of scholars doubling in number the College boys themselves, it will be necessary to give some account. Provision had been made in the original statutes for the reception and instruction of independent students to the number of ten, sons of noblemen or of “special friends” of the College, who, though not claiming the other advantages of the foundation, might yet wish to avail themselves of its sound teaching; with a proviso that these should not be in any way burdensome to the revenues.... In [Dr. Burton’s] time the College rose rapidly as a place of education for many of the young nobility, and the accommodations were found insufficient. He built what is now remembered by Wykehamists of the past generation as “OLD COMMONERS.” ... The number of COMMONERS gradually increased, until in 1820 they reached 135. “Old Commoners” was pulled down in 1839-41 to make way for the present building, which was the result of a general Wykehamist subscription. Ibid., 115 [Westminster]. In every public school the masters were entirely dependent for any income beyond their statutable salaries on the liberality of the parents of those boys who were admitted as COMMONERS, or oppidans. Ibid., Etoniana, 10. [At Eton] there were two classes of these boys—“generosorum filii Commensales,” and simple “Commensales”—corresponding to the “gentleman-COMMONER” and “COMMONER” of Oxford; the former probably of higher social rank, paying more for their commons, and dining at a separate table.

Commoner-grub, subs. (Winchester).—A dinner formerly given by COMMONERS (q.v.) to College after cricket matches.

Commoners-speaking, subs. (Winchester).—The day on which the speakers, selected from among the Inferiors (q.v.), declaimed.

Common-time, subs. (Winchester).—The Short Half, and beginning of Long up to Easter time.

Commons, subs. (University).—Rations of bread, butter, and milk, supplied from the buttery. [When a number of men breakfast together, the student whose rooms are the rendezvous tells his scout the names of those in-college men who are coming to breakfast with him. The scout then collects their COMMONS, which thus forms the substratum of the entertainment. The other things are of course supplied by the giver of the breakfast, and are sent in by the confectioner. As to the knives and forks and crockery, the scout produces them from his common stock.]

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, viii. Of course you’d like to take out an æger, sir; and I can bring you your COMMONS just the same.

Compo, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—The championship competition in the gymnasium, or at fives; place-kicking.

Compositions, subs. (Stonyhurst).—Three days coming at the end of each quarter, during which the composition work of the various Forms is tested. According to the results is arranged the “Order of Compositions,” which is accepted as fixing a boy’s place in his Form for the ensuing quarter. There is a hill some distance from the College known as “Composition Hill,” so called because the Poets (q.v.) went there for inspiration on composition days. The first and second boys according to the order of Compositions are known respectively as “Roman Imperator” and “Carthaginian Imperator.” The last Compositions of the year used to be known as the “Great Compositions.” By them the Form medals, &c., were decided.

Compound-kish (or Hish), subs. (Marlborough).—The rules of the Latin compound sentence.

Con, subs. 1. (Winchester).—A rap on the head with the knuckles, or with anything hard, such as a cricket ball. Also as verb: to rap with the knuckles. [The derivation formerly accepted at Winchester was κονδυλον = a knuckle, but the editors of the Wykehamist suggest its origin in the North Country con, “to fillip,” with which the French se cogner exactly corresponds.]

2. (general).—That is, “construe.” Hence TO GET A CONSTRUE = to get some one to translate a piece.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 163. I was stopped on my entry into school by the “Minos.” The title of “CONDUCT,” by which the chaplains of Eton College are known, was for many years ludicrously misprinted by the successive editors of Horace Walpole’s Letters, who made him talk of “standing funking over against a conduit to be catechised.”

Conduit, subs. (Winchester).—(1) In College, a water-tap; (2) in Commoners, a lavatory.

Continent, adv. (Winchester).—Ill; on the sick-list: cf. Abroad. [From continens cameram vel lectum.] Hence CONTINENT-ROOM = a sick-chamber.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, i. 2. I pray you have a CONTINENT forbearance; ... if you do stir abroad, go armed.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 146. When a boy felt ill, or inclined to quit school for a period, he had to get leave CONTINENT, which was done by sending a boy in the morning first to get leave from his tutor, and then from the Head Master.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 224. We suggested the “CONTINENT room”; and on being required to say what was to become of the sick boys? replied, that it was notorious that there was never anything the matter with them!

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” I remember that I have to get “LEAVE CONTINENT” for one of the fellows, i.e. he wants to be “æger for the day” (“continent,” of course = “keeping indoors,” being confined to “sick house” or the infirmary). I have to ask leave from the senior præfect in chambers, the præfect of hall, the second master, and the head-master, whom I waylay going to chapel.

Cool (or Cool-kick), subs. (Eton).—A kick at football with no one near. Also as verb = to kick hard.

Copus, subs. (University).—A wine or beer cup: commonly imposed as a fine upon those who talked Latin in Hall, or committed other breaches of etiquette. [Dr. Johnson derives it from episcopus, and if this be correct it is doubtless the same as Bishop.]

Copy, subs. (Harrow).—An asterisk: e.g. as placed on the broadsheet against the name of any boy who comes out top of his division in any subject; three COPIES secure a prize in Speech-room. See Appendix.

Corner, intj. (The Leys).—Look out! Clear the way! [Originally shouted as a warning by boys cycling about the buildings on approaching a corner.]

Corner-monitor, subs. (Harrow).—The monitor in turn at Bill (q.v.) to keep line and preserve order generally.

Cosh, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A caning. Also as verb = to cane. A rarer word is TANK (q.v.).

Cots, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quot. [A corruption of “cotton.”]

1810. Charles Lamb, Recollections of Christ’s Hospital [1835], p. 24. The COTS, or superior Shoe Strings of the Monitors.

Coup, verb. 1. (Durham).—To upset: in frequent use on the river. [North dia. COUP = to empty or overset.]

2. (Stonyhurst).—At Bandy (q.v.), to lift the ball from the ground by means of the crook of the stick.

Course, subs. (Winchester).—Duty: in rota. In course = on duty. [Course-keeper (obsolete) = a Commoner who drew up a table of fagging duties.—Wrench.]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 206. Course-keeper, an office in the patronage of the Commoner Præfects, the duties of which were principally connected with the organisation of the fagging department. He was required to have been three years in the school, to be of reasonable bodily strength, and in Middle Part. His privileges were numerous, the principal being that he was allowed to fag. When he ascended into Senior Part his duties ceased, but his privileges remained; he was then called EX-COURSE-KEEPER.

Court, The (Stonyhurst).—The quadrangle behind the College Towers; now more commonly called the Quadrangle. [“Quadrangle” was one of the names which puzzled the Claimant in the famous Tichborne Trial. Cf. Times reports; also Stonyhurst Magazine, vol. i. p. 294, and vol. ii. p. 317.]

Courts, subs. (Sherborne).—The school quadrangles: the earliest known use of the term is at the end of the sixteenth century.

c. 1890. More Gleanings from The Blue, 84. Time was when it was looked upon as a sacred duty on the first Sunday of each term to introduce Hertford boys to those three stones in the Ditch which represent the toffee man, to show them his six little children, his brush and comb, his windmill, and whatsoever else belonging to him the imaginative youth can discern in the bare stones under the COWSHED, as it is called. Those “sermons in stones” belonged essentially to Sunday.

Cow-shooter, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A “deer-stalker” hat: worn by Præfects and Candle-keepers (q.v.).

Coxy, adj. (general).—Stuck up; conceited; impudent. [Coxy = conceited (Warwickshire).—Halliwell.]

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, p. 202. He’s the COXIEST young blackguard in the house—I always told you so. Ibid., p. 214. “Confoundedly COXY those young rascals will get if we don’t mind,” was the general feeling.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. iv. “Now then, young Bultitude, you used to be a decent fellow enough last term, though you were COXY. So, before we go any further—what do you mean by this sort of thing?”

Crackle (or Crackling), subs. (University).—The velvet bars on the gowns of the Johnian “Hogs” (q.v.). [From a resemblance to the scored rind on roast pork.] The covered bridge between one of the courts and the grounds of John’s is called the Isthmus of Suez (Latin sus, a swine).

1885. Cuthbert Bede, in Notes and Queries, 6 S., xi. 414. The word CRACKLE refers to the velvet bars on the students’ gowns.

Cram, subs. (general).—An adventitious aid to study; a translation; a crib. As verb = to study at high pressure. Hence, CRAMMER = a COACH (q.v.); a GRINDER (q.v.); and CRAMMING = studying hard.

1812. Miss Edgeworth, Patronage, ch. iii. Put him into the hands of a clever grinder or CRAMMER, and they would soon cram the necessary portion of Latin and Greek into him.

1825. Hone, Every-Day Book, Feb. 22. Shutting my room door ... and CRAMMING Euc.

1841. Punch, vol. i. p. 201, col. 1. Aspirants to honours in law, physic, or divinity, each know the value of private CRAMMING.

1844. Puck, p. 13. Though for Great Go and for Small, I teach Paley, CRAM and all.

1853. Bradley (“C. Bede”), Verdant Green, pt. II. p. 68. The infatuated Mr. Bouncer madly persisted ... in going into the school clad in his examination coat, and padded over with a host of CRAMS.

1863. Charles Reade, Hard Cash, i. p. 16. “All this term I have been (‘training’ scratched out and another word put in: c—r oh, I know) CRAMMING.” “Cramming, love?” “Yes, that is Oxfordish for studying.”

1869. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. xv. 574 (9th ed.). And here, by higher culture, I do not mean mere language-learning, and an extension of the detestable CRAMMING system at present in use.

1872. Besant and Rice, My Little Girl. The writer of one crushing article CRAMMED for it, like Mr. Pott’s young man.

1872. Evening Standard, Aug. 16. “The Competition Wallah.” The CRAMMER follows in the wake of competitive examinations as surely as does the shadow the body.

1872. Daily News, Dec. 20. Competitive examinations for the public service defeated in a great measure the object of their promoters, which was to place rich and poor on an equality, because success was made to depend very largely on successful CRAMMING, which meant a high-priced CRAMMER.

1841. Punch, i. 177. Cribbing his answers from a tiny manual ... which he hides under his blotting-paper. Ibid., 185. He has with a prudent forethought stuffed his CRIBS inside his double-breasted waistcoat.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxii. I wish I had read Greek a little more at school, ... when we return I think I shall try and read it with CRIBS.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II. ch. vi. Tom, I want you to give up using vulgus books and CRIBS. Ibid., ii. 3. Two highly moral lines ... which he CRIBBED entire from one of his books.

1889. Globe, 12th Oct., p. 1, col. 4. Always, it seems likely, there will be men “going up” for examinations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily “Heathen Pass-ee” like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had CRIBS up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.

1890. Great Public Schools, 182. The crick is the most celebrated of all school runs. Everybody, I fancy, in the running world has heard of it. On a day at the end of the Christmas term—generally on the first Thursday in December—you may see all the School assembled at the “Quad gates.”... The crick is only run once a year. Its course is along roads and footpaths to Crick village, and then back by Hillmorton, the finish being a length of about a third of a mile along the Hillmorton Road. It is a race pure and simple; and is in this respect a race against time.... The length of the race is supposed to be about eleven or twelve miles, and the time in which it is run is generally between an hour and twenty minutes and an hour and a half.

Cricket-bill, subs. (Harrow).—A “call-over” on the cricket-ground. All fall into line, down which a master goes noting the number of those absent as stated by the Shepherds (q.v.).

Crocketts, subs. (Winchester).—A kind of bastard cricket, sometimes called “small CROCKETTS.” A stump was used and a fives ball, with a bat of plain deal about two inches broad, or a broomstick. To get crocketts = to fail to score; to get a “duck’s egg.” Cf. Books.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 122. The more noisily disposed would indulge in ... playing Hicockolorum, or CROCKETTS.

Cropple, verb (Winchester).—To pluck; to plough—UP TO Books. [Wykehamicé for cripple.]

Cross. To be crossed, verb. phr.—For not paying term bills to the bursar (treasurer), or for cutting chapels, or lectures, or other offences, an undergrad. can be CROSSED at the buttery, or kitchen, or both, i.e. a CROSS is put against his name by the Don, who wishes to see him, or to punish him.

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, pt. II. ch. x. Sir!—You will translate all your lectures; have your name CROSSED on the buttery and kitchen books; and be confined to chapel, hall, and college.

Crow, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A master. [From the black gown with “wings.”]

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, 96. At Old Charterhouse the word CROWN, with a sort of coronet above it, was painted in large white letters on a wall near the racket courts. The story is that the Crown Inn once stood just outside this wall.... When the inn was pulled down, Lord Ellenborough, then a boy in the school, painted a crown on a wall near the place where the inn had stood. Years after, on his return from India, being touched to find his boyish work still in existence, he expressed a hope that it might never be allowed to vanish; so it has been painted again from time to time, and Merchant Taylors’ still keep it fresh. This “CROWN” was not near the tuck-shop, which was a grimy cellar under the old school, with the face of a disused clock for a signboard, and the superscription, “NO TICK HERE.” But it was thought fit that the memory of this old word should be kept up somehow and somewhere at the new school, so a large theatrical-looking crown was suspended, like a tavern sign, outside the school tuck-shop in the pavilion. In this way the name and memory of this bit of antiquity are preserved.

1884. Stonyhurst Mag., June, p. 294. The churn was in the latter days [1834] turned by a wheel worked by water supplied from the CROW WOOD.

Crug, subs. 1. (Christ’s Hospital).—At Hertford, a crust; in the London school, crust and crumb alike.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Christ’s Hospital) [Works (1852), 322]. He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter of a penny loaf—our CRUG.

Cruganaler, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A biscuit given on St. Matthew’s Day. [Orthography dubious. Blanch inclines to the following derivation: “The biscuit had once something to do with those nights when bread and beer, with cheese, were substituted for bread-and-butter and milk. Thence the term ‘crug and aler.’ The only argument against this is the fact that the liquid was never dignified with the name of ale, but was invariably called ‘the swipes.’ By another derivation = ‘hard as nails.’ It is then spelt CRUGGYNAILER.”] Obsolete.

Cud, adj. 1. (Winchester).—Pretty; handsome. [A suggested derivation is from κυδος; another is the A.S. cuð, the Scots couthie, and whence cuðle, to cuddle (a derivative of cuð), the meaning formerly given to a verbal usage of CUD at Winchester.]

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—Severe. Whence CUDDY = hard: difficult; said of a lesson. Also Hertfordicé for PASSY (q.v.). [There is a common hard biscuit called a “cuddy-biscuit” which doubtless has this derivation.] Obsolete.

Cup-fag, subs. (Charterhouse).—A boy whose duty it is to place the challenge cups, should his House have any, in their cases each morning, and remove them to a safe place every night. He has also to keep them clean, and for neglect of any of these duties he is fined. He receives a quarterly payment for his services, and is exempt from other forms of fagging.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 108. A curtain formerly was drawn across the school, dividing the upper forms from the lower. One day a boy was so unlucky as to tear it; and Busby’s known severity left no doubt of the punishment that would follow. The offender was in despair, when a generous schoolfellow volunteered to take the blame upon himself and suffered in his friend’s stead accordingly.... In three year’s time he was sufficiently advanced to be admitted by Busby ABOVE THE CURTAIN—that is, into the fourth class, the lowest in the upper school. Of this class, however, he says the head-master “took little or no care,” but as he rose into the higher forms he found the teaching more satisfactory.

Cuse, subs. (Winchester).—A book in which a record is kept of the “marks” in each division; a CLASSICUS PAPER (q.v.): also used for the weekly order.

Custos, subs. (Harrow).—The official who looks after all arrangements in the way of stationery, &c., keeps the keys, cuts names on the House-boards, &c.

Cut, verb (general).—To avoid; to absent oneself from: e.g. TO CUT LECTURE, TO CUT CHAPEL, TO CUT HALL, TO CUT GATES. See Appendix.

To cut into, verb. phr. (Winchester).—Originally to hit one with a “ground ash.” The office was exercised by Bible-clerks upon a man kicking up a row when up to Books. Now generally used in the sense of to correct in a less formal manner than TUNDING (q.v.).

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866). Cut in a book.—A method of drawing lots. A certain letter was fixed on (e.g. the first in the second line on the left page), each boy then turned over a leaf, and whoever turned over the leaf in which the corresponding letter was nearest to A, won.

Dab, subs. (Harrow).—The entrance examination: held at the beginning of term.

To be a DAB = to be skilled at anything. Hence, the two entrance examinations, one at the end of term, and the other at the very beginning of the next, are the SKEW (q.v.) and the DAB respectively. The DAB offers no second chance; hence a bad candidate tries the “skew” first.

Dame, subs. (Eton).—A mathematical or other master (except a classical) who keeps a boarding-house for boys in College. Also (obsolete) at Harrow. See Appendix, and quot. 1867.

1786-1805. Tooke, Parley, 390, s.v. Battel. A term used at Eton for the small portion of food which in addition to the College allowance the Collegers receive from their DAMES.

1865. Etoniana, 133. Formerly these [boarding] houses were almost entirely kept by “DAMES” or “Dominies”—the latter being the old style when there was a male head of the establishment, though now the term “DAMES” applies to all without reference to sex. Tutors and assistant-masters used to live in most of these houses, but had no charge over the boys. Only the lower master and some of the senior assistant-masters kept houses of their own. There are now twenty boarding-houses kept by masters, and ten by “DAMES”—of whom four only are ladies.

1866-72. “Mac,” Sketchy Memories of Eton (1885). I am thankful to say that I did not attend the show. But I happened to see the World conducted back to his DAME’S, and the spectacle was gruesome. The punishment inflicted had been very considerable, and I do not think the World appeared in public for quite a fortnight.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools [Harrow], p. 293. All these [sixteen boarding-houses other than the head-master’s] are kept by assistant-masters, and form one considerable source of their income. No DAMES’ boarding-houses are now sanctioned; and for the good order of his establishment each master is responsible.

1890. Great Public Schools, 16. Until recently some of the boarding-houses were kept by assistant-masters, the remainder by “dominies” or “DAMES,” who took no part in the work of education, and had little or no disciplinary jurisdiction. The boys, therefore, who boarded in DAMES’ houses had as their tutors assistant-masters residing elsewhere. Now, although there remains only one female DAME, the teachers of mathematics, science, and French are for some purposes accounted DAMES.

Damnation-corner, subs. (Eton).—See quot., and Damnation-hill (Appendix).

1866-72. “Mac,” Sketchy Memories of Eton (1885). Meanwhile, “regardless of our doom, we little victims played,” or rather watched the play; we little knew what cruel fate awaited us, or that the present head-master of Eton and the Rev. F. W. Cornish lay in ambush for our outcoming behind that very sharp turn in the High Street, which, on account of its acute angle, and the consequent danger of being nailed in shirking in old days, was somewhat flippantly termed DAMNATION-CORNER.

Dancing Gallery, The (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The old name of the Picta Gallery.

1884. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 290. The gallery now known as “Our Lady’s Gallery,” which in former times was designated THE DANCING GALLERY. It is by competent judges pronounced to be one of the finest bits of “Baronial Gothic” architecture in England, but the door is quite a solecism, for it is of a much later design.

Dark Walk, The (Stonyhurst).—A long avenue of tall yew trees in the garden. Tradition says the last of the Shireburns was poisoned by eating some of the berries from these trees. Cf. Stonyhurst Mag., ii. 179; iv. 703.

1885. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 179. The DARK WALK formerly extended a considerable way nearer the house than now, and when the Jesuits came it was found necessary to encroach upon the gardens to make room for the playgrounds, and a certain part of the DARK WALK was taken in.

Darker (Harrow).—The photographic “dark-room”: formerly under the Science Schools.

1890. Great Public Schools, 297. Besides the ordinary forms of punishment, there is the DATE-CARD, of which refractory or forgetful youths write out selected “twelves.” It is much more useful to know “Gutenberg prints from moveable type, 1453,” than to record “Infaudum, regina, jubes renovare dolorem.”

Day (Stonyhurst).—Rector’s Day, Provincial’s Day, General’s Day—whole holidays given in honour of superiors; in the two former instances accompanied by presentations of verses written by the boys. [The word “DAY” seems as peculiar as “PLACE” (q.v.). Cf. the “Three hundred-day,” given when the number of boys first reached three hundred; “Kenna’s Day,” on the occasion of the visit of Captain Kenna, V.C., to the College, &c.]

Dean, subs. (Winchester).—A small band of wood round a Bill-brighter (q.v.); that securing a fagot is called a Bishop (q.v.).

Deg, subs. and verb (The Leys).—To degrade; to depose. Hence, one who has forfeited rank or office by misconduct.

Degrade, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To feel degradation: e.g. he is DEGRADED to do so-and-so.

Dep, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A deputy Grecian (q.v.), i.e. a boy in the form below the Grecians.

Deputy, subs. (Winchester).—The Junior Candlekeeper (q.v.), who had the organisation of the Fagging department, and assisted the Senior Candlekeeper in thrashing the Juniors in Hall.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Derrywag, subs. (Harrow).—Paper used for parsing: ruled twenty lines down, and six across. [That is, “derivation paper.”]

Deten, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A card issued to a boy set down for Saturday afternoon detention. Also called a SOUP-TICKET.

Dex, subs. (Loretto).—A form of “small cricket” once extremely popular at Loretto. [The name originated with Andrew Lang, and was not intended to be complimentary to the game. Often called PUDDEX, owing to a mistaken derivation.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 165. Two pen-knives, two pieces of india-rubber, two pencils, two pieces of sealing-wax, two pieces of penstring, two DIPS (little globular ink-bottles), two DIP-CORKS, two wedges, two pieces of gutta-percha (for putting on the points of foils), and any number of pens. [Contents of a Westminster fag’s pocket.]

2. (Felsted).—An “incandescent” electric lamp. Hence DIP-KEY = an electric light switch-key.

Dispar (or Disper), subs. (Winchester).—A portion; a share. See quot., and Cat’s-head.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 22. Under the superintendence of the præfectus ollæ (prefect of tub), portions of beef, called DISPARS, were served out to the boys in messes of four, with a sufficiency of bread, and beer in large black jacks.

Distinguished, adj. (Stonyhurst).—Said of a boy who obtains two-thirds of the marks in any examination. “Distinction” in the year’s work wins a prize, and term “distinctions” are otherwise rewarded.

1854. The Blue [quoted in] July 1871. The Steward did not attempt to quiet us; he got us out of the Hall as quickly as he could, and we rushed to the Treasurer’s house in the DITCH, and cried “Shame” till we were tired.

Do, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A general name for minor and special suppers: usually given to some privileged class, or in reward for some extra work: e.g. Choir-DO; Magazine-DO (given to the staff and contributors to the School magazine). Cf. Good-supper and Good-breakfast. Whence DO-ROOM = the long room in which a DO is held. [As a rule words with the suffix “room” are modern; “PLACE” (q.v.) is the older form.]

Dock, verb (Winchester).—To erase: as by rubbing out, or by a stroke of the pen; to tear out: as leaves from a book. Also DOCK OUT.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 27. The Head Master, or the Doctor, as he is always called, lives in “Commoners’ buildings.”

Dog-biscuit, subs. (Charterhouse).—A biscuit, which with a glass of milk, or (in winter) a cup of coffee, may be had before chapel at 7.30 A.M.

Dogs, intj. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—The III^rd Class: formerly used as was CATS (q.v.) of the II^nd Class.

1889. Barrere, Slang, Jargon, and Cant, p. 317. Cadets thus term a student who accelerates, that is, who, being pretty certain of not being able to obtain a commission in the engineers, or not caring for it, elects to join a superior class before the end of the term.

Dole, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A stratagem; a trick: as to get one out of bed. [From Latin dolus.]

Dolphin, subs. (Harrow).—A boy who has passed a certain examination in swimming and diving: about the fifteen best, as a rule, are so named.

1890. Great Public Schools, p. 96. On the last Monday of the term there is a contest for the best swimmer and the best diver, a challenge cup being given for these events by Lord Ebrington. There are also contests for racing, picking up eggs, and to become “DOLPHINS,” and for a Humane Society medal.

Domum, intj. (Winchester; obsolete).—The summons back from Hills: given by College Juniors. Also as in quot.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 207. Domum—a Latin Canticle, supposed to have been written by a boy who was not allowed to go home for the holidays. The tradition says that he carved it on a tree, and then committed suicide. On the last Friday in Long Half, after Election, a kind of festival was held in the evening, when numbers of people came into College, and DOMUM was sung over and over again in School, Meads, and the principal Quadrangle ... at each place (p. 183) singing DOMUM louder than before, till at last the power failed, and the ladies, visitors, and superannuates went to recruit their energies for a brief period before going to the DOMUM-BALL at St. John’s rooms.

Domum-ball, subs. (Winchester).—A ball given by the superannuated College Prefects on the evening after the “men” go home for the Midsummer holidays.

Don, subs. (University).—A fellow or officer of a college; whence the vulgar usage = an adept; a swell. [From Latin dominus, a lord, through the Spanish title.]

1665. Dryden, Indian Emperor, Epilogue, 21. For the great DONS of wit—Phœbus gives them full privilege alone, To damn all others, and cry up their own.

1698-1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. XIII. p. 299. Like the Great Old DONS of the Law, when they dance the Measures in an Inns-of-Court Hall upon the first day of Christmas.

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, i. p. 7 (2nd ed.). The old DONS ... will come cringing, cap in hand, to offer to show the ladies the curiosities of the college.

1826. Reynolds (“Peter Corcoran”), Song on the Fancy. Dull innocence! Twaddle on, Thy weary worshipper—and fain Would give thee up, to be a DON, And beat the watch in Drury Lane.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xi. Does not go much into society, except ... once or twice to the houses of great country DONS who dwell near him in the country.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, sung by Jenny Hill. “’Arry, ’Arry, There you are now, ’Arry, I say, ’Arry, by Jove, you are a DON.”

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 11. What the DONS can be about to allow boys ... to have a bottle of champagne each, and then “more,” I can not understand.

Dor, subs. (Old Westminster).—See quot. [To obtain a dor = to get leave to sleep.—Halliwell.]

1715. J. Kersey, English Dictionary. Sub voce, a term used at Westminster School for leave to sleep awhile.

Double, subs. 1. (Loretto).—A general assembly of the school. The first double is for morning prayers at 9.30 A.M. after first hour’s school. After prayers, sides for the day are arranged in Hall. The head boy holds a double after dinner, when the exercise of those not playing in regular games is arranged. [Originally summoned by a double bell.]

1886. Stonyhurst Mag., iii. 18. Double puff, ... a game played after the fashion of “tip and run,” except that instead of a wicket and tennis ball a Stonyhurst cricket bat is used, and a ball about the size of an ordinary BANDY (q.v.) ball, made of soft material and covered with sheepskin, which made it very hard to hit far, and still harder either to catch, or to pick up and throw in.... The distance between the wickets is not as long as in wicket cricket; and the rule about bowling is the same as in Stonyhurst cricket, namely, under-arm and not waiting till the batsman is ready. It used to be played a good many years ago on Sunday afternoons, between Vespers and supper; and the community used to come out in large numbers to play it.

Double-ruled, subs. (Harrow).—Punishment paper. [Ruled double like a copy-book.]

Doul, subs. (Shrewsbury and Durham).—A fag. Also as verb. Obsolete at Durham. Cf. Dowlings.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools [Shrewsbury], p. 250. Four boys are “put on” by rotation every week as general fags for the head common room, whose duties in modern days consist chiefly in fetching and carrying. These fags are called DOULS (δουλος) in the classical Shrewsbury vernacular.

Dove, subs. (Cambridge: obsolete).—A member of St. Catharine’s College.

1889. C. Whibley, Three Centuries of Cambridge Wit, p. xxix. It is said that the members of St. Catharine’s Hall were first of all called “Puritans” from the derivation of the name of their patroness from καθαίρειν. The “dove” being the emblem of purity, to change a name from “Puritans” to DOVES was but one short step.

1883. Pascoe, Life at our Public Schools. There are four or five compulsory games a week (football) known as DOWLINGS (δουλος).

Down. To be down, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To be engaged in fagging: as in the cricket field, &c. A College usage.

Draw. To draw round, verb. phr. (Felsted).—Originally to bustle about; to chastise in a jocular way. Later, and usually = to smack on the face or head.

Dreep (or Dreip), subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A curiously dressed person: e.g. “That’s a funny-looking DREEP.”

Drive, verb (Felsted).—To be late, or nearly late, for a roll-call. Also as subs.: e.g. “He did a drive.”

Intj. (Felsted).—A contemptuous retort, signifying that a piece of news is stale: originally DRIVE UP! [The original usage.]

Dry-bob, subs. (Eton).—A boy who goes in for cricket rather than boating. See Wet-bob.

1839. Buckland [Macmillan’s Mag. (Nov. 1889), “Eton Fifty Years Ago”]. It was the ambition of most boys to be a wet-bob, and to be “in the boats.” The school was divided between wet-bobs and DRY-BOBS, the former taking their pleasure on the river, and the latter in the cricket-field.

Duchess’ Rooms (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A section of the old College once inhabited by a Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

1885. Stonyhurst Mag., ii. 100. The whole of this building ... stood in what is now the back court.... It was entirely of wood and plaster, in the style denominated “post and pattern.” The Duchess of Norfolk, the last of the Shireburns, daughter of Sir Nicholas, resided in it, hence the name of THE DUCHESS’ ROOMS by which it was last known. She faced the front of the wooden building with stone, and inserted sash windows, a style then coming into fashion.

Duck, subs. 1. (Winchester).—The face. To make a duck = to grimace. [Duck (var. dial.) = to bow.]

3. (Harrow).—One of the House swimming four, upwards of sixteen. Whence DUCKLING = one under sixteen.

1890. Great Public Schools, p. 96. “Ducker” is open all the summer term, and for two weeks after the boys go back in September. For those who care for swimming there are inter-House swimming matches; and each House elects DUCKS (boys over sixteen) and DUCKLINGS (boys under sixteen) to compete for Cock-House.

Ducker, The (Harrow).—The school bathing-place beyond the Footer Fields: the largest artificial open-air bathing place in England. Originally the Duck-puddle. [Probably the first example of the “-ER” terminations: it is at least forty years old.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 322. Bathing was always, until very lately, practised under difficulties at Harrow. The common bathing-place, known as DUCK-PUDDLE ... was a long piece of muddy water, varying from four to eight feet in depth. There, after it had been stirred up by all possible means into more of a puddle than usual, new boys were formally dipped.... To avoid mixing in the general wash at DUCK-PUDDLE, many boys used to go out to the Brent at Perivale, or even as far as Ellestree reservoir, for bathing; and these were favourite expeditions on the mornings of Saints’ days. But Dr. Vaughan had the old “puddle” lined with brick, and supplied with water by a steam-engine, to the great additional comfort of the bathers.

Ducks, subs. (Harrow).—Football knickerbockers. [Made of white “duck.”]

Dump, verb (Winchester).—To extinguish: as a candle. Ex. DUMP the TOLLY (q.v.). [Dump (Devon) = to knock heavily; to stump.]

Dungeons. Meet you in the dungeons, phr. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A challenge to fight. See Calton, and Campus Martius.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 186. Besides the regular weekly half-holidays, there are others specially granted, known as EARLY and LATE PLAYS. The latter, given by the head-master at his discretion, consists in the remission of all school work after eleven A.M. But an EARLY PLAY—when school is “up” at nine—is a much more formal indulgence, accorded by very ancient custom only to the personal request of some visitor of distinction. St. David’s Day (March 1st) and St. Patrick’s (March 17) have always been holidays of this class: for the former, the late and the present Sir Watkin Wynn have always come down to Westminster; and for the latter, the late Marquess of Lansdowne (as an Irish peer) and Sir Everard Home. The custom, even now observed on some occasions, was for the visitor’s arrival at the gate to be formally announced to the head-master by Monos, who received a “tip” for his services. The master at once “came down school,” and reappeared through the great door, accompanied by the hero of the day, who was received by the boys with great demonstrations of welcome, expressed by the vigorous rapping of books on the desks. Both knelt down side by side, while the “monitor of school,” kneeling immediately in front of them, proceeded with the usual school prayers. The visitor then “begged a play,” which was granted. The applause was renewed, and acknowledged by a bow, after which the whole of the boys rushed joyously down school, the masters following in more grave and stately fashion. The visits of the “King of North Wales” were doubly popular, since he presented every Welsh boy with a sovereign—a custom which the present baronet liberally continues.

Egg (or Egg-up), verb (Marlborough).—To show ostentatious zeal. Whence EGGER (subs.) and EGGY (adj.).

Egg-flip Day, subs. (Winchester).—The Founder’s Commemoration Day. [Because a favourite beverage at the festivities succeeding the great annual football match played on that day between the “first sixes” of Commoners and College was “Egg-flip.”]

Eggotty, adj. (Felsted).—Used as follows: A boy seen carrying an egg or eggs, if addressed by another as “EGGOTTY,” might, must in fact, almost in honour, throw an egg at him. If the egg-owner was a good shot he would invite his friend “call me EGGOTTY.”

Election, subs. (Winchester).—The examination of Præfects and Senior Part for New College, and of candidates for admission to Winchester.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 164. From about 8 to 10 he [the fag] is supposed to be at work, in a sort of common room assigned to the juniors collectively, preparing his lessons for next day; but the call of “ELECTION,” which signifies that the services of one of the junior election is required by one of the seniors, used to be frequent enough to be a very serious interruption. It is admitted that these demands upon a junior’s time have commonly been such that “a boy tempted to be idle, as most of them are, finds very considerable difficulty in doing his work.” In order to check these interruptions as far as possible, a late regulation has made all fagging unlawful during these evening hours of work.

To gain a year by election, verb. phr. (Winchester).—A boy not being a Founder (q.v.) was obliged to leave at the Election immediately succeeding his eighteenth birthday; he whose birthday came shortly after Election, was thus enabled to stay till he was nearly nineteen, and was so said “to gain a year.”—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Electors, subs. (Winchester).—The Warden and two Fellows of New College, and the Warden, Sub-Warden, and Head-master of Winchester, who conducted Election (q.v.).—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Elegant Extracts, subs. (Cambridge).—Students who, though “plucked,” were still given their degrees. A line was drawn below the poll-list, and those allowed to pass were nicknamed the ELEGANT EXTRACTS. There was a similar limbo in the honour-list.

End, subs. 1. (Winchester).—A table or division of a table in College Hall, practically meaning “mess.”—Wrench.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 208. End.—At dinner-time the Inferiors (q.v.) were divided into six companies, each being presided over by a Candlekeeper (q.v.). These companies and the table at which they sat were called ENDS.

English, subs. (Winchester).—A translation; an adventitious aid to study; a crib.

Erasmus. Great (or LITTLE) ERASMUS FORM, subs. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quot.

1834. Trollope, History of Christ’s Hospital. The great and little erasmus forms get their respectable and respective titles from the fact that their tenants in old time studied the larger and smaller Colloquies of the learned Erasmus.

1870-95. More Gleanings from The Blue, 191. The Great Erasmus.—The origin of a name is seldom what one thinks it ought to be. Those of us who rejoice in being able to write after our names the mystic letters, L.E.x., L.E.y., L.E.z., are distinguished from our less fortunate neighbours by the lightning fluency with which we are able to talk secrets in Greek. Erasmus is a Greek word, and the Dutchman, thanks to a visit to Oxford, became so great a scholar in Greek, that he was appointed first Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge.... Unfortunately, this is all wrong as far as the LITTLE ERAS. are concerned, for they were not called ERAS. because they knew Greek, but because they read Latin.... Erasmus did a kindness to Christ’s Hospital long after his death in having written a number of “Colloquies,” conversations between typical characters of his day, in clear and faultless Latin.

Ewe-lamb, subs. (The Leys).—A school hour in which a Master or Prefect has no appointed lesson.

Ex, subs. (Harrow).—(1) An exercise of any sort; and (2) an EXEAT (q.v.). Also (Charterhouse) in sense 2, but not EXTRA, sense 3 (q.v.).

Exeat, subs. 1. (general).—Written permission to go away from School or College either at the end or during the term for a longer period than a day. Cf. Absit.

1886. Dickens, Dict. of Cambridge, 3. No undergraduate should go down without obtaining his EXEAT.

2. (Charterhouse).—An interval in the middle of each of the three terms of the school year; it was instituted so that there might be no leaving at odd times. It lasts from noon on Saturday to 6.45 P.M. on the following Monday. Formerly Upper School had a going-out Saturday every week, and the Under School one every other week, and leave lasted from noon on Saturday till Sunday evening chapel. Also at Harrow a similar term of leave.

Exercises, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—Ordinary Form lessons, not merely written work: seventeenth century.

Explain. Don’t explain! intj. (The Leys).—An injunction to silence; “Shut up!”

Extra, subs. (Harrow).—1. Extra school on Tuesdays, when those SENT (q.v.) copy out Latin grammar for two hours and a half: an extreme punishment.

2. (Harrow).—An extra day’s BOY (q.v.): given to those who CUT (q.v.) when “on boy.”

3. (Charterhouse).—Extra school: it lasts from 2 to 4 every Wednesday afternoon. The ways of procuring admission to it are various: to neglect a REP (q.v.) or a “construe,” to be late for anything, to make a noise in the cubicles, to come into school in slippers, or any misdemeanour leads to a boy being “down for EXTRA.” The entries are kept in ... The Black Book. Extra school is for offences committed during the first part of the week. There is also Extra drill on Saturdays in Scholars’ Court, which lasts half the time of Extra school, and which is much more disliked, for offences committed between a Thursday and a Saturday.

Ex Trumps, adv. phr. (Winchester).—Extempore. To go up to books ex trumps = to go to class without preparing one’s lesson.

Fag, subs. 1. (general).—A boy who does menial work for a schoolfellow in a higher Form. [From FAG, to grow weary.]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 37. The duties of a FAG, in the days of which I write, may be more easily described by informing the reader what he had not to do, than by endeavouring to make out a list of his positive duties. I believe when I say that he had not to make the beds, nor to clean shoes, I have exhausted the negative catalogue.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xviii. Bob Trotter, the diminutive FAG of the studio, who ran on all the young men’s errands, and fetched them in apples, oranges, and walnuts.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, vii. These were the principal duties of the FAGS in the house. From supper until nine o’clock three FAGS taken in order stood in the passages, and answered any præposter who called “Fag,” racing to the door, the last comer having to do the work. This consisted generally of going to the buttery for beer and bread and cheese (for the great men did not sup with the rest, but had each his own allowance in his study or the fifth-form room), cleaning candlesticks and putting in new candles, toasting cheese, bottling beer, and carrying messages about the house.... And besides this nightwork, each præpostor had three or four fags specially allotted to him, of whom he was supposed to be the guide, philosopher, and friend, and who in return for these good offices had to clean out his study every morning by turns, directly after first lesson and before he returned from breakfast.

1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. i. Is still enumerated among the feats of the brave days of old, by the FAGS over their evening small beer.

1850. L. Hunt, Autobiography, ch. iii. Fag, with us [at Christ’s Hospital] meant eatables. The learned derived the word from the Greek phago, to eat.

Verb. 1. (general).—To do menial work for a schoolfellow in a higher Form. Hence FAGGER, FAG-MASTER, FAGGING, and FAGGERY.

1853. De Quincey, Autob. Sketches, i. 210. Faggery was an abuse too venerable and sacred to be touched by profane hands.

1873. Pall Mall Gazette, 17th May. The Winchester “tunding” system, with all its faults, is hardly less objectionable than the FAGGING system pursued in the Scotch endowed hospitals.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75. As I was smaller and weaker than most of the FAGS running, I hardly ever managed to get a place, and it was absurd to expect me to do so. I had been “spanked” two or three times already for failing, but I don’t know that I was more successful for that. I know I cordially detested that branch of FAGGING.

1884. Temple Bar, August, p. 514. He must have completely marred his chance of happiness at the school when he refused to FAG and took countless thrashings, snivelling.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 46. My new FAG-MASTER, Forker Major, is a beast.

2. (Stonyhurst).—To field: at cricket. The ordinary meaning either as subs. or verb does not exist at Stonyhurst.

Fag-book, subs. (Charterhouse).—Formerly a book given by a monitor on leaving to each of his fags: it is now usual to give a bat or a racket.

Fain lo! (or Loss), intj. (Felsted).—A phrase used to retain a seat, &c., temporarily vacated. Also Lo.

Fains (Fainits! or Fain it), intj. (general).—A call for truce during the progress of a game without which priority of place would be lost; generally understood to be demanded “in bounds,” or when out of danger. [Thought to be a corruption of “fend.”]

Verb (also Fend, Fain, Fainits, &c.).—A cry of warning, or of prohibition: as to prevent any change in the existing conditions of a game; e.g. at marbles, FEN-PLACINGS = no alteration in position of marbles is permissible; FEN-CLEARANCES = removal of obstacles is forbidden. [Fend = M.E. defend in sense of “to forbid.”] Fain, and fain I, are corruptions. At Winchester, FINGY YOU, or FINGY THAT, are analagous; but at Christ’s Hospital FIN = “I won’t have.”

Ante 1815. E. C. Harrington, in N. and Q., 5 S., vii. 98. Respecting the word FEN ... I can testify to the use of the term by school-boys prior to the battle of Waterloo ... meaning that we protested against an exceptional action.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House. “I’m fly,” says Jo. “But FEN larks, you know.”

1877. Notes and Queries, 5 S., vii. 178. A comical application was, I remember well, “FEN live lumber!” which, if pronounced in time, would disable your opponent from moving a bystander out of the way of his shot.

Fardel, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A division of Sixth Book for New College Election. [A.S. ferthe = the fourth, and del, a part or portion.]

Faside, subs. (Loretto).—To Faside Castle, and back: altogether about five miles. Boys who have been watching football matches have always to do this in wet weather; and, in bad weather, a Wallyford (q.v.). Whence Faside and Three Trees = a combined walk and run about seven miles on a short school-day not wet, when ground is unsuitable for games. [Why Three Trees is unknown.] See Grind-days.

Fat-flab, subs. (Winchester).—A cut off the fat part of a breast of mutton. See Dispar.

Feeder-cric, subs. (Christ’s Hospital: obsolete).—The game usually known as “rounders.” See Appendix.

1874. The Blue, Mar. In the country we shall have real unlimited cricket in the place of rounders, FEEDER-CRIC, and the scanty bi-weekly game in the suburbs.

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1084. One [student at Cambridge] was a Harry Soph; another a FELLOW-COMMONER and senior Soph, and occasionally jocularly called an empty bottle, whilst è contrà, a bottle decanted, was, from time to time, denominated a FELLOW-COMMONER.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 26. Thomas Middleton petitions King Charles, on his restoration, to grant his royal letters to the Winchester electors in favour of his son’s admittance “as a child in Winchester College, where he has now spent three years as FELLOW-COMMONER.”

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 38. She said she had heard from her cousin, who is, I think, a FELLOW-COMMONER, or something of that sort, at Downing College, that Harry is one of the most popular men at Cambridge.

Feoffee, subs. (Manchester Grammar: obsolete).—The original name for the trustees in whose hands the foundation estate was placed by Hugh Bexwycke. [A.S. feo = fee or inheritance.]

Festive, adj. (Charterhouse).—Said of a boy who has not learned his duty to his superiors and seniors.

Fez, subs. (Harrow).—The equivalent of the Cap (q.v.) for cricket: the FEZ being given to the House Eleven for distinction at football.

Fields, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—The playing-ground: seventeenth century. The modern term is “The Field,” though there are five separate grounds.

Fifty, The, subs. (Tonbridge).—The chief football ground; the next immediately below it is the Middle Fifty, then the Lower Fifty, and the Fourth Fifty. Cf. Hundred, which is now obsolete.

Fighting-green, subs. (Westminster).—The old battle-ground in the western cloister.

Figures, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The Second Form: formerly Great Figures. See Little Figures.

Fin, intj. (Christ’s Hospital).—A form of negative. Ex. “FIN the small court” = “I won’t have, &c.” [Lat. fend.] See Fains.

Find, subs. (Harrow).—A mess of, usually, two upper boys which takes breakfast and tea in the rooms of one or other of the set: a privilege of the Sixth Form. Whence FIND-FAG = a fag who lays the table for the upper boys. [Find (dial.) = to supply; to supply with provisions.] Also as verb.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 316. Immediately a certain number of rolls (FINDS they were called—etymology unknown) were ordered at the baker’s, and were rebaked every morning until they were pretty nearly as hard as pebbles. At nine o’clock on the morning fixed for the rolling in, the members of the hall ranged themselves on the long table which ran along one side of the room, each with his pile of these rolls before him, and a fag to pick them up.

Finjy! intj. (Winchester).—An exclamation excusing one from participation in an unpleasant or unacceptable task, which he who says the word last has to undertake. Cf. Fains.

Firk (or Ferk), verb (Winchester).—To proceed; to hasten; to expel; to send; to drive away. [O.E. fercian.] Also TO FIRK UP and TO FIRK DOWN.

1283. William of Palerne. Thei bisiliche fondede (tried) fast to FERKE him forthward.

c. 1400. Troy Book. I you helpe shall the flese for to fecche, and FERKE it away.

[?] MS. Lincoln, Morte Arthure, f. 79. The Kyng FERKES furthe on a faire stede.

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iv. 4. Pistol. I’ll fer him, and FIRK him, and ferret him, discuss the same in French unto him. Boy. I do not know the French for fer and ferret and FIRK.

1611. Barry, Ram Alley [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), v. 466]. Nay, I will FIRK my silly novice, as he was never FIRK’D Since mid-wives bound his noddle.

1795. Sewell, Hist. of Quakers. At this the judge said, “Take him away: prevaricator! I’ll FERK him.”

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 446. Up to the present the eleven have won four matches and lost one, while Monro, Cookson, Wyckoff, and Borwick have all received their FLANNELS.

Flat, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—An objectionable person; a “bounder.” [A misuse of flat = fool.]

Fleshy, subs. (Winchester).—A thick cut out of the middle of a shoulder of mutton. See Dispar.

Flies. Squashed flies, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—Biscuits with currants.

Floor, verb (general).—To pluck; to plough. Also = to master; to prove oneself superior to the occasion: e.g. TO FLOOR A PAPER, LESSON, EXAMINATION, EXAMINER, &c. Cf. Bowl; Throw.

1852. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 12. Somehow I nearly FLOORED the paper.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. Mr. Filcher thoroughly understood the science of “FLOORING” a freshman.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 98. These blessed exams. are getting awfully close now, but I think I shall FLOOR mine.

1864. Eton School-Days, ch. xvi. p. 203. “By Jove! I think I shall FLUKE doing Verses; I should like to see Paddy drive tandem through College,” said Butler Burke.

Flyer, subs. (Winchester).—A half-volley at football. A MADE-FLYER is when the bound of the ball is gained from a previous kick, by the same side, against canvas or any other obstacle, or is dropped, as in a “drop-kick.” This is now confused with a “kick-up.”—Wrench.

Flying-man, subs. (Eton).—The boy who stands behind the “bully,” and either runs down, or kicks hard, as may be required.

1864. Eton School-Days, ch. xxiii. p. 255. He possessed good wind, and was a very good “kick-off,” and he could “bully” a ball as well as any one. He was a little too heavy for FLYING-MAN, but he made a decent “sidepost,” and now and then he officiated as “corner.”

Footer, subs. (Harrow).—(1) Football; (2) a player of football according to Rugby rules; and (3) the ball itself.

1890. Great Public Schools, p. 96. Directly after the goose match (Michaelmas Day) FOOTER proper begins, and is the principal game played at the school during the Christmas term. The game as played at Harrow differs considerably from the game as played at Eton and other schools, and has distinct rules of its own; it may be said to be more like the Association game than any other.

1896. Felstedian, Nov., p. 139. H. H. H. who wants to have a “second” FOOTER shirt.

Footer-hill, The (Harrow).—The hill from the football-fields and DUCKER (q.v.).

For, phr. (Tonbridge).—A form of ridicule: e.g. “first eleven FOR one” would be used in jeering at a boy who had recently obtained his colours.

Forakers (or Foricus), subs. (Winchester).—The water-closet. [Formerly foricus, and probably a corruption of foricas, an English plural of the Latin forica.]

Force. Out by force, phr. (Stonyhurst).—Of a football when it goes out from two opposite players at the same time.

Founders, subs. (Winchester).—Boys who proved their descent from the Founder, and were afterwards elected (by rote among the Electors) as such. Only two were admitted each year, and only two were sent to New College, but these two were put at the head of the Roll (q.v.) whatever their previous position in Sixth Book (q.v.) might have been. They were not obliged to leave at the age of eighteen, as the other boys were, but were allowed to remain till they were twenty-five. They were supposed to have particularly thick skulls.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Founder’s-Com., subs. (Winchester).—The four days on which there were festivals in commemoration of the Founder, when there was Amen-chapel (q.v.); the Fellows and Masters gave a dinner in Common-room, and the Founders (q.v.) received a sovereign each.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Founder’s-day, subs. (Harrow).—The 3rd of October, the anniversary of the death of John Lyon: usually kept on the nearest Thursday to the date in question.

Founder’s-kin, subs. (various).—Those, who at Winchester, Harrow, &c., could show descent from William of Wykeham or John Lyon, &c., as the case might be, and who were entitled to priority of election on the foundation.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 32. The preference assigned to FOUNDER’S-KIN in the election soon brought into the field, as may be supposed, young Wykehams and Williamses from all quarters, with others who proved more or less satisfactorily their connection with the founder’s family; and gradually the customs obtained of electing two only of these favoured candidates at the head of the roll for admission, and filling up the remaining vacancies by a process of successive nominations by each of the six electors, the Warden of New College having the first turn, until the number of vacancies was supplied.

Founder’s-Ob., subs. (Winchester).—The anniversary of the Founder’s death.

Four-holed Middlings, subs. phr. (Winchester: obsolete).—Ordinary walking shoes. Cf. Beeswaxers.

Fourth, subs. (Cambridge).—A rear or jakes. [Origin uncertain; said to have been first used at St. John’s or Trinity, where the closets are situated in the Fourth Court. Whatever its derivation, the term is now the only one in use at Cambridge, and is frequently heard outside the university.] The verbal phrase is TO KEEP A FOURTH.

Fourth Book, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—All the boys below Junior Part the Fifth. See Books.

Fourth Former (Harrow).—The oldest form room in the Old Schools: now used for morning prayer by those who go to the Old Schools, and also as the head-master’s torture-chamber.

1865. Etoniana, p. 166. Since the glories of Montem have departed, the fourth of June procession has taken its place as the great yearly festival of Etonians. It was instituted in commemoration of a visit of King George III., and is held on his birthday. It is the great trysting day of Eton, when her sons gather from far and wide, young and old, great and small,—no matter who or what, so long as they are old Etonians; that magic bond binds them all together as brothers, and levels for the time all distinctions of age or rank. The proceedings begin with the ‘speeches’ delivered in the upper school at twelve o’clock before the provost, fellows, masters, and a large audience of the boys’ friends. Selections from classical authors, ancient or modern, are recited by the Sixth-form boys, who are dressed for the occasion in black swallow-tail coats, white ties, black knee-breeches and buckles, silk stockings, and pumps. Then follows the provost’s luncheon, given in the college hall to the distinguished visitors, while similar entertainments on a smaller scale are going on in the various tutors’ and dames’ houses. At 3 o’clock there is full choral service in chapel. At 6 o’clock all hands adjourn to the Brocas, a large open meadow, to witness the great event of the day,—the procession of the Boats to Surly Hall, a public-house of that name, on the right bank of the river, some three and a half miles from Windsor. The boats are divided into two classes—Upper and Lower. The Upper division consists of the Monarch ten-oar, the Victory, and the Prince of Wales, or, as it is more usually called, the Third Upper. The Lower boats are the Britannia, Dreadnought, Thetis, and St. George; sometimes, when the number of aspirants to a place is larger than usual, an eighth boat called the Defiance is added. The collegers have also for some years put on a four-oar—latterly expanded into an eight—which follows in the procession. The flotilla is preceded by the Eton racing eight-oar, manned by the picked crew who are to contend at Putney or Henley. Each boat has its distinctive uniform. Formerly these were very fanciful—Greek pirates, or galley slaves in silver chains, astonishing the quiet reaches of the Thames for the day. The crews of the Upper boats now wear dark blue jackets and trousers, and straw hats with ribbons, displaying the name of the boat in gold letters. The coxswains are dressed in an admiral’s uniform, with gold fittings, sword, and cocked-hat. The captain of each boat has an anchor and crown embroidered in gold on the left sleeve of his jacket. In the Lower boats, the crews wear trousers of white jean, and all ornaments and embroidery are in silver. Each boat carries a large silk flag in the stern. The procession is headed by a quaint old-fashioned boat (an Eton racing boat of primitive days) rowed by watermen and conveying a military band. The Westminster eight always receives an invitation to this celebration, and occasionally makes its appearance on the river, adding very much to the interest of the procession.... Opposite to Surly Hall, a liberal display of good things ... awaits the arrival of the crews—the Sixth Form alone being accommodated with a tent. After a few toasts, and as much champagne as can be fairly disposed of in a short time, the captain of the boat gives the word for all to re-embark, and the flotilla returns to Eton in the same order.... Singing, shouting, racing, and bumping, all go on together in the most harmonious confusion.... The boats, after their return through Windsor Bridge, turn and row two or three times round an eyot in the middle of the stream above the bridge. During this time a grand display of fireworks takes place on the eyot. The ringing of the fine old bells in the Curfew Tower, the cheering of the crews, and the brilliant coloured fires which strike across the water, and light up the dense masses of spectators along the bridge, the rafts, and the shore, produce an effect not easily forgotten. A pyrotechnic illumination of the College arms concludes the ceremonies, and is the signal for the crews to land and march in jubilant disorder back to College.

Fragment, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A dinner for six (served in College Hall, after the ordinary dinner), ordered by a Fellow in favour of a particular boy, who was at liberty to invite five others to join him. A fragment was supposed to consist of three dishes.—Winchester Word-Book [1891].

1864. Tennyson, Northern Farmer (Old Style), line 25. But parson a coomes an’ a goos, an’ a says it eäsy an’ FREEÄ.

Freed, adv. (Stonyhurst).—Of an extra recreation: given for some special reason.

Freshers. The Freshers, subs. (Cambridge). That part of the Cam which lies between the Mill and Byron’s Pool. So called because it is frequented by FRESHMEN (q.v.).

Fresh-herring, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A boy newly admitted to the school. Such a one is seized on his first or first few visits to the playground, and conveyed to a corner—a MONKEY DEN—where he is more or less forcibly SQUABBED (q.v.) against the wall by as many persecutors as can get at him. The incongruity of fresh-herrings in a monkey-den does not seem to be remarked. But twenty-five to thirty years ago FRESH-HERRINGS were hurled over the Precipice. This was a drop of some six or eight feet from the general level of the playground over a retaining wall to the bottom of an incline up which coal-stores, &c., could be brought into the playground. The new science and art rooms have covered the site, and MONKEY-DEN has superseded the terrors of this local Tarpeian Rock. The FRESH-HERRING is always told that he must bring beeswax and turpentine for the purpose of polishing his desk, and he not infrequently comes armed with this or some other form of furniture-polish, to the glee of the “stuffer-up.”

Freshman (or Fresher), subs. (University).—A University man during his first year. In Dublin University he is a JUNIOR FRESHMAN during his first year, and a SENIOR FRESHMAN the second year. At Oxford the title lasts for the first term. See Soph.

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in Works, iii. 8. When he was but yet a FRESHMAN in Cambridge.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act iii. sc. 3. S. Alex. Then he’s a graduate. S. Davy. Say they trust him not. S. Alex. Then is he held a FRESHMAN and a sot.

1650. Howell, Familiar Letters [Nares]. I am but a FRESHMAN yet in France, therefore I can send you no news, but that all is here quiet, and ’tis no ordinary news, that the French should be quiet.

1671. Cotgrave, Wit’s Interpreter, p. 221. First, if thou art a FRESHMAN, and art bent To bear love’s arms, and follow Cupid’s tent.

1767. Colman, Oxonian in Town, ii. 3. And now I find you as dull and melancholy as a FRESHMAN at college after a jobation.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. xiv. “This is his third year,” said the Doctor, “and he is only a FRESHMAN, having lost every examination.”

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iii. Mr. Green saw at a glance that all the passengers were Oxford men, dressed in every variety of Oxford fashion, and exhibiting a pleasing diversity of Oxford manners. Their private remarks on the two new-comers were, like stage “asides,” perfectly audible. “Decided case of governor!” said one. “Undoubted ditto of FRESHMAN!” observed another.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 55. A lot of FRESHMEN got together after Hall (it was a Saints’ day, and they’d been drinking audit) and went and made hay in Marling’s rooms.

1891. Sporting Life, Mar. 20. The mile, bar accidents, will be a gift to B. C. Allen, of Corpus, who has more than maintained the reputation he gained as a FRESHER.

1895. Felstedian, Dec., 178. The new trousers and immaculate brown boots of the “FRESHER” are suffering terribly from the slush.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” Three Seniors were entertaining some fifteen or more FRESHERS.

Adj. (University).—Of, or pertaining to, a FRESHMAN, or a first year student.

Freshman’s Church, subs. phr. (Cambridge).—The Pitt Press. [From its ecclesiastical architecture.]

Freshman’s Landmark, subs. phr. (Cambridge).—King’s College Chapel. [From the situation.]

1605. Jonson, Volpone, or the Fox, iv. 3. Well, wise Sir Pol., since you have practised thus, Upon my FRESHMANSHIP, I’ll try your salt-head With what proof it is against a counter-plot.

Froust, subs. (Harrow).—1. Extra sleep allowed on Sunday mornings and whole holidays. Also (2) an easy-chair. Hence Frouster.

Fudge, subs. 1. (Christ’s Hospital).—To copy; to crib; to dodge or escape: also see quot.

1870-95. More Gleanings from The Blue. The Latin Grammar was a strange book to the new boy; he says he was “relieved from embarrassment by the readiness with which my schoolfellows in the class above assisted in explaining,” &c. &c.; so a “FUDGE” is not a modern invention, though it is expressed by a polite periphrasis.

1877. The Blue-Coat Boys, p. 97. Fudge, to prompt a fellow in class, or prompt oneself in class artificially. Thence to tell: e.g. “FUDGE me what the time is.”

Fug, subs. (Harrow).—1. A small soft football. Also (2) the game as played with such a ball in a yard, house, &c. See Appendix.

Fug-footer, subs. (Harrow).—A species of football played in passages with a FUG (q.v.) See ante.

Functior (or Functure), subs. (Winchester).—An iron bracket candlestick, used for the night-light in College Chambers.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, p. 68. Beside the window yawned the great fireplace, with its dogs, on which rested the faggots and bars for the reception of the array of boilers. Above it was a rushlight, fixed in a circular iron pan fastened to a staple in the wall; it was called the FUNCTIOR.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Functure. The word looks like fulctura, an earlier form of fulture, meaning a prop or stay, with phonetic change of l into n.

1887. The Blue, Nov. Yet it is not from ignorance of vulgar slang that the author’s elegance springs, for he unbends once so far as to say that the Monday after the holidays is called “FUNKING-MONDAY.”

Funking-room, subs. (medical).—The room at the Royal College of Surgeons where students collect on the last evening of their final during the addition of their marks, and whence each is summoned by an official announcing failure or success.

1841. Punch, i. p. 225, col. 2. On the top of a staircase he enters a room, wherein the partners of his misery are collected. It is a long, narrow apartment, commonly known as the FUNKING-ROOM.

Gag, subs. 1. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quot. Gag-eater = a term of reproach.

1813. Lamb, Christ’s Hospital, in Works, p. 324 (ed. 1852). L. has recorded the repugnance of the school to GAGS, or the fat of fresh beef boiled; and sets it down to some superstition.... A GAG-EATER in our time was equivalent to a ghoul, ... and held in equal estimation.

2. (Winchester: obsolete).—An exercise (said to have been invented by Dr. Gabell) which consists in writing Latin criticisms on some celebrated piece, in a book sent in about once a month. In the Parts below Sixth Book and Senior Part, the GAGS consisted in historical analysis. [An abbreviation of “gathering.”]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 108. From time to time, also, they had to write ... an analysis of some historical work; these productions were called GATHERINGS (or GAGS).

Gaits (Geits, Gytes, or Gites), subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—The first, or lowest class. See Cats.

Gallery, subs. (Winchester).—A Commoner bedroom. [From a tradition of GALLERIES in Commoners.] Hence GALLERY NYMPH = a housemaid.

Gang, subs. (Felsted: obsolete).—A particular friend. From the ordinary meaning of the word, applied first to the two friends, then to each of them. Used only of “acute” friendship. Also as verb = to carry on such a friendship with another.

Garden, The (Stonyhurst).—The playgrounds, built on the site of part of the old garden, long kept this name. “The boys went to the GARDEN” = “into the playground”: obsolete.

Gater, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A plunge head foremost into a POT (q.v.).

Gates, subs. (University).—The being forbidden to pass outside the gate of a college. Hence as verb = to confine wholly or during certain hours within the college gate for some infraction of discipline. To BREAK GATES = to stay out of college after hours. Gate-bill (old) = the record of an undergraduate’s failure to be within the precincts of his college by a specified time at night.

1803. Gradus ad Cant., p. 128. To avoid GATE-BILLS he will be out at night as late as he pleases ... climb over the college wall, and fee his gyp well.

1835. The Snobiad (Whibley, Cap and Gown, p. 141). Two proctors kindly holding either arm Staunch the dark blood and GATE him for the term.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, I. ch. xii. He won’t hurt you much, Giglamps! Gate and chapel you!

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xii. Now you’ll both be GATED probably, and the whole crew will be thrown out of gear.

1865. Cornhill Mag., p. 227. He is requested to confine himself to college after a specified hour, which is familiarly termed being GATED.

1870. Morning Advertiser, May 23. The two least culpable of the party have been GATED.

1881. Lang, Xxxii. Ballades, “Of Midsummer Term.” When freshmen are careless of GATES.

To be at gates, verb. phr. (Winchester: obsolete).—To assemble in Seventh Chamber passage, preparatory to going Hills or Cathedral.

Gaudeamus, subs. (general).—A feast; a drinking bout; any sort of merry-making. [German students’, but now general. From the first word of the mediæval (students’) ditty.]

Gaudy (or Gaudy-day), subs. (general).—A feast or entertainment: specifically, the annual dinner of the Fellows of a college in memory of founders or benefactors; or a festival of the Inns of Court. [Lat. gaudere = to rejoice.]

1540. Palsgrave, Acolastus [Halliwell]. We maye make our tryumphe, kepe our GAUDYES, or let us sette the cocke on the hope, and make good chere within dores. Ibid., I have good cause to set the cocke on the hope, and make GAUDYE chere.

1608. Shakspeare, Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 11. Come, Let’s have one other GAUDY night; call to me All my sad captains; fill our bowls; once more Let’s mock the midnight bell.

1636. Suckling, Goblins [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), x. 143]. A foolish utensil of state, Which, like old plate upon a GAUDY day, ’s brought forth to make a show, and that is all.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2nd ed. Gaudies, double commons, such as they have on GAUDY or grand DAYS in colleges.

1760. Foote, Minor, Act i. Dine at twelve, and regale, upon a GAUDY DAY, with buns and beer at Islington.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Oxford in the Vacation). Methought I a little grudged at the coalition of the better Jude with Simon—clubbing, as it were, their sanctities together, to make up one poor GAUDY-DAY between them.

1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Gaudy day or Night. A time of festivity and rejoicing. The expression is yet fully retained in the University of Oxford. Blount, in his Glossographia, speaks of a foolish derivation of the word from a judge Gaudy, said to have been the institutor of such days. But such days were held in all times, and did not want a judge to invent them.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. We had a carouse to your honour ... we fought, too, to finish off the GAUDY.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ch. xxxiii. Champagne ... goes equally well with a simple luncheon of cold chicken, and with the most elaborate GAUDY.

Genuine, subs. (Winchester).—Praise. Also as verb = to praise. [It is suggested (but see quot.) that the derivation may be from genuina, the “jaw-tooth,” praise being nothing but “jaw”: cf. Parsius, i. 115.]

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Genuine.... He was awfully quilled and GENUINED my task. Possibly from calling a thing genuine. Cf. to blackguard, to lord, &c. But fifty years ago it was a subs. only. [See Appendix.]

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 8. My GYP said he thought he knew some one who’d give me eighteen shillings for it.

Girdlestoneites (Charterhouse).—A boarding-house. [From a master’s name.] See Out-houses.

Go. To go down, verb (University).—To leave school or college: by special EXEAT (q.v.) or at vacation. Whence TO BE SENT DOWN = to be under discipline; to be rusticated.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, i. 179. How dare you say “deuce” in my presence? You can GO DOWN, my Lord.

1886. Dickens, Dict. of Cambridge, 3. No undergraduate should GO down without obtaining his EXEAT.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 53. I’m thankful to say this Term’s nearly over now.... We shall be able to GO down next week ... which is a blessing.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” You will think, then, that most of us do no work. Well, a good many do precious little. Still there is this check. All who do not pass their examinations within a certain time must “GO DOWN,” i.e. they must leave. It wholly depends upon ourselves, then, how much work we do; and it is naturally a much more difficult matter to “read” in this way than when one has regular schools and studies.

Goal, subs. (Winchester).—(1) At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head, without his touching it. See Schitt.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. Midway between each of the two ends of the line was stationed another boy, as umpire (GOAL he was called), who stood with his legs wide apart, and a gown rolled up at each foot: if the ball was kicked directly over his head, or between his legs, without his touching it, it was a GOAL, and scored three for the party that kicked it.

1881. Pascoe, Life in our Public Schools. A GOD at Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.

2. (Westminster).—The juniors who, at the Westminster Play (q.v.), occupy a back gallery. A proposal was made in 1792 to exclude them from the performance on the grand nights, which, however, was successfully resisted. Whence GOD-KEEPER = a Third Election boy, who acts as deputy monitor, and keeps the gallery deities in order.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 155. A rushing noise is heard as of a party of inebriated whirlwinds coming up College, and the Di Superi (in vulgar parlance THE GODS) make their appearance. Now is the time to see the GOD-KEEPER in his glory, in kid gloves, cane, and commanding voice: “Here, Jones, go up closer. Room for three or four more in that corner. Tumble-up, Davis.”

Gold Hatband, subs. (old University).—A nobleman undergraduate; a TUFT (q.v.).

1628. Earle, Microcosmography. His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has been notorious for an ingle to GOLD HATBANDS, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.

1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Noblemen at the universities, since known as “tufts,” because of the gold tuft or tassel to their cap, were then known as GOLD HATBANDS.

Golgotha, subs. (old University).—The Dons’ gallery at Cambridge; also a certain part of the theatre at Oxford. [That is, “the place of skulls” (cf. Luke xxiii. 33 and Matt. xxvii. 33); whence the pun, Dons being the heads of houses.]

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act ii., p. 23 (2nd ed.). Sirrah, I’ll have you put in the black-book, rusticated—expelled—I’ll have you coram nobis at GOLGOTHA, where you’ll be bedevilled, Muck-worm, you will.

1791. G. Huddesford, Salmagundi (Note on, p. 150). Golgotha, “The place of a Skull,” a name ludicrously affixed to the Place in which the Heads of Colleges assemble.

1808. J. T. Conybeare in C. K. Sharp’s Correspondence (1888), i. 324. The subject then of the ensuing section is Oxford News ... we will begin by GOLGOTHA.... Cole has already obtained the Headship of Exeter, and Mr. Griffiths ... is to have that of University.

Gomer, subs. 1. (Winchester).—A large pewter dish used in College. [Probably from its holding a homer or omer in measure: see quots.]

1778. Inventory of Kitchen and Hall. Twenty-four GOMERS (amongst dishes and brass pots).

2. A new hat: specifically, a beaver when first introduced: but see quot., Peals, and Appendix.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 68. Top-boots are no longer considered, by young gentlemen of twelve, “your only wear” to go home in, although the term for them—GOMERS (i.e. go-homers)—still survives in the Winchester vocabulary.

Good-breakfast, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A breakfast given to those Distinguished (q.v.) every term: also called Distinction-breakfast. Cf. Do and Good-supper.

Good-creatures, subs. (Charterhouse).—Meat, vegetables, and pudding. [From a quaint old-fashioned “Scholars’ grace”—“Lord, bless to us these thy GOOD-CREATURES,” &c.]

Good-day, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A free day given at the end of the school year to those distinguished in mathematics. There is also a “Rhetoric GOOD DAY,” given to the Rhetoricians (q.v.), and a “Certificate GOOD DAY,” given to candidates for the Higher Certificate Examination.

Good-Four-o’clock, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A repast similar in character to a Good-supper and a Good-breakfast (both of which see).

Good-supper, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A supper given for a special reason: e.g. the Choir-supper (that given to members of the Choir); the Actors’-supper (that given to the participants in Shrovetide-plays); the Eleven-supper (to the Cricket eleven after an “out” match), &c. Cf. Do and Good-breakfast.

Goose-match, subs. (Harrow).—A cricket match played between the School Eleven and a team of Old Harrovians on Michaelmas Day, or as near to it as possible. The Eleven opposing the School are called “the geese.” See Appendix.

2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from the TOWN (q.v.): e.g. Town and Gown.

1847. Thackeray, Punch’s Prize Novelists, “Codlingsby,” p. 232. From the Addenbroke’s hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all Cambridge was in an uproar—the College gates closed—the shops barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother townsmen—the battle raged, and the GOWN had the worst of the fight.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. When GOWN was absent, Town was miserable.

Gownboy, subs. (Charterhouse).—A scholar on the foundation: they wore at the Charterhouse black Eton jackets, black trousers, shoes called Gowsers (q.v.), and gowns. This distinctive garb was abolished in 1872.

Gownboy-arch (Charterhouse).—An arch near the east end of the chapel, formerly the doorway from Scholars’ Court into Gown-boys. The earliest Old Carthusian name inscribed on it bears date 1778.

Gownboy-cricket, subs. (Charterhouse).—Cricket in which there are twenty bowlers to one batsman, with no fielders.

Gownboys (Charterhouse).—A boarding-house. [Because on migration to Godalming in 1872 nearly all the old Gownboys (q.v.) were received there.]

Gowner, subs. (Winchester).—The Goal (q.v.) at football stood with his legs stretched out, and a gown, rolled up into a ball, at each foot. When the ball was kicked over either of these gowns, without goal’s touching it, this counted two for the party who kicked it.—Mansfield (c. 1840). Also see Goal and Schitt. Now obsolete.

1800. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i. 96. A battle between the GOWNSMEN and townspeople ... in spite of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs of GOWNSMEN, frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, III. By the time Mr. Bouncer finished these words, the coach appropriately drew up at the “Mitre,” and the passengers tumbled off amid a knot of GOWNSMEN collected on the pavement to receive them.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen ... were met by the GOWNSMEN with settled steady pluck.

Grand-matches, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The three final matches of the Stonyhurst-football (q.v.) season, played always on the Thursday before Shrove-tide, and on the following Monday and Tuesday. These days are school holidays, and in the evenings the great plays of the year are given.

To be sent to grass, verb. phr. (University).—To be rusticated; to RECEIVE A TRAVELLING SCHOLARSHIP (q.v.).

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very near rustication [at Cambridge] merely for kicking up a row after a beakering party. “Soho, Jack!” briskly rejoined another, “almost presented with a travelling fellowship? very nigh being SENT TO GRASS, hey?”

2. (Winchester: obsolete).—A mode of torture performed by rubbing a boy’s head hard with the knuckles.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Great-go (or Greats), subs. (Cambridge).—The final examination for the B.A. degree: cf. Little-go. At Oxford, GREATER.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. x. Both small and GREAT are sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored, if we are that way inclined.

1856-7. Thackeray, King of Brentford’s Test., st. 7. At college, though not fast, Yet his little-go and GREAT-GO, He creditably pass’d.

1871. Morning Advertiser, April 28. Yes, Mr. Lowe has been plucked for his GREAT GO.

1883. Echo, 3rd May, p. 2, c. 4. But few, indeed, are the men who have been in for GREATS during the last twenty years, and who have not blessed Mr. Kitchin for his edition of the Novum Organum.

1870. Blue Budget, March. We have the full sanction and approval of the GRECIANS, and some of them intend even to contribute articles themselves.

1871. The Blue, Aug. Boys are taken at the age of seven years and remain till they are sixteen.... If at their sixteenth year they have shown remarkable aptitude, they are allowed to remain longer, and as GRECIANS—a traditional title, the origin of which is unknown—to pursue more advanced studies and to enjoy certain privileges as to table. [See Appendix.]

Green-back, subs. (University).—One of Todhunter’s series of mathematical text-books. [Because bound in green cloth. Cf. Blue-ruin = Bohn’s Classical Series.]

Green Book, The (Charterhouse).—A record of the date of entering and leaving the school: this has been somewhat loosely kept, and gaps are conspicuous.

Green-room Boys, subs. phr. (Stonyhurst).—Boys chosen to be the stage-manager’s assistants at the Shrove-tide plays.

Greens, The (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—Two large grass plots, or lawns and shrubberies, on the south front. A cricket-ball hit full pitch into either of these from the opposite end of the playground was known as “A Greener.” Whence GREEN-BOYS = boys who used to look after the “GREENS.”

Greyers, subs. (Harrow).—Grey flannel trousers: worn by all the school not entitled to white Flannels (q.v.) at cricket.

Greyhound, subs. (Cambridge: obsolete).—A member of Clare College; a CLARIAN (q.v.).

1889. Whibley, Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare ... were called GRAYHOUNDS.

Grind, subs. (common).—(1) Study; reading for an examination. Also as a verb. (2) A plodding student. (3) Athletic sports in general: specifically, a training run. Also as verb = to teach; to instruct; to coach.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II. ch. v. “Come along, boys,” cries East, always ready to leave the GRIND, as he called it. Ibid., ch. vii. “The thing to find out,” said Tom meditatively, “is how long one ought to GRIND at a sentence without looking at the crib.”

1872. Chambers’s Jour., April. Joe Rullock, the mighty gymnasiarch, the hero of a hundred GRINDS, the unwearied haunter of the palæstra, could never give the lie to his whole past life, and deny his own gymnastics.

1887. Chambers’s Jour., 14th May, p. 310. Smalls made just such a goal as was required, and the GRIND it entailed was frequently of no slight profit to him.

The Grind, subs. (Cambridge).—The ferry-boat at Chesterton. (Oxford) A diversion popular among the less athletic tutors and undergraduates, which consists in walking by the Banbury Road to the 2-1/2 mile stone, crossing to the Woodstock Road, which is here only a quarter of a mile distant, and so returning to Oxford, occasionally varying the proceeding by reversing the order of the walk. It is, however, probable that the introduction of golf has dealt a severe blow at the popularity of this innocent amusement. Also THE FIVE MILES GRIND.

Grind-days, subs. (Loretto).—The GRIND-DAYS occur twice a year: in October and March. Privileged boys, school officers, Sixth and Fifth, and probably Upper Fifth, go by train to various places, such as Peebles, Pomathorn, &c., and walk, perhaps about twenty miles, to some other place, where they dine, returning by train. Some of the rest cross the Pentlands, and the Juniors go up the highest Pentland.

1812. Miss Edgeworth, Patronage, ch. iii. Put him into the hands of a clever GRINDER or crammer, and they would soon cram the necessary portion of Latin and Greek into him.

1841. Punch, vol. i. p. 201. Then contriving to accumulate five guineas to pay a GRINDER, he routs out his old note-books from the bottom of his box and commences to read.

1841. A. Smith, “The London Medical Student” in Punch, i. p. 229. G was a GRINDER, who sharpen’d the fools.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. v. She sent me down here with a GRINDER. She wants me to cultivate my neglected genius.

Grinding-mill, subs. (general).—The house of a tutor or COACH (q.v.), where students are prepared for an examination.

Groats. To save one’s groats, verb. phr. (old University).—To come off handsomely. [At the Universities nine groats are deposited in the hands of an academic officer by every person standing for a degree, which, if the depositor obtains, with honour, are returned to him.—Grose.]

Grotius-time, subs. (Winchester).—From 7 P.M. to 7.45 P.M. on Sundays, in Cloister-time (q.v.) when Sixth Book (q.v.) and Senior Part (q.v.) went into school to translate the work of that author.—Mansfield (c. 1840). Now obsolete.

Groute, verb (Marlborough and Cheltenham).—To work or study hard; to SWOT (q.v.).

Grubber, subs. (general).—A tuck-shop. See Lamb’s-tails, Round Othellos, Kill-me-quicks, and Picaninnies.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 441. The shop is privately managed by Mr. Kimmins, of High Street, Tonbridge [and] is known as “GRUBBER.”

Gruff, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Low-pitched: of the voice. See quot., and Squeaky.

c. 1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. The voices, in our own peculiar phraseology, being divided into two classes—those who sang “squeaky,” and those who sang GRUFF.

Guarder, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A goal-keeper: at football. Whence SECOND-GUARDER = the “full-back” of Association Football; and THIRD-GUARDER = the “halfback” of Association Football.

Gulf, subs. (Cambridge).—The bottom of a list of “passes,” with the names of those who only just succeed in getting their degree. At Oxford a man who, going in for honours, only gets a pass. Hence as verb (Cambridge) = to place in the GULF; TO BE GULFED = to be on such a list. [Men so placed were not eligible for the Classical Tripos.]

1852. Bristed, Five Tears in an English University, p. 205. Some ten or fifteen men just on the line, not bad enough to be plucked, or good enough to be placed, are put into the GULF, as it is popularly called (the examiners’ phrase is “degrees allowed”), and have their degrees given them, but are not printed in the calendar. Ibid., 297. I discovered that my name was nowhere to be found—that I was GULFED.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, pt. III. p. 89. I am not going to let them GULPH me a second time.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, p. 123. The good Professor scolded, predicted that they would all be either GULFED or ploughed.

1865. Sporting Gaz., April 1. A man who was GULFED for mathematical honours was certainly, in olden time, unable to enter for the classical examination; but though the arrangement is altered, the term is not obsolete. A man who is GULFED is considered to know enough mathematics for an ordinary degree, but not enough to be allowed his degree in mathematics only; he is consequently obliged to pass in all the ordinary subjects (except mathematics) for the “poll,” before taking his degree.

1876. Trevelyan, Life of Macaulay (1884), ch. ii. p. 61. When the Tripos of 1822 made its appearance, his name did not grace the list. In short ... Macaulay was GULFED.

1896. Tonbridgian, No. 339, 1124. Poole hopes to get a Third in Honour Mods., and Law hopes to escape a GULF next year in the same.

Gull, subs. (Oxford: obsolete).—A swindler; a trickster. Cf. “Gull-catcher,” of which it is probably an abbreviation.

1825. The English Spy, v. i. p. 161. “You’ll excuse me, sir, but as you are fresh, take care to avoid the GULLS.” “I never understood that GULLS were birds of prey,” said I. “Only in Oxford, sir, and here, I assure you, they bite like hawks.”

Gutter, subs. (Tonbridge).—A scrummage at Rugby football: now nearly obsolete. [Properly the space between the teams in the scrummage.]

Gyp (or Gip), subs. (Cambridge).—A college servant. At Oxford, a scout; at Dublin, a skip. [Etymology doubtful: according to Sat. Rev. an abbreviation of Gipsy Joe: according to Cambridge undergraduates, from the Greek γυψ (GUPS) = a vulture; from the creature’s rapacity.]

1803. Gradus ad Cantab., 128. To avoid gate-bills he will be out at night as late as he pleases, ... climb over the college wall, and fee his GYP well.

1842. Tait’s Mag., Oct., “Reminiscences of Coll. Life.” There is attached to colleges and halls a person more useful than ornamental, and better known than paid, whom Oxonians name GYP, from his supposed moral affinity to a vulture (γυψ). The same is in Dublin denominated a Skip, because of the activity which is an indispensable item in his qualifications.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. xii. I’ll send you in luncheon as I go through the butteries; then, perhaps, you’d like to come down and see the race. Ask the GYP to tell you the way.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 254. Fellow you call the GYP wanted to make me believe you were out—thought I looked too like a governor to be let in, I suppose.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. v. Who should we see coming straight down on us but a Proctor with his bull-dogs (not dogs, you know, but the strongest GYPS in the college).

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Habit. College HABIT, College dress, called of old, livery: the dress of the Master, Fellows, and Scholars.

Haggory, subs. (Stonyhurst).—One of the gardens in the Higher Line (q.v.) playground, which the Irish boys in the early years of the century turned into a debating-place, to promote the views of O’Connell and his party. [A corruption of ἁγορά.]

d. 1861. Arthur Clough, Long Vacation Pastoral. Three weeks hence we return to the shop and the wash-hand-stand-bason, Three weeks hence unbury Thicksides and HAIRY Aldrich.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” At 6.15, when the first bell for chapel rings, I go round and wake up everybody; as the præfects like hot water for washing, I make up a fire, and put on the boilers; in other words, throw a bundle of sticks called a “HALF-FAGGOT” on the old-fashioned “dogs,” or uprights, which form the only fireplaces in chambers, coal not being in use.

Hall, subs. 1. (Oxford).—Dinner. Also as verb = to dine. [Taken in College Hall.]

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 55. A lot of Freshmen got together after HALL (it was a Saint’s day, and they’d been drinking audit) and went and made hay in Marling’s rooms.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 48. However, as boys came to school better scholars, and were consequently higher placed, fourth form fags grew scarce, and the junior fifth were ordered, as the phrase was, TO GO ON HALL. One champion stood upon his rights, and refused; the indignant prefect proposed to thrash him publicly; the juniors rose in a body and pinioned the prefects. Fond mammas, and other declaimers against school tyranny, will regret to hear that this spirited resistance was not appreciated by Dr. Williams; after a patient hearing of the pleas on both sides, he supported the prefect’s authority (it may be concluded that they had not really exceeded it), and six of the ringleaders were expelled.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 249. And two HALL-CRIERS (or latterly one), whose chief business was to read out at breakfast time lists of the fags on duty for cricket or football, descriptions of lost articles, &c. &c. This office in former days had commonly to be performed under a fire of such missiles as came handiest—amongst them often the regulation iron spoons supplied for the bread-and-milk breakfast which was the fare in the rougher days of Shrewsbury. Each proclamation began in due form with “Oh yes! oh yes! (Oyez! oyez!)” and ended with “God save the King (or Queen)! and d—— the Radicals!”

Hall-fagging, subs. (Charterhouse).—A duty imposed on sixteen of the lowest boys in each House. They have to attend in Hall, usually four at a time, and carry out orders, while the monitors have breakfast and tea. There was no need for this duty at Old Charterhouse, fags being always at hand. At New Charterhouse this was not always the case; they were often playing at football or cricket, or sitting in the library. Monitors, therefore, arranged the system of HALL-FAGGING. Latterly it has become usual to send into Hall fags who have offended against monitorial discipline, have been talkative in Banco, or noisy in the cubicles. Where such culprits are available the regular fags are exempt.—Tod.

Halve, subs. (Charterhouse).—A half-holiday: on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Halves (pron. Hāves), subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—Half-Wellington boots, which were strictly Non licet (q.v.).

Hand. To HAND UP, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To give information against; to betray.

Handball, subs. (Stonyhurst).—(1) The Stonyhurst form of Fives. Also (2) the ball used in playing; (3) the wall against which the game is played; and (4) the courts into which the wall and ground are divided.

1887. Stonyhurst Mag., iii. 18, “Stonyhurst in the Fifties.” On Whit-Saturday HANDBALL came in. We had on that morning 2-1/2 hours’ school ... and having gone up to the study-place to put away our books were let out by schools to run for places. In the old playground there stood one of the present HANDBALLS, one side of it belonging to the Higher Line, and one to the Lower. Of the Higher Line HANDBALLS [on each side of this HANDBALL—the wall—were two HANDBALLS or courts] one belonged to Rhetoric and one to Poetry. Of the Lower Line HANDBALLS one to Grammar and one to Rudiments. There were besides in both Higher and Lower Lines, other inferior HANDBALLS in the wall which separated the playground from the garden, where the rails now stand. They were called “The Pavilions,” and each contained three courts. Those in the Higher Line were common property, the Lower Line ones belonged to Rudiments, Figures, and Elements. Syntax had thus no HANDBALL and Rudiments had two. In the Higher Line possession of the HANDBALL always went to the first comers, those who first “touched-in” having it. In the Lower Line during after-dinner recreation (at least in the large HANDBALLS) it went by order of Compositions.

Handing-up, subs. (Harrow).—A form of Lynch law inflicted [up to the second quarter of the century] by monitors on a boy known to have been guilty of any highly disgraceful conduct reflecting on the character of the school—stealing, for example. The monitors satisfied themselves, after careful inquiry, of the guilt of the accused, and called him before an assembly of the Upper School in Butler’s Hall, where he received from each monitor a certain number of blows with a study toasting-fork. The punishment was severe, but merciful to the delinquent as an alternative in some cases to expulsion if the charge had been brought before the head-master.—Thornton.

Harder, subs. (Harrow).—Racquets: as opposed to Squash (q.v.); also a racquet ball. Whence HARDER-COURT = the racquet court.

Hard-up, adv. (Winchester).—Abashed or out of countenance; exhausted (as in swimming).

Harlequin, subs. (Winchester).—The wooden centre of a red indiarubber ball.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 20. A HARRY, or ERRANT SOPH, I understand to be either a person, four-and-twenty years of age, and of an infirm state of health, who is permitted to dine with the Fellows, and to wear a plain, black, full-sleeved gown; or else he is one who, having kept all the terms, by statute required previous to his law-act, is hoc ipsa facto entitled to wear the same garment, and thenceforth ranks as bachelor, by courtesy.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Harry soph, or HENRY SOPHISTER; students who have kept all the terms required for a law act, and hence are ranked as Bachelors of Law by courtesy. They wear a plain, black, full-sleeved gown.

2. (Charterhouse).—A football sweater—tight-fitting, with the colours running round in horizontal lines. In 1863 football shirts were introduced in place of HASHERS.

Hat, subs. (Cambridge).—A gentleman commoner. [Who is permitted to wear a hat instead of the regulation mortar-board.] Also GOLD HATBAND.

1628. Earle, Microcosmographie, “Young Gentleman of the Universitie” (ed. Arber, 1868). His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has beene notorious for an ingle to GOLD HATBANDS, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. Hat Commoner; the son of a nobleman, who wears the gown of a Fellow Commoner with a HAT.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxxii. I knew intimately all the HATS in the University.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, Bk. I. ch. i. He had certainly nourished the belief that some one of the HATS or tinsel gowns, i.e. young lords or fellow.

Hatch, subs. (Winchester).—A flood-gate. [Hatch = a flood-gate (Bailey); also var. dial. = a garden-gate, wicket-gate, or half-door.]

Hatch-thoke, subs. (Winchester).—A Founder’s Commemoration-day. [Thoke = to lie late in bed; an old custom being to lie in bed till breakfast on such occasions, names being called at HATCH in Commoners.]

Haul, verb (University).—To summon before the Proctor for misdemeanour. Whence HAULABLE, adj., used of those whose society authorities deem undesirable for the men: e.g. they’re HAULABLE = those caught with them will be proctorised.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 89. At last they were caught trying to drive in through the big gate of John’s. Next day they were HAULED and sent down.

To haul up, verb. phr. (Harrow).—To have a boy up to House out of school-hours, to say “turned” repetitions.

He, subs. (Charterhouse).—A cake. Young he = a small cake; a FISH-HE = fish-cake. See She.

Health Walk, subs. (Stonyhurst).—When the weather has been bad for some time, the boys are freed on the first fine day for “HEALTH WALKS.” The name seems still to be surviving, through more often the boys have football than walks on such occasions.

Heder, subs. (Winchester).—A plunge, feet foremost. Fr. une chandelle.

Hedgehog, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A London nickname for a Hertford Blue (q.v.). See Appendix.

c. 1800-29. The Blue-Coat Boy [More Gleanings from The Blue], 203. Another isolated statement of interest (unknown, perhaps, to some), is that “Hertford boys called the London boys, ‘Jackdaws,’ and those in London called those at Hertford ‘HEDGEHOGS’;” hedgehog boys and pigtailed masters!

Hell, subs. (Winchester).—A shady nook near Third Pot, famous for a profusion of violets. [Dial. (Hants) = a dark, wooded place: originally (Skeat) a hidden place.]

Hell-and-neck boy, subs. phr. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A venturesome boy who had frequently climbed the Kittle-nine-steps (q.v.).

Hell Hole and “Hell’s Gates,” subs. (Stonyhurst).—The name of some foundations of an old factory built on the Hodder.

High (The), subs. (Oxford).—High Street. Cf. The Broad, the Turl, the Corn, &c.

c. 1890. More Gleanings from The Blue, 92. Those greedy gluttons who during life had lain in wait for monied comrades, assailing them with importunate entreaties or even with open violence. Now they outstretched bony hands in vain for juicy “HIGHS,” which mocked and eluded their grasp; bottles of ginger-beer and cherries hovered above their skinny lips, as erst in “cherry-bob,” but never were they granted taste or sip of cool beverage or dainty morsel.

High-master, subs. (St. Paul’s and Manchester Grammar).—The Head-master: at Manchester the term was used in the earliest statutes of the school (1515). See Sur-master.

Hills, subs. 1. (Winchester).—St. Catharine’s Hill. Hence, TO SHIRK HILLS = see quot.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, p. 28. Some of his principal duties were to take the boys “on to HILLS,” call names there, &c.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 214. HILLS—St. Catherine’s Hill, a green hill about one mile and a half from College, about five hundred feet high, and near the top surrounded by a deep trench, the remains of an old Roman camp. The boys had to ascend this twice a day on whole Holidays and Remedies, once before breakfast, and again at half-past two. In the summer they also went out in the evening, but did not ascend Hills, but disported themselves below. These sorties were called “going on to HILLS,” the evening expedition being called “Underhills.” Ibid., iii. Ordinary offences of a trifling character, such as being late for Chapel or “SHIRKING HILLS” [i.e. evading going Hills], were punished by the infliction of an imposition—generally thirty lines of Virgil, English and Latin.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 24. Tuesdays and Thursdays were partial holidays, on which the boys went out to the HILLS twice; once in the morning, returning at nine to breakfast, and again in the afternoon, coming off at three. There they played at quoits, football, and something which seems to have borne a resemblance to cricket.

2. (Cambridge).—The Gogmagog Hills; a common morning’s ride.—Gradus ad Cantab.

Hiss (The), subs. (Winchester).—The signal given at the commencement of school hours when a Master was coming in.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester [1866], 104. Just before school-time a boy was always stationed to watch the arrival of the Master, of which he had to give notice by emitting a loud HISS, upon which there was a general rush up to books; the previous uproar dwindled to a calm, and work began.

1865. John Bull, Nov. 11. To be a HIVITE has long been considered a little worse than a “literate.”... Of the value of some St. Bees’ testimonials we may form an estimate, &c.

Hobby, subs. (common).—A translation. To RIDE HOBBIES = to use CRIBS (q.v.).

Hockey-sticks and Fourpennies, subs. phr. (Charterhouse).—A kind of irregular cricket played at Old Charterhouse. The bats were huge bludgeons called hockey-sticks, but without any curve at the end; the balls were like large fives-balls, and a little smaller than a regulation cricket-ball; the wickets were usually coats or jackets; gownboy jackets were much the best, because they were stiff and easily stood upright; the pitch was either on the football ground, where there was no grass, or on a flagged pavement in cloisters.

Hodman (Oxford).—A scholar from Westminster School admitted to Christ Church College.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. Words, s.v.... A nickname for a Canon of Christ Church.

Hog, subs. (Cambridge: obsolete).—A student of St. John’s. Also Johnian Hog. See Crackle, Bridge of Grunts, and Isthmus of Suez.

1690. Diary of Abraham de la Pryme (Surtees Society, No. 54), quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S., xi. 328. For us Jonians are called abusively HOGGS.

1795. Gent. Mag., lxv. 22. The JOHNIAN HOGS were originally remarkable on account of the squalid figures and low habits of the students, and especially of the sizars of Saint John’s College. [Another story of how name originated is given in detail in Gent. Mag. (1795), lxv. 107.]

1889. Whibley, In Cap and Gown, p. 28. An obsolete name for members of St. John’s College, Cambridge.

Hog Tower, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A coaching room off Rhetoric school-room. [So called (1) because part of a tower, and (2) because the Rhetoricians (q.v.) originally wished to use it for other “more profitable” purposes than for study.]

Hoi Polloi, subs. phr. (University).—The candidates for ordinary degrees. [From the Greek.] Cf. Gulf.

Holiday, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—A Saint’s day: sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Hollis, subs. (Winchester).—A small pebble. [Said to be derived from a boy of that name.—Wrench.]

Holy Club (The), subs. (Oxford: obsolete).—A band of kindred spirits who gathered round John Wesley while at Lincoln College: in ridicule.

Home-bill, subs. (Charterhouse).—Food supplied by the butler at breakfast or tea, to supplement the bread-and-butter supplied by the house master. It consists of eggs, eggs and bacon, ham, or sausages at breakfast; of poached eggs, mince, sausages and potatoes, tongue, ham, brawn, beef, or pork-pie at tea. The price is usually 4d. for each HOME-BILL; in some houses 6d. is the charge for the Upper School.

Honours, subs. (Stonyhurst).—Classes in which extra classics are read in the three highest Forms.

Hook, intj. (Oxford).—An expression implying doubt. [Query from the note of interrogation (?) or connected with “Hookey Walker.”]

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Hookey walker—and WITH A HOOK, usually accompanied by a significant upliftment of the hand and crooking of the forefinger, implying that what is said is a lie, or is to be taken contrariwise.

1843. Moncrieff, Scamps of London, i. 1. Bob. Will you have some gin? Fogg. Gin—yes! Bob (turning away). Ha—ha!—WITH A HOOK ... I wish you may get it.

1870. Traill, Saturday Songs, p. 22. It’s go and go over the left, It’s go WITH A HOOK AT THE END.

Horse-box, subs. (The Leys).—A cubicle or recess in dormitory: about 5 or 6 feet high. Whence TO DO TEN HORSE-BOXES = to perform “Sinking-and-rising exercise” on the same.

Hot, subs. (Winchester).—1. A mellay at football. 2. A crowd. Hence to HOT UP (or DOWN) = to crowd; to mob.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 215. In Twenty-two and Twenty-two (q.v.) when the ball went out of bounds, it was brought in and placed between the two sides, who all clustered up close round, with their heads down, each party, by weight and kicking, trying to force the ball through the other.

Hot-end, subs. (Winchester).—A half-burned faggot stick with one end red-hot.

1893. Felstedian, Mar., p. 20. I made two brackets in the workshop, they liked them awfully; I meant to get them something decent, but I hadn’t got any HOTS.

1893. Felstedian, July, p. 82. All right; it’s only a HOT. Did you hear what we did in our dormy last night?

1895. Felstedian, April, p. 44. Hots—“Hots” and “half-hots” very evidently “burn a hole in one’s pocket” if they are left there long enough.

1879. E. Walford, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., xii. 88. In the Anecdotes of Bowyer ... we are told that a HOUND of King’s College, Cambridge, is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a “sizar.”

House-captain, subs. (The Leys).—A boy, not in studies, responsible for order in House-room.

House-game, subs. (Harrow).—A game—football or cricket—in which the whole House play.

House-list, subs. (Harrow).—The printed list, in Bill (q.v.) order, of each House.

House-room, subs. (The Leys).—The Common Room of boys below VI^th who have no studies.

House-singing, subs. (Harrow).—An informal concert at which school songs are sung collectively: held once a fortnight except in summer.

House-washing, subs. (Rugby: obsolete).—A sort of compressed paper-chase, backwards and forwards in a short distance over Clifton Brook, a tributary of the Warwickshire Avon. [The name suggests that this was not a dry process; each House as a rule had a HOUSE-WASHING in the Easter term.]

Housey, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Belonging or peculiar to the Hospital. The reverse of Towney = of the town.

Housle, verb (Winchester).—To hustle. [Dial.: cf. doust = dust; fousty = fusty; rousty = rusty, &c.]

Huff, subs. (Winchester).—Strong ale brewed by the College. [A survival: also HUFF-CAP.]

1579. Fulwell, Art of Flattery. Commonly called HUFCAP, it will make a man look as though he had seene the devil.

1586. Holinshed, Description of England. These men hale at HUFF-CAP till they be red as cockes, and little wiser than their combes.

1602. Campion, English Poesy (Bullen, Works, 1889, p. 247). Hunks detests when HUFFCAP ale he tipples.

1614. Greene, Looking-Glass [Dyce], p. 127. The ale is strong ale, ’tis HUFCAP; I warrant you, ’twill make a man well.

1640. Taylor, Works. And this is it, of ale-houses and innes, Wine-marchants, vintners, brewers, who much wins By others losing, I say more or lesse, Who sale of HUFCAP liquor doe professe.

Hundred (The), subs. 1. (Loretto).—A long straight walk within the school grounds.

2. (Tonbridge: obsolete).—One of the lower football grounds. There were Upper, Middle, Lower, Fourth, and Fifth Hundreds. See Fifty.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, p. 145. There were two kinds [Gooseberry fool] HUSKY and non-husky.

Iliad, subs. (Charterhouse).—The regular penalty for late attendance at chapel and other minor offences.

Imperator, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A name given to the two first boys in each class.

Impositor, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—A school Præfect: sixteenth century.

Inferior, subs. (Winchester).—Any member of the school not a Præfect (q.v.).

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, p. 28. The Præfect of Hall ... was looked upon by the INFERIORS with something more than a becoming awe and reverence.

Infra-dig, adj. (Winchester).—Scornful; proud: e.g. “He sported INFRA-DIG duck,” or “I am INFRA-DIG to it.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 372. They [the school volunteer corps] had not only parades, but sham fights—if a fight could be called a sham from which the combatants retired with broken heads and bloody noses—attacking and defending the Doctor’s farmyard on the little ISLAND between what were then the two Closes.

Isthmus-of-Suez, subs. (Cambridge).—The bridge at St. John’s College, Cambridge, leading from the grounds to one of the Courts, familiarly known as the “Bridge of Sighs.” Also The Bridge of Grunts. [From its slight similarity to the Venetian example. Sues = swine, in punning reference to the Johnian Hogs (q.v.).] See Crackle and Hog.

1857. Punch, June 20. A resident Fellowe he was, I wis, He had no cure of Soules; And across ye BRIDGE OF SUES he’d come From playinge ye game of bowles.

1885. Cuthbert Bede, in N. and Q., 6 S., xi. 414. Another word is Sues, for swine. This is applied to the bridge leading from the old courts to the new, familiarly known as the BRIDGE OF SIGHS from its slight similarity to the Venetian example, but also known as the ISTHMUS OF SUEZ. This word Suez was then transformed to Suez, swine, to adapt it to its Johnian frequenters.

Jackdaw, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—Hertford for a London Blue (q.v.): obsolete.

c. 1800-29. The Blue-Coat Boy [More Gleanings from The Blue, 203]. Hertford boys called the London boys “JACKDAWS,” and those in London called those at Hertford “Hedgehogs.”

Jack-o’-Lantern, subs. (Eton and Harrow: obsolete).—A nocturnal form of “Hare and Hounds.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 312. But there was an ancient form of it [“Hare and Hounds”] at Harrow, so especially attractive as being pursued at unlawful hours and under unusual difficulties, that it deserves special mention. It was known also in former days at Eton, and in both schools went by the name of JACK O’ LANTERN. About seven o’clock on winter evenings, when it was quite dark, the boys, by sufferance on the part of the authorities, were let out from their several boarding-houses into the fields below the school. A stout and active runner started in advance, carrying a lantern, by the light of which the rest pursued him in full cry. He showed or concealed his light from time to time, and a great point of the sport was to entice the hounds into some pool or muddy ditch (which “Jack” himself has carefully avoided) by showing the light exactly in a line on the other side.

1885. Thornton, Harrow School, p. 276. Jack-o’-lantern was abolished by Dr. George Butler, but re-appeared in Dr. Longley’s time as one of those forbidden pleasures so dear to youth. Always played in the evening, and originally by sufferance of the authorities, the game in question was simply a run across country after a lantern carried by a swift-footed boy. Oftentimes would the luckless hounds be enticed into some slough of despond, and the performers return in a condition of mud which may find its equal on a wet football day or a paper-chase forty years later, but yet present no adequate idea of the confusion caused by the return from JACK-O’-LANTERN, of thirty or forty boys at night when in ordinary clothes. It is one of the most distinct evidences that no discipline existed when we read of such a proscribed saturnalia having occurred after lock-up in Dr. Longley’s time. But the fact has been communicated to us by Harrow men whose word is indisputable.

Jark, subs. (Oxford).—A safe-conduct pass; a JASKER. [Cf. Jark = a seal.]

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xxix. Stay, gentlemen, ... this is a JARK from Jim Radcliffe.

Jesuit, subs. (Cambridge).—A graduate or undergraduate of Jesus College.

1771. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, To Sir W. Phillips, April 20. Direct your next to me at Bath; and remember me to all our fellow Jesuits.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, xiv. There [referring to Trinity College Freshmen] ... are JIBS, whose names are neither known to the proctor nor the police-office.

To be jibbed, verb. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—To be called over the coals; to get into trouble. A Hertford word, the London equivalent being TWIGGED. Obsolete.

c. 1890. More Gleanings from The Blue, 92. North is the “Hall playground” (I use the terrene names); south, the “Library”; east, the “Ditch”; and west, the “JIFFS.”

Jig, subs. (Winchester).—A clever man: fifty years ago it meant a swindler. The word has now the meanings (1) a low joke, (2) a swindle, (3) an object of sport.

1600. Heywood, 2 Edward IV., i. 1. There domineering with his drunken crew Makes JIGS of us.

1620. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Farce ... the JYG at the end of an enterlude, wherein some pretie knaverie is acted.

1652. Stapylton, Herodion (quoted in Notions). Devising with his mates to find a JIGG, That he thereby might make himself a king.

Jimmy. All jimmy, adv. phr. (Cambridge).—All nonsense. [Cf. Jemmy-burty (Cambridge) = an ignis fatuus.]

Jockey, subs. (Winchester).—(1) To supplant; (2) to appropriate; (3) to engage: e.g. “He JOCKEYED me UP to books”; “Who has JOCKEYED my baker”; “This court is JOCKEYED.” Probably an extended use of the word borrowed from turf slang. Jockey not = the Commoner cry claiming exemption, answering to “feign” at other schools: of which the College “finge” seems a translation. The opposite of JOCKEY UP = to LOSE DOWN.—Notions.

1881. Felstedian, Nov. p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” Here let me observe that only the præfects have separate basins to wash in; the juniors use the two stone conduits. As there are seven who are not præfects, there is rather a rush for them, so I JOCKEY (i.e. secure) one for the “candlekeeper” by turning on some water and putting his sponge into it.

Johnian, subs. (Cambridge).—A student of St. John’s College: also JOHNIAN PIG or Hog—see Hog. Also as adj.: e.g. JOHNIAN blazer, JOHNIAN melody, &c.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hog ... Johnian hogs, an appellation given to the members of St. John’s College, Cambridge.

1829. Praed, Poems, “The Vicar.” Sit in the Vicar’s seat: you’ll hear The doctrine of a gentle JOHNIAN.

1841. Westminster Review, xxxv. 236. The JOHNIANS are always known as pigs. They put up a new organ the other day which was immediately christened “Baconi Novum Organum.”

Joram, subs. (Winchester).—A tin beer-can, used in Commoners; a quart pot. [Var. dial. = a large dish or jug.] In College a Bob (q.v.) was used.

Jubilee, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A pleasant time: e.g. The town was all in a JUBILEE of feasts.—Dryden.

1772. G. A. Stevens, Songs Comic and Satyrical, p. 192. Day by day, and night by night, Joyful JUBILEES we keep.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 216. Jubilee—Any time when there was nothing to do, either in the way of lessons or fagging.

1889. Stonyhurst Mag., iii. 347. The welcome shade of what was facetiously called THE JUNGLE.

Junior, subs. (Winchester).—All Inferiors except the seven Candlekeepers (q.v.) and Senior Inferior.

Adj. (Winchester).—Applied to all comparable objects. Of two neighbouring trees, the bigger is the “senior”: there are a “senior” and a “JUNIOR” end to a table, a room, &c. Tight junior = lowest of all.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Junior.... At about the end of the fifteenth century senior and JUNIOR superseded major and minor, before which the two sets of words seem to have been used concurrently.

Junket! intj. (Winchester).—An exclamation of self-congratulation: e.g. “JUNKET” I’ve got a “remi.” Hence to JUNKET OVER = to exult over. [Junketing = a merry-making.]

1630. Wadsworth [Wrench]. They made him oft-times go on foot, whilst they rode about JUNKETTING in his coach.

d. 1745. Swift, Works. Whatever good bits you can pilfer in the day, save them to JUNKET with your fellow-servants at night.

Keelie, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A town boy. Now = “cad.”

1850. Household Words, ii. p. 161. “As you have failed to make up your number of chapels the last two weeks,” such were the very words of the Dean, “you will, if you please, KEEP every CHAPEL till the end of the term.”

1852. Bristed, Five Years, &c., 32. The undergraduate is expected to go to chapel eight times, or, in academic parlance, to KEEP eight CHAPELS a week.

To keep cave, verb. phr. (Eton).—To watch and give warning on a tutor’s approach.

1883. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton, ch. iv. Another had to mount guard in the passage, or on the staircase, TO KEEP cave.

Kick. To kick over, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To kick a ball up in the air, when it is rolling along, or lying on the ground: considered very bad play.—Mansfield (c. 1840). Ibid., 217. Kick-in.—In a game at football the bounds on each side were kept by a line of Juniors, whose duty it was to KICK the ball IN again whenever it passed outside the line. See Kicking-in.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. But football wasn’t all beer and skittles to the Fags. There was an institution called KICKING-IN, which, while it lasted, was much worse than “watching out” at cricket, although it had the very great merit of not continuing so long; for, even on a whole holiday, we seldom had more than two hours of it.

Kick-off, subs. (Winchester).—Taking the football in hand and kicking it into the air: this was done after each Schitt (q.v.), Gowner (q.v.), or Goal (q.v.) by the losing side, and whenever a ball that had been kicked up in the air had been caught by one of the other side.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

2. (The Leys).—A boy under fifteen. Hence KID-SIXES = football for KIDS—six a side.

1800. Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent, “Glossary.” This word [KILL] ... means not killed, but much hurt. In Ireland, not only cowards but the brave “die many times before their death.” There “killing is no murder.”

1836. Marryat, Japhet, iii. Sure enough it cured me, but wasn’t I quite KILT before I was cured.

King Edward’s, Birm.—A curious custom exists here of inherited nicknames: e.g. Years ago a boy named Pearson was nicknamed “Jelly”; every Pearson, though unrelated to the other, for many years afterwards was nicknamed “Jelly.” A trio of brothers have been successively named “Tiddley,” others “Topsy,” and “Bowie.” An elder brother was called “Pussy,” and his younger brother “Kitten.”

Kings, To get kings, verb. phr. (Eton).—To obtain a scholarship at King’s Coll., Cambridge. See Ripping.

1852. Bristed, Five Years, 127. He came out the winner, with the KINGSMAN, and one of our three.

Kip, verb (Royal High School, Edin.).—To play truant. Common throughout Scotland. [Possibly from “skip.”]

Kish, subs. (Marlborough).—A cushion: in ordinary use doubled up under the arm for carrying school books, as well as for sitting on in Form or Hall. As verb = to use a cushion as a weapon of offence. See Compound-kish.

Kittle-nine-steps, subs. phr. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A pass on the very brink of the Castle rock, to the north, by which it is just possible for a goat or a High School boy to turn the corner of the building where it rises from the edge of the precipice. See Hell-and-neck-boy.

Knock. To knock in, verb. phr. (Oxford).—1. To return to College after GATE is closed.

1825. English Spy, i. 155. “Close the oak, Jem,” said Horace Eglantine, “and take care no one KNOCKS IN before we have knocked down the contents of your master’s musical mélange.”

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, p. 464 [ed. 1862]. That same afternoon Father Dick, who as soon Would KNOCK IN or “cut chapel,” as jump o’er the moon, Was missing at vespers—at complines—all night! And his monks were of course in a deuce of a fright.

1853. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, I. xi. At first, too, he was on such occasions greatly alarmed at finding the gates of Brazenface closed, obliging him thereby to KNOCK IN.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, p. 458 [ed. 1864]. There’s twelve striking. I must KNOCK IN. Good night. You’ll be round to breakfast at nine?

2. To knock out, verb. phr. (Oxford).—To leave college after hours: of out of college men only. See Knock in.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, vii. Five out-college men had KNOCKED OUT at a quarter to three, refusing to give any name but the dean’s.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xlv. p. 503 [ed. 1864]. “Hullo!” he said, getting up; “time for me to KNOCK OUT, or old Copas will be in bed.”

3. To knock up, verb. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—To gain a place in class: e.g. I KNOCKED UP, and “I KNOCKED Jones UP.” The Hertford equivalent is OX UP (q.v.). Both forms are now obsolete.

1748. Dyche, Dict. (5th ed.). Knuckle-down (verb) to stoop, bend, yield, comply with, or submit to.

Lag, subs. (Harrow).—The last. The “lag of the school,” the last boy in Bill-order (q.v.) in the school.

1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life in our Public Schools. Every morning the LAG junior prepares and brings to hall the list.

Lage, subs. (University: obsolete).—To wash. [Cf. the old cant term lagge = a bundle of clothes for washing.]

Landies, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—Gaiters. [From tradespeople—Landy and Currell—who supplied them.]

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Land of Promises. The fair expectation cherished by a steady novice at Oxford.

Lash, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To envy. Generally in imperative as a taunt.

1890. The Blue, Oct., “The Queen in the City.” Our lips LASH on learning that the “general bill of fare” contained 200 tureens of turtle, 200 bottles of sherbot (what is this?), 50 boiled turkeys, and oysters.

Late-play, subs. (Westminster).—A half-holiday or holiday beginning at noon. See Early Play.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 218. Launch—To drag a boy out of bed, mattress, bed-clothes, and all.

1865. G. J. Berkeley, My Life, &c., i. 129. I had [at Sandhurst about 1815] to undergo the usual torments of being LAUNCHED, that is, having my bed reversed while I was asleep; of being thrown on the floor on my face, with the mattress on my back, and all my friends or foes dancing on my prostrate body.

1865. Etoniana, p. 70. The restrictions [temp. Eliz.] by which the masters were forbidden to take any fees (even from oppidans) was probably evaded, almost from the first, by the system then universal in all transactions of giving presents, under which heading the sons of wealthy parents soon began to pay pretty highly for their education. Traces of this arrangement remain in the custom still prevailing—not at all to the credit of the school—of presenting a sum as LEAVING-MONEY to the head-master and the private tutor. At what time assistant-masters were first appointed does not appear; but they were no doubt paid, up to a comparatively late date, entirely from such fees as the parents of those under their tuition chose to give them.

Legion of Honour, subs. (Cambridge).—The last twelve in the mathematical TRIPOS (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Pluck.... These unfortunate fellows are designated by many opprobrious appellations, such as the Twelve Apostles, the LEGION OF HONOUR, Wise Men of the East, &c.

Lemonade, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A day of high festival, coming twice a year, at Shrove-tide and at Easter.

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, 80. On Shrove-Tuesday, according to a custom dating from 1850 or probably earlier, every boy used to receive half a lemon with his pancake at dinner. This he reserved to use as a missile in the fight which was to take place directly afterwards. At Old Charterhouse, gownboys used to stand against the rest of the school, and the fight consisted in each side pelting the other with the half lemons. It lasted for fifteen or twenty minutes, and was begun and ended by a house bell being rung. During these twenty minutes a good many bruises and black eyes could be received, for combatants fought at quite close quarters; and unpopular monitors were sometimes badly damaged. At New Charterhouse the sides were at first Old Charterhouse v. New. In 1877 they were changed again to Out-houses v. The Rest. This was the last fight. Grave abuses had crept in. The lemons were no longer simple lemons, but a sort of bomb-shell, loaded with pebbles or ink, and several boys were badly hurt. So the Sixth Form in 1878 “totally abolished LEMON PEEL as a barbarous and obsolete practice.” It required a strong Sixth Form to do this, for the fight was popular, and their action is one of the best things that the school has done for itself. Its abolition differs from the abolition of fighting; the latter became obsolete through the action of public opinion; LEMON PEEL was abolished by an ukase almost in defiance of public opinion.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, i. He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen, ... but, with the highest respect for friend Perkins (my scout) and his obliging friends, I shall make some inquiries before LETTING IN with any of them.

Let-out, subs. (Tonbridge).—Any less extensive holiday than a half holiday.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, viii. In fact, the solemn assembly, a LEVY of the school, had been held, at which the captain of the school had got up, and, after premising that several instances had occurred of matters having been reported to the masters; that this was against public morality and School tradition; that a LEVY of the sixth had been held on the subject, and they had resolved that the practice must be stopped at once.

Lib, subs. (Charterhouse).—The Library. Whence LIB. COLL. = a collection of library books.

Licet, adj. and adv. (Winchester).—Allowed; permissible; befitting a Wykehamist.

Lick. To lick off the Field, verb. phr. (Harrow).—To get five Bases (q.v.) before the other side scores one, in a Footer (q.v.) House-match: this closes the game.

Lie. To lie in, verb. phr. (Royal Military Academy).—To keep one’s room when supposed to be out on leave.

Lincoln Devil (The), subs. (Oxford).—A curious gilded deformed image (copied from a figure in Lincoln Cathedral) which decorates the bows of the Lincoln boat. Replicas are honoured by, and found in the rooms of, most Lincoln men.

Lines, subs. (general).—The usual punishment—the copying out of so many lines of Greek or Latin. Hence TO BE PUT ON LINES (Harrow) = to have to show up so many lines each half-hour for a certain number of half-holidays, for being late for chapel, &c.

Links, subs. (Loretto).—A short run or walk before breakfast: about half a mile. [Formerly always across Musselburgh Links: now there are various LINKS according to circumstances.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lion.... Also the name given by the gownsmen of Oxford to inhabitants or visitors.

Little Figures, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The old name for the class of Elements (q.v.).

1895. Stonyhurst Magazine, v. p. 519. I was sent to Stonyhurst, when I was put into the class of LITTLE FIGURES.

Little-go, subs. (University).—The public examination which students at the English Universities have to pass in the second year of residence: also called the “previous examination” (as preceding the final one for a degree), and, at Oxford, SMALLS (q.v.).

1841. Thackeray, King of Brentford’s Testament, 86, 7. At college, though not fast, Yet his LITTLE-GO and great-go He creditably pass’d.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, iii. A tutor, don’t you see, old boy? He’s coaching me, and some other men, for the LITTLE-GO.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, vii. “Oh,” said Mr. Charles Larkyns, “they give you no end of trouble at these places; and they require the vaccination certificate before you go in for your responsions—the LITTLE-GO, you know.”

1866-72. Sketchy Memoirs of Eton, p. 16. He called the footman (or LITTLE MAN ...) and bade him reach down the obnoxious placard.

Little Refectory, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A room in the old College, sometimes used as a refectory for smaller boys.

Little-side, subs. (Rugby).—A term applied to all games organised between houses only. See Big-side.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, vii. In all the games too he joined with all his heart, and soon became well versed in all the mysteries of football, by continual practice at the School-house LITTLE-SIDE, which played daily.

Lob, subs. (Winchester).—A “yorker”; never, as in ordinary cricket phraseology, an underhand delivery.

Verb (Winchester).—To cry. [Lowster or louster (South) = to make a clumsy rattling noise.]

Lockback, subs. (Winchester).—A Holiday or Remedy (q.v.), on which, from bad weather or any other cause, the boys did not go on to Hills (q.v.), but remained on the school side of Seventh Chamber Passage Gate.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Lock-up, subs. (Harrow).—Locking up—the time by which all have to be in their Houses for the night; the hour varies with the season, from 5.30 P.M. to 8.30 P.M.

London-cricket, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The modern game: to distinguish it from Stonyhurst-cricket (q.v.).

1852. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 37. For a month or six weeks in THE LONG they rambled off to see the sights of Paris.

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, i. 17. “I hope I shall not be [‘ploughed for smalls’] to vex you and puss ...” “... Puss? that is me [sister Julia]. How dare he? Did I not forbid all these nicknames and all this Oxfordish, by proclamation, last LONG.” “Last LONG?” [remonstrates mamma]. “Hem! last protracted vacation.”

Long-box, subs. (Winchester).—A deal box for holding bats, stumps, balls, &c.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Long Chamber, subs. (Eton).—See quot. Long Chamber still exists, but in a very different condition.

1890. Great Public Schools, 14. To Francis Hodgson, who was elected Provost in 1840, is primarily due the vast improvement in the condition of the scholars, or collegers, which was effected in the course of the next few years.... Long Chamber, a dormitory containing no less than fifty-two beds, notorious for its filth and discomfort, was considerably curtailed, and separate rooms were provided for forty-nine boys by the erection of a new wing.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 84. There were six of these [DISPARS (q.v.) or portions] to a shoulder, and eight to a leg of mutton, the other joints being divided in like proportion. All these “dispars” had different names; the thick slice out of the centre of the leg was called a “middle cut,” ... the ribs “Racks,” the loin LONG DISPARS.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 80. We had not proper toasting forks, but pieces of stick called LONG FORKS.

1883. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton, 321. A glass nearly a yard long, shaped like the horn of a stage-coach guard, and with a hollow globe instead of a foot. It held a quart of beer, and the ceremony of drinking out of it constituted an initiation into the higher circle of Etonian swelldom. There was LONG-GLASS drinking once or twice a week during the summer half. The invités attended in an upper room of Tap after two, and each before the long glass was handed to him had a napkin tied round his neck. It was considered a grand thing to drain the glass without removing it from the lips, and without spilling any of its contents. This was difficult, because when the contents of the tubular portion of the glass had been sucked down, the beer in the globe would remain for a moment as if congealed there: then if the drinker tilted the glass up a little, and shook it, the motionless beer would give a gurgle and come with a sudden rush all over his face. There was a way of holding the long glass at a certain angle by which catastrophes were avoided. Some boys could toss off their quart of ale in quite superior style, and I may as well remark that these clever fellows could do little else.

Long-grass, subs. (Winchester).—All Meads (q.v.) except the paths and Turf (q.v.).

Long-meads, subs. 1. (Winchester).—A field between Sick-house (q.v.) and Commoners (q.v.): now thrown into Meads (q.v.).

2. (Winchester).—“The time after dinner on summer evenings, when we went on to Underhills.”—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Long Quarter, subs. (Charterhouse).—One of the school terms: now the shortest of the three, which are Long, Summer, and Oration Quarter. The Summer is colloquially known as Cricket-Quarter, and the oration has been abolished.

Long Wallyford, subs. (Loretto).—The usual run on a wet short school day: about five miles. See Wallyford and Faside.

Lorettonian, subs. (Loretto).—Frequently applied to boys who wear even fewer clothes than usual at Loretto; or who delight in violating the conventions of the outside world in sensible ways.

Loss. Fain loss, intj. (Felsted).—The formula by which a claim was made to a vacant seat. An obsolete equivalent was Fain lo; also No loss. See Fain.

Lounge, subs. (Eton and Cambridge).—A treat; a chief meal. See Appendix.

1864. The Press, Nov. 12. By the way, we miss the Etonian word LOUNGE, for which there is classic authority. “I don’t care for dinner,” said Harry Coningsby at his grandfather’s table; “breakfast is my LOUNGE.”

Lout, subs. (Rugby).—Any one of the poorer classes: not necessarily an awkward, lubberly individual.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, v. “Hullo tho’,” says East, pulling up, and taking another look at Tom, “this’ll never do—haven’t you got a hat?—we never wear caps here. Only the LOUTS wear caps. Bless you, if you were to go into the quadrangle with that thing on, I——don’t know what’d happen.”

1890. Felstedian, Feb., p. 2. Well, Johnson ma, happening to meet Tompkins mi just before first Prep, &c.

Low-man, subs. (Cambridge).—A Junior Optimé as compared to a Senior Optimé or a Wrangler.

Lux, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A good thing; a splendid thing: e.g. My knife is wooston a LUX. A Hertford word [? luxury]. Obsolete.

Mad, adj. (Winchester).—Angry; vexed. [Old English, now dial. in England, but universal in America. “Originally severely injured” (Skeat). “Enraged, furious” (Johnson).]

1369. Chaucer, Troilus [Skeat, 1894], line 479. Ne made him thus in armes for to MADDE.

1593. Shakspeare, Titus And., iii. 1. 104. Had I but seen thy picture in this plight, It would have MADDED me. Ibid., iii. 1. 223. If the winds rage doth not the sea wax MAD.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, iv. 1. You’d MAD the patient’st body in the world.

1607. Middleton, Your Five Gallants [De Vere]. They are MAD; she graced me with one private minute above their fortunes.

1611. Acts xxvi. 11 [Authorised Version].—And being exceeding MAD against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

1667. Pepys, Diary, iv. 482 [Bickers, 1875]. The king is MAD at her entertaining Jermin, and she is MAD at Jermin’s going to marry from her, so they are all MAD; and so the kingdom is governed.

1816. Pickering, Collection of Words, &c., s.v. Mad, in the sense of “angry,” is considered as a low word in this country, and at the present day is never used except in very familiar conversation.

1824. R. B. Peake, Americans Abroad, i. 1. I guess—I’m MADDED, but I’ll bite in my breath a bit—not that I’m sitch a tarnation fool as to believe all you tell me.

Made-beer, subs. (Winchester).—College swipes bottled with rice, a few raisins, sugar, and nutmeg to make it “up.”

Magistrand, subs. (Aberdeen).—A student in arts of the last (the fourth) year. Cf. Bejan.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 46. In the matter of certain articles ... supplied by the College, we used to put a liberal interpretation on the eighth commandment, ... and it was considered fair to MAKE them if you could.

Man, subs. (general).—A student: almost universal in School phraseology instead of “boy.”

1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Man (Cambridge). Any undergraduate from fifteen to thirty. As, a MAN of Emanuel—a young member of Emanuel.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iii. The thought that he was going to be an Oxford MAN fortunately assisted him in the preservation of that tranquil dignity and careless ease which he considered to be the necessary adjuncts of the manly character ... and Mr. Verdant Green was enabled to say “Good-bye” with a firm voice and undimmed spectacles.

Marker, subs. (Cambridge).—A person employed to walk up and down chapel during a part of the service, pricking off the names of the students present.

1849. Blackwood’s Mag., May. His name pricked off upon the MARKER’S roll, No twinge of conscience racks his easy soul.

Match, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A division in which the boys play: e.g. “I’m in the third MATCH.” “This is the second MATCH ground.” “He’s a first MATCH bowler.”

1895. Gleanings from The Blue, 1870-95, 77. It is true that the MATHEMAT does take the labours of his hands to the Queen, and is proud to do so; but it is a pity that the reputation of the school should depend upon such ceremonies as these. [See Appendix.]

1900. Pall Mall Gaz., 20th Mar., 3. 2. One of the things that strike a stranger is the metal plate upon some shoulders, so it may be as well to say here that it merely marks the members of the Mathematical School, which trains boys for the sea, and interested Mr. Samuel Pepys.

c. 1844. Reminiscences of Christ’s Hospital [Blue, Aug. 1874]. Once annually the boys were served at supper with what was called the “MATRON’S GIFT,”—cream cheese; but they never could appreciate this luxury. It was in vain that the good old matron, with a sister the very counterpart of herself, walked round the different tables, expatiating in glowing terms upon the merits of this “beautiful cheese,” as she called it, and wondering how any one could fail to have a liking for this luxurious gift.

1852. Bristed, Five Years, &c., 70. As the MAY approached I began to feel nervous.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 104. I suppose you know the Mater and the girls are coming up here for the MAY week. It’s called the MAY week, but we always have it early in June now. I believe, some years ago, it really used to be in May.

1896. Felstedian, June, 95, “Cambridge Letter.” The MAYS were rowed under very favourable conditions, and produced some grand struggles.

Meads, subs. (Winchester).—The College cricket ground. Water-meads = the valley of the Itchen.

Medes and Persians, subs. phr. (Winchester).—Jumping on a MAN (q.v.) when in bed.

1886. Pall Mall Gazette, 23rd June, p. 13. Every Oxford man has known and loved the beauties of the walk called MESOPOTAMIA.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 219. Mess—The Præfects’ tables in Hall were called “Tub, Middle, and Junior MESS” respectively. The boys who dined at each were also so named. Any number of boys who habitually breakfasted together were so called with some distinguishing prefix, such as “Deputy’s MESS.” In Chambers tea was called MESS; as was also the remains of a joint of meat. Lest the reader should make a “MESS” of all these different meanings, I will give a sentence in which they shall all figure: “Look there, Junior MESS has sat down at Tub MESS, but as they will find nothing left but a MESS, they had better go down to Chambers, as MESS is ready.”

Middle-briars, subs. (Charterhouse).—A recess in the middle of cloisters where Eleven meetings used to be held; now a place in cloisters where names are carved: becoming obsolete.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, p. 84. There were ... eight [portions] to a leg of mutton; ... the thick slice out of the centre of the leg was called a MIDDLE CUT.

Middle-green (Charterhouse).—The new cricket-ground used by “The Maniacs.”

Middle Part the Fifth, subs. phr. (Winchester).—Generally called MIDDLE PART. See Books.

Middle-week, subs. (Rugby).—A half-holiday on every third Monday. [Modern Rugs (q.v.) say “because it was never the middle of anything.”]

Milk-hole, subs. (Winchester).—The hole formed by the ROUSH (q.v.) under POT (q.v.).

Miller (Harrow).—“The Milling Ground”: between the school-yard and Squash (q.v.) courts. Here all fights had to be conducted in public. The practice is extinct, and the ground is now used as a Morris-tube range.

Minister, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The superior responsible for the matériel: as food, servants, &c.

1864. Eton School-days, vii. “Let my MINOR pass, you fellows!” exclaimed Horsham.

Moab, subs. 1. (University: obsolete).—A hat; specifically, the turban-shaped hat fashionable among ladies 1858-9. [From the Scripture phrase, “Moab is my wash-pot” (Ps. lx. 8).]

1864. Reader, Oct. 22. Moab, a ... hat.... University it is all over. We feel sure we know the undergraduate who coined the expression; he is now a solemn don delivering lectures in Cambridge.

1884. Graphic, 20th Sept., p. 307-2. The third, with his varnished boots, his stiff brown MOAB of the newest fashion, his well-displayed shirt-cuffs.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 190. On the west side of school court, a spacious room, nicknamed MOAB, has been erected, with numerous marble basins, and an unlimited supply of fresh water.

1865. Etoniana, 21. Like Wykeham’s scholars, the Eton boys rose [temp. Eliz.] at five, said their Latin prayers antiphonally while dressing, then made their own beds and swept out their chambers. Two by two they then “went down” to wash, probably at some outdoor conduit or fountain like the old Winchester MOAB.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 45. Independent of very early hours and somewhat coarse fare, it was not pleasant to have to wash at the old MOAB, as it was called—an open conduit in the quadrangle, where it was necessary, on a severe winter morning, for a junior to melt the ice on the stop-cock with a lighted faggot before any water could be got to flow at all.

Mob. To mob up, verb. phr. (Charterhouse).—To hustle; TO BARGE (q.v.); TO BRICK (q.v.).

Mods, subs. (Oxford).—The first public examination for degrees. [An abbreviation of “Moderations.”]

1887. Chambers’s Journal, 14th May, 310. Mods cannot be attempted until the end of one year from matriculation, and need not be tackled until the expiration of two.

Monitor, subs. 1. (Stonyhurst).—One of the chief members of the Higher Line Sodality (q.v.), responsible for the behaviour of the other boys in Church and Chapel.

2. (general).—A senior scholar entrusted with the supervision of school work and pastimes. See Præfect.

Monos, subs. (Westminster).—A junior detailed for duty during regular school hours, who remains on guard at the door of the college, as a sentinel, to see that no suspicious characters find their way in. This functionary is known as MONOS [i.e. Monitor ostii].... An officer of the same kind ... at Winchester ... bore a similar name, Ostiarius (q.v.).—Collins.

Mons, subs. (Winchester).—A crowd. Also as verb: e.g. “Square round there, don’t MONS.”

Montem, subs. (Eton).—An Eton custom up to 1847, which consisted in the scholars going in procession on the Whit-Tuesday of every third year to a mound (Lat. ad montem) near the Bath Road, and exacting a gratuity from persons present or passing by. The collection was given to the captain or senior scholar, and helped to defray his expenses at the University. See Salt, and Sloane MS. 4839, f. 85.

1890. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. Salt-hill. The mound at Eton [near the Bath Road], where the Eton scholars used to collect money from the visitors on Montem day. The mound is still called Salt Hill, and the money given was called salt. The word salt is similar to the Latin sala’rium (salary), the pay given to Roman soldiers and civil officers. Ibid. Montem.... Sometimes as much as £1000 was thus collected.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 52. On holidays and Remedies we were turned out for a couple of hours on to St. Catherine’s Hill ... once before breakfast (MORNING HILLS), and again in the afternoon (MIDDLE HILLS).

Mortar-board (or Mortar), subs. (general).—The trencher-cap worn at certain Public Schools and at the Universities.

1600. Kemp, Nine Days’ Wonder, “Ded. Ep.” So that methinkes I could flye to Rome ... with a MORTER on my head.

d. 1635. Bishop Corbet to T. Coryate. No more shall man with MORTAR on his head Set forward towards Rome.

1647. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. He ... may now travel to Rome with a MORTAR on’s head.

1857. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. II. ch. iii. “I don’t mind this ’ere MORTAR-BOARD, sir,” remarked the professor of the noble art of self-defence, as he pointed to the academical cap which surmounted his head.

1864. Fun, 21st May, p. 96. Anon I saw a gentle youth (no “sub fusc” undergrad.). “Toga virilis” he had none, no MORTAR-BOARD he had.

1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life, 147. On admission ... a boy provides himself with a MORTAR or college-cap.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” The wearing of a cap and gown is another novelty for freshmen. At first one is apt to feel very foolish under a “MORTAR-BOARD” and in the folds of the academic gown, particularly in the miserable garb assigned to commoners (i.e. undergraduates without scholarships).

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 150. Plying the MOUSE-DIGGER (a kind of diminutive pick-axe) in search of mice.

Mud-student, subs. (general).—A student at the Agricultural College, Cirencester.

1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., ii. 198. A young friend of mine ... a MUD-STUDENT.

Muff, verb (Eton).—To fail in an examination; TO BE SPUN (q.v.) or PLUCKED (q.v.); TO SKIP A COG (q.v.).

1884. Julian Sturgis, in Longmans’ Mag., iii. 617. Freddy and Tommy and Dicky have all MUFFED for the army. It’s really dreadful!

To muff a catch, verb. phr. (Stonyhurst).—To catch a ball against the chest, or in any way not clean with both hands. In cricket, as played at Stonyhurst, such a catch did not put the batsman out: obsolete.

Mug, verb (Winchester and Sherborne).—(1) To study; to work hard: e.g. I MUGGED all the morning, and shall thoke (Winchester) this afternoon. (2) To take pains; to beautify: e.g. “He has MUGGED his study, and made it quite cud.” [Cf. mug = to paint the face or “make up.”] Hence MUGSTER = a hard-working student. See -STER and Bat-mugger.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 122. The præfects would ... set to work MUGGING.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 74. I remember that the senior præfect is going to get up to MUG early before chapel.

1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, xxiv. “Miss Knyvett,” and he paused with his brush upturned, “you’re a sight too clever for me to talk to.” “Not clever,” Iris corrected; “only well read. I’ve MUGGED it up out of books, that’s all.” Ibid., ii. Instead of reading her “Odyssey” and her “Lucretius,” and MUGGING up amusing works on conic sections.

Mustard-and-Pepper Keeper, subs. phr. (Winchester).—An appointment in the gift of Præfect of Hall, which exempted the holder from Watching-out (q.v.) at cricket, or Kicking-in (q.v.) at football.—Mansfield (c. 1840). Obsolete.

Muttoner, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A blow on the knuckles from a cricket-ball while holding the bat.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 221. To stand up under the NAIL—the punishment inflicted on a boy detected in a lie; he was ordered to stand up on Junior Row, just under the centre sconce, during the whole of school time. At the close of it he received a Bibler.

Name. To order one’s name, verb. phr. (Winchester: obsolete).—See quots.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 223. Order your name. An order given to a delinquent by the Head or Second Master, which was carried out by the boy requesting the Ostiarius to do so, the consequence of which was, that at the end of school that officer presented to the Master the victim’s name on a Roll, who forthwith received a Scrubbing. When the words to the Bible-clerk were added, the business was confided to that officer, who, with the Ostiarius, officiated at the subsequent ceremony, which in this case was called a Bibler.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, xxiii. 429. Order your name, the direction given to an offender by any of the authorities. The boy so directed, if he was in College, or if the order was given in school, had to go to the Ostiarius—or to the Præfect in course, if the offence was committed in Commoners—and give information of the order, and the reason why it had been given. The Ostiarius, or the Præfect in course, wrote down the culprit’s name, together with that of the Master, and the offence, and carried it up to the Head or Second Master, when due execution was done.

Native (pron. nahtive), subs. (The Leys).—Originally a “crib”: now of varied signification. To native a football = to be tricky with it; as adj. = clever: also Nativey.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. Nescio. He sports a nescio; he pretends not to understand anything. After the senate-house examination for degrees, the students proceed to the schools to be questioned by the proctor. According to custom immemorial the answers must be NESCIO. The following is a translated specimen: Q. What is your name? A. I do not know. Q. What is the name of this University? A. I do not know. Q. Who was your father? A. I do not know.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 221. Nestor—Any boy who was past eighteen, or was old for his position in the school, or who was known to be much older than he looked.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. New Guinea. First possession of income.

News, subs. (The Leys).—One division of the “School House,” with three dormitories—“Upper News,” “Under News,” “Further News.” See Olds.

Newy, subs. (Winchester).—The CAD (q.v.) paid to look after the canvas tent in Commoner (q.v.) field.

Nicks, intj. (Manchester Grammar).—Cave! Look out! [Said also to be common in Manchester as a warning of the approach of the police.] See Appendix.

Nigshious, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Ingenious: e.g. “a NIGSHIOUS dodge.” Obsolete.

Nihil-ad-rem, adj. (Winchester).—Vague; unconscious. Ex. “He sported NIHIL-AD-REM ducks.”

Nipper, subs. (Loretto).—Originally a boy of the lowest Form: since there has been a preparatory House the term is applied to all the boys there.

Nipperkin, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A stone jug used for serving beer in College between meals. Tea has long been substituted for beer.

c. 1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Nipperkin. Half a pint of Wine, and but half a Quartern of Brandy, strong waters, &c.

1698-1700. Ward, Lond. Spy, II. (1706), i. 31. By that time we had sipp’d off our Nipperkin of my Grannums Aqua Mirabilis.

1832. Noctes Ambrosianæ, Sept. William III., who only snoozed over a NIPPERKIN of Schiedam with a few Dutch favourites.

1882. J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Q. Anne, i. 197. [Beer] was of different qualities, from the “penny NIPPERKIN of Molassas Ale” to “a pint of Ale cost me five-pence.”

1883. Trollope, What I Remember. It was the duty of the bedmakers to carry every evening into each chamber a huge NIPPERKIN of beer.

Nob, subs. (Oxford: obsolete).—The Fellow of a College. [Probably the original application of the colloquial usage = a person of rank or position; from “nobility.” Cf. Mob, from mobile vulgus.]

1825. English Spy, i. 136. “We must find you some more tractable personage; some good-humoured NOB.”

Noggs, subs. (Harrow).—A hereditary name for Custos’ assistant. [From Dickens: the first owner’s name was Newman—hence Noggs.]

Non-attached (or Non-collegiate), adj. (Oxford).—Most of the students belong to a college or hall, but in 1868 what was at first known as the “NON-ATTACHED,” and is now designated the “NON-COLLEGIATE” system, was established. The system, a revival of one that prevailed in ancient times, is under the control of a body termed the Delegacy, the chief officer being named the Censor. Efficient provision is made for tuition, but its members live in their own lodgings in the city, and are thus able to suit their own pockets. Supervision is retained over the lodging-houses in a sanitary and other points of view, from the fact that they have to be licensed by the University authorities.

Non-licet, adj. and adv. (Winchester).—Illegal; unbefitting a Wykehamist. Ex. “Don’t sport NON-LICET notions.”

Nonsense, subs. (Eton).—A small division of the Third Form. Now abolished.

Northwick (The), subs. (Harrow).—The Northwick rifle: given by Lord Northwick for the best aggregate of seven shoots during the season.

Notion, subs. (Winchester).—A word, phrase, or usage peculiar to Winchester College.

c. 1800. “Christ’s Hospital Seventy-five Years Ago” (Blue, Nov., 1875). The NURSES were permitted to flog and punish the boys as they thought proper, and some of the NURSES were cruel women. One poor fellow in my ward was labouring under a bodily infirmity. The brute of a nurse used constantly to flog him with nettles, fresh-gathered from time to time for the purpose, declaring they had the virtue of strengthening his bodily frame, &c.! [See Appendix.]

Nursery (The), subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A gallery at one end of Big School, in which the lowest two classes are taught.

Oak, subs. (University).—An outer door. To sport one’s oak = to be “not at home,” indicated by closing the outer door.

1840. The Collegian’s Guide, 119. In college each set of rooms is provided with an OAK or outer door, with a spring lock, of which the master has one key, and the servant another.

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, iv. This is the HOAK, this ’ere outer door is, sir, which the gentlemen sports, that is to say, shuts, sir, when they’re a-readin’. Ibid., viii. Mr. Verdant Green had, for the first time, SPORTED HIS OAK.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, vii. One evening he found himself as usual at Hardy’s door about eight o’clock. The OAK was open, but he got no answer when he knocked at the inner door.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 55. He tried to keep them out, but they broke in his OAK, stripped him, tied him up in his table-cloth, and left him on the grass plot where the porter found him.

Obeum (The), subs. (Cambridge).—A water-closet building at King’s College. [Attributed by the undergraduates to the energy of O[scar] B[rowning].]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 222. Off bat, the station of one of the field in a cricket match, called by the outer world “Point.”

Officer, subs. (Winchester).—A College Præfect when in office: as the Præfect of Hall, Chapel, School, or Library.

-oi, inseparable suffix (Tonbridge).—Indicative of complaisant disdain: e.g. TO DO THE BLEED-OI (see Bleed) = to swagger; to appear to be distinguishing oneself.

Oips, subs. (Haileybury).—Boys who are not good enough for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or Below Bigside Elevens play in the Oips. [An abbreviation of Hoi polloi.]

Old Cars, subs. (Charterhouse).—Old Carthusians: regarded as a vulgarism.

Old Schools, The (Harrow).—The original school building erected by John Lyon, together with the “Old Speech-room,” which, however, is of much later date.

Olds, subs. (The Leys).—A division of the “School House,” three dormitories—“Upper Olds,” “Under Olds,” and “Under Under.” See News.

On, adv. and intj. (Winchester: obsolete).—The word to start given by the Præfect of Hall when the School went in procession to Hills, Cathedral, &c. Also as in quot. See Appendix.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 222. When any person or thing of importance was known to be likely to meet the boys when on Hills, the word was passed that he, she, or it was ON—e.g. Ridsworth ON, snobs ON, badger ON, &c.

1894. Tonbridgian, No. 330, 919. The scene is one of the wildest disorder. The writhing mass, in their efforts to obtain the desired article, tread on each other’s toes, spill the “OFF AND ON” down one another’s garments, and knock each other about with their elbows.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 444. “On and off” signifies home lemonade, and is so called because of the tap from which it flows.

Ones, subs. (Harrow).—A competition at football, one player a side: organised by Mr. Bowen. The play is for five minutes, the ground measures 40 yards by 30 yards, and the Bases (q.v.) 8 feet.

Oppidan, subs. (Eton).—A boy who boards in the town, as distinguished from a King’s Scholar.

1865. Etoniana, 31. The Latin-English term OPPIDAN was applied to these independent scholars at least as early as Fuller’s days. Speaking of the College, he says, “There be many OPPIDANES there maintained at the cost of their friends.”

1899. Public School Mag., Nov., p. 367. If there is any need for a test match between college and the OPPIDANS, we should suggest that they should play the winning house in the House match, and hope to beat it.

Optime, subs. (Cambridge).—The name given to the second class in the first portion of the public examination for honours, called the Mathematical Tripos, those placed in the first class being known as Wranglers (q.v.), and those in the third class as Junior Optimes.

Oratorio, subs. (Sherborne).—The large choir, as distinguished from the chapel choir.

Order, subs. (general).—Written permission from a tutor to make purchases: as from tailor, &c. See Name.

Orders, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—A Head-master’s promise to add a day or two to the holidays: sometimes obtained, so tradition says, by barricading Big School against him.

Ostiar, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—The Præfect on duty at the Big School door: seventeenth century.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 223. Ostiarius, an office held by the Præfects in succession. The duties were, to keep order in school, collect the Vulguses, and prevent the boys from shirking out. It is also the official title for the Second Master.

1865. Etoniana, 133. A peculiarity in the arrangements at Eton is, that the school is practically divided into two. The division seems to have been in force from the very earliest times—the three lower forms having been then, as now, under the charge of the OSTIARIUS, or, as he is now called, the lower master, who has the appointment of his own provost-assistants, and is practically independent of the head-master, and subject only to the control of the provost.

1866. Wykehamist, No. 1, Oct. We know of nothing more which calls for notice, except the revival by Dr. Moberly of the OSTIARIUS—an office which had been discontinued for many years, but was revived by the Head-master on account of the great increase in the number of the school.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, xxiii. 429. Ostiarius, the Præfect in charge of school.

Out-houses (Charterhouse).—All the boarding-houses except Sanderites, Verites, and Gownboys. The names of the eight OUT-HOUSES are Girdlestonites, Lockites, Weekites, Hodgsonites, Bodeites, Daviesites, Pageites, and Robinites (the last a contraction of Robinsonites). Except Bodeites, each house bears the name of its first master. One house, Uskites—from a supposed similarity of the surroundings to the valley of the Usk—disappeared in 1878.

Over-school, subs. (Rugby).—A kind of common sitting-room in the “new” building of 1755. The boys’ boxes were kept there, and Ash-planting (q.v.) inflicted. The present school-house hall was built on the site.

Pad, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—Writing-paper: e.g. “a sheet of PAD”; “lend me some PAD.” [The paper for exercises is generally in the form of writing-pads, from which a sheet may be separated as wanted.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 171. The old Shrove-Tuesday custom of TOSSING THE PANCAKE, though now peculiar to Westminster, is said to have been also formerly in use at Eton. The ceremony as at present performed is this. The cook, preceded by the verger, enters the large school, in full official costume, with the hot cake in the pan. He tosses it—or tries to toss it, for it is no easy feat—over the iron bar, which has been already mentioned as having once held a curtain screening off the upper school from the lower. If he succeeds he claims a fee of two guineas. There is a scramble among the boys, who stand on the other side of the bar, for the PANCAKE, and if any boy can secure it whole, which seldom happens, he carries it up to the dean, who presents him with a sovereign. They also claim a right to “book” the performer (i.e. hurl a shower of books at him) if he fails more than once. This right was liberally exercised in 1865, when the wrath of the school had culminated owing to repeated failures in that and the previous year. The exasperated cook replied to the attack with his only available missile—the frying-pan—and a serious row was the consequence. The battle is celebrated in a clever mock-heroic poem, in Greek Homeric verse, attributed to a high Westminster authority.

Pandie, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A stroke from the leather strap known as the TAWSE (q.v.), used in Scotland instead of the cane; a PAUMIE (q.v.). [From the order given in Latin, Pande manum. See Redgauntlet.]

Panupetaston, subs. (University: obsolete).—A loose overcoat with wide sleeves.

Paradise, subs. 1. (Oxford).—A grove of trees outside St. John’s College.

2. (Rugby).—A room in the old school (built in 1755) on the site of which the school-house hall now stands. [From its pleasant look-out.]

Party Roll, subs. (Winchester).—A list of boys going home together. See Peals.

Passy, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Severe: of a master. [That is, “passionate.”—Blanch.] See Appendix.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. Rightly or wrongly, it was the general opinion in our time that punishment in school depended less upon the correctness with which the lessons were said, than upon the temper of the particular master. Frequently and anxiously the question was asked, “Is he PASSY this morning?” and the arrival of a new master created immense excitement. Our first queries were invariably of his manners and temper—matters of far more importance to us than any question as to his ability.

Patrol, subs. (Dulwich).—Keeping order in Form rooms between morning and afternoon school: a duty of school Præfects.

Pawmie, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A stroke on the hand from the leather strap known as the TAWSE (q.v.), used in Scotland instead of the cane: also PANDIE (q.v.). [Paum = palm of the hand.]

Pax, subs. (Winchester).—A chum; an intimate friend. [Cf. Scots pack = intimate, familiar.]

1891. Wrench, Word-Book, 30. Possibly the plural of “pack,” which word has an extended use in reference to friendship ... as adj., subs., and verb. This seems a more likely origin than the PAX of the Church.

Intj. An injunction to desist or to silence—“Be quiet!” “Hands off!” Also HAVE PAX! [Almost the pure Latin use of the word.]

Peal, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A custom in Commoners of singing out comments on Præfects at the beginning of CLOISTER-TIME (q.v.). Also cheers given on the last three Sundays of the Half for articles of dress, &c., connected with going home, such as “Gomer Hats,” “Party Rolls,” &c.... “The ringing of Chapel bells is also divided into PEALS.” [Halliwell.—Peals = a noise or uproar. Cf. Mid. Eng. apel = an old term in hunting music, consisting of three long moots.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 22. The scholars at this time were expected to rise at the sound of “first PEAL” at five o’clock, and were recommended to say privately a short Latin selection from the Psalms as soon as they were dressed. Ibid. They then swept out their chambers and made their beds (consisting in those days of nothing better than bundles of straw with a coverlet), and SECOND PEAL at half-past five summoned them to chapel.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” At 6.30, I had to get back to call everybody again; and again at 6.40 (five minutes to second PEAL); at 6.45 (“second PEAL”) when the chapel bell started and kept on till seven. When the bell stops I wait at the door and call out “præfect of chapel going in”—i.e. the præfect of the week who calls names; then “præfect of chapel in” when he reaches the door.

1900. St. James’s Gazette, Mar. 15, “Arnoldiana.”—He [Matthew Arnold] was the victim of public expression of disapproval—in connection, Mr. Arnold thinks, with the lively ceremony known as CLOISTER PEALINGS, when he was placed at the end of the great school, and, amid howls and jeers, pelted with a rain of “pontos” for some time. [Cloister pealings is here incorrectly used: see Sticking-up.]

Pempe, subs. (Winchester).—An imaginary object in search of which a new-comer is sent: the equivalent of “pigeon’s milk,” or the “squad-umbrella.” [From πεμπε μω̂ρον προτερον = “Send the fool farther.”]

Penance-table, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A table in the refectory at which a boy is condemned to sit alone for bad behaviour during meals. Tradition says, with some authority, that the present PENANCE-TABLE is the one on which Cromwell slept when he spent a night at Stonyhurst. It is hence also called “Cromwell’s Table.”

Penance-walk, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A path in the playground where malefactors are condemned to tramp in silence during recreation time. The form of the order given is: “Take an hour’s PENANCE,” or “Go on PENANCE.”

Pensioner, subs. (Cambridge).—One who pays a “pensio” or rent for rooms in College. At Oxford a COMMONER (q.v.).

1780. Mansel [Whibley, Cap and Gown]. A Cambridge Commencement’s the time When gentlemen come for degrees And with wild-looking cousins and wives Through a smart mob of PENSIONERS squeeze.

Percher, subs. (Winchester).—A Latin cross marked horizontally against the name of an absentee.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 225. Percher—A mark (────┼──) put after a boy’s name on a Roll, which showed that he had been absent from Chapel or Hills without leave; or that he had not done his Verse or Prose Task, or Vulgus. It was also often put by a Master in the margin of gags, or a Verse or Prose Task, to indicate gross errors.

Pets, subs. (Charterhouse).—A set (says Tod) of young ruffians in Under Long Room whom the editor of The Verite Chronicle (see Verite) was constrained from self-interest to place on the free list. Only eight numbers appeared.

Petties, subs. (Harrow).—According to the Founder’s regulations, the lowest class—“which have not learned their accidence, or entered into the English rules of grammar.”

Phil, subs. (Harrow).—The Philathletic Club. It consists of members of the school elected for merit in athletics, the first ten monitors being ex officio.

Philosophers, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The body of students above the ordinary forms. Also Phils.

Pi, adj. (Winchester).—Virtuous; sanctimonious. Ex. “His pitch-up are very PI.” See Appendix.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Pi.... Abbreviation of “pious.” Ex. “He’s very PI now, he mugs all day. He PI-jawed me for thoking.”

Pie-match, subs. (Rugby).—A match arranged between teams in one house, or in one form, followed by a supper, subscribed for by the players, or provided by the masters.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, vii. “The OLD PIG came by.” “The what?” said the doctor. “The Oxford coach, sir,” explained Hall. “Hah! yes, the Regulator,” said the doctor.

1798. “Christ’s Hospital Three Quarters of a Century Ago” [Chelmsford Chronicle (1875), Ap. 16]. Beer we had certainly served out in wooden vessels of an extraordinary shape, called PIGGINS; about six of them for four boys to drink out of, but such beer! The PIGGINS were seldom replenished, for we could not drink it.

Pig-market (The), subs. (Oxford).—A corridor leading to the Divinity School: properly the Proscholium. [Said to have been so used in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII.]

1837. Ingram, Memorials of Oxford.... The schools built by Abbot Hokenorton being inadequate to the increasing wants of the University, they applied to the Abbot of Reading for stone to rebuild them; and in the year 1532 it appears that considerable sums of money were expended on them; but they went to decay in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. and during the whole reign of Edward VI. The change of religion having occasioned a suspension of the usual exercises and scholastic acts in the University, in the year 1540 only two of these schools were used by determiners, and within two years after none at all. The whole area between these schools and the divinity school was subsequently converted into a garden and PIG-MARKET; and the schools themselves, being completely abandoned by the masters and scholars, were used by glovers and laundresses.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. Our hero proceeded with his father along the High Street, and turned round by St. Mary’s, and so up Cat Street to the Schools, where they made their way to the classic PIG-MARKET, to wait the arrival of the Vice-Chancellor.

Pin, verb (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—To enjoy: e.g. “I PINNED my innings”; “this is a PINNING book.”

To pin a lozen, verb. phr. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—To break a window. [Lozen = a pane of glass.]

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 315. Dr. Butler ... abolished, amongst other old customs, certain rites and ceremonies which were used in celebrating a boy’s remove from one form to the other in the lower part of the school. No such promotion was considered complete, so far as the boys were concerned, until the new member had been duly “PINCHED IN”—remaining a certain fixed time in the play-room, during which all the fraternity exercised a right of pinching him, limited only by the tenderness of their dispositions or the strength of their fingers. There were generally some adepts in this torture, who knew, and taught others, the tenderest places and the most artistic mode of taking hold, and who carried this evil knowledge with them from form to form, to be practised on a succession of victims. The rites of initiation were completed by tossing in a blanket in the dormitory, and a certain number of bumps against the ceiling were required to make the ceremony valid.

Pintle, subs. (Lancing).—(1) A form of cricket played with a bat narrowed at both sides, a soft ball, and a stone wicket in a pit. Also (2) = the bat used in the game. Hence PINTLE-SLINGER = a fast bowler.

Pitch-up, subs. (Winchester).—One’s home circle; a group; a crowd; a set of chums. Hence TO PITCH UP WITH = to associate with.

Place, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A room: generic: as study-PLACE, shoe-PLACE, tailor’s PLACE, washing-PLACE, Dick’s PLACE, stranger’s PLACE ( = parlour).

1891. John Gerard, S.J., Stonyhurst College. This evidently comes from St. Omers, in which district, we are told, the word is still employed in the same promiscuous way.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” My next duty is what is called “running for a PLACE.” There are (or were) six cricket pitches on “turf,” and any præfect has a right to one of these all day (a bad arrangement, which I hope is altered now, as fellows with no idea of cricket could thus keep much better players off all day) provided he can get a stick with his name on, stuck in the ground by his fag—the half-dozen out of the fifteen or twenty fags running, who get their præfect’s sticks stuck in first, claiming the place for him. It was the same sort of thing, as if the door from the “underground” was opened about 6.30, and some twenty fellows rushed out early in the morning to try and get pitches.

Plain-ruled, subs. (Harrow).—The paper usually used for exercises, sixteen lines to a page.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, viii. The river Avon at Rugby is ... a capital river for bathing, as it has many nice small pools and several good reaches for swimming, all within about a mile of one another, and at an easy twenty minutes’ walk from the School. This mile of water is rented, or used to be rented, for bathing purposes by the Trustees of the School, for the boys. The footpath to Brownsover crosses the river by THE PLANKS, a curious old single-plank bridge running for fifty or sixty yards into the flat meadows on each side of the river—for in the winter there are frequent floods. Above THE PLANKS were the bathing-places for the smaller boys; Sleath’s, the first bathing-place, where all new boys had to begin, until they had proved to the bathing men (three steady individuals, who were paid to attend daily through the summer to prevent accidents) that they could swim pretty decently, when they were allowed to go on to Anstey’s, about one hundred and fifty yards below. Here there was a hole about six feet deep and twelve feet across, over which the puffing urchins struggled to the opposite side, and thought no small beer of themselves for having been out of their depths. Below THE PLANKS came larger and deeper holes, the first of which was Wratislaw’s, and the last Swift’s, a famous hole, ten or twelve feet deep in parts, and thirty yards across, from which there was a fine swimming reach right down to the Mill. Swift’s was reserved for the sixth and fifth forms, and had a spring-board and two sets of steps; the others had one set of steps each, and were used indifferently by all the lower boys, though each house addicted itself more to one hole than to another. The School-house at this time affected Wratislaw’s hole, and Tom and East, who had learnt to swim like fishes, were to be found there as regular as the clock through the summer, always twice, and often three times a day.

Play, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete—otherwise general).—A holiday, half or whole.

1865. Etoniana, 115. Eton versification was very good indeed ... exercises ... from their excellence, were laid before the provost, by a time-honoured custom, as a claim for the weekly half-holiday called “PLAY”—a ceremony which some other public schools have borrowed.

Playing-fields, subs. (Eton).—There are seven separate grounds—Upper Club, Lower Club, Upper Sixpenny, Sixpenny, Jordan, Mesopotamia, and the new ground in “Agars Plough.”

1890. Great Public Schools, 59. Every one knows the Playing-fields. They are the crowning glory, the eye of Eton ... they are always beautiful.

Pledge, verb (Winchester).—To give away: e.g. “PLEDGE me” = “after you”; “PLEDGE you” = “give, pass, or lend me;” “I’ll PLEDGE it you when I’ve done with it.”

1882. Skeat [Wrench]. Skeat says it comes from a Latin præbium, connected with præbere, in which case PLEDGE simply means “give.”

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Pluck.... Signifies to deny a degree to a candidate at one of the universities, on account of insufficiency. The three first books of Euclid, and as far as Quadratic Equations in Algebra, will save a man from being PLUCKED. These unfortunate fellows are designated by many opprobrious appellations, such as the Twelve Apostles, the Legion of Honour, Wise Men of the East, &c.

1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, x. He went to college and he got PLUCKED, as I think they call it.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iii. Verdant read up most desperately for his matriculation, associating that initiatory examination with the most dismal visions of PLUCKING, and other college tortures. Ibid., xi. Note. When the degrees are conferred, the name of each person is read out before he is presented to the Vice-Chancellor. The proctor then walks once up and down the room, so that any person who objects to the degree being granted may signify the same by pulling or PLUCKING the proctor’s robes. This has been occasionally done by tradesmen, in order to obtain payment of their “little bills,” but such a proceeding is very rare, and the proctor’s promenade is usually undisturbed.

1855. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 258. If a man is PLUCKED—that is, does not get marks enough to pass—his chance of a Fellowship is done for.

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, Prol. Gooseberry pie ... adds to my chance of being PLOUGHED for SMALLS.

1886. Stubbs, Mediæval and Mod. Hist., 386. I trust that I have never PLUCKED a candidate ... without giving him every opportunity of setting himself right.

1895. Pocock, Rules of the Game, i. I knew one of that lot at Corpus; in fact, we were crammed by the same tutor for “smalls,” and both got PLOUGHED.

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green.... Getting up his subjects by the aid of those royal roads to knowledge, variously known as cribs, crams, PLUGS, abstracts, analyses, or epitomes.

Poacher, subs. (Stonyhurst).—At football a player stationed near an enemy’s goals to trouble his SECOND-GUARDERS (q.v.). They are not allowed to go within the “Second-guarder’s” or POACHING line.

Poetry, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The Fifth Form. [From the former chief study of the Form: originally The Humanities. Cf. Regulæ Professoris Humanitatis in the Ratio Studiorum Societatis Jesu.]

Poet’s-walk, subs. (Eton).—A river-walk in the playing-fields. Poet’s-walk = the tea those playing in Upper Club have on half-holidays by the river.

1895. Felstedian, April, p. 44. We won the game by one goal, three rouges—points to its origin. “Pog” may have meant a “melancholy” face originally, and in time come to denote any Felstedian’s visage, grave or gay.

1897. Felstedian, May, p. 87. I ... prayed that he wasn’t going to drag in “Cheese” or “POG,” or any similar atrocities.

Poker, subs. (Oxford).—A BEDEL (q.v.) carrying a silver mace before the Vice-Chancellor.

1841. Rime of the New-Made Baccalere. Around, around, all, all around, On seats with velvet lined, Sat Heads of Houses in a row, And Deans and College Dons below, With a POKER or two behind.

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, vii. A sort of young procession—the Vice-Chancellor, with his and Yeoman-bedels. The silver maces carried by the latter gentlemen, made them by far the most showy part of the procession.... Ibid. Tom is the bell that you hear at nine each night; the Vice has to see that he is in proper condition, and, as you have seen, goes out with his POKERS for that purpose.

1865. Cornhill Mag., Feb., 225. The heads of houses and university officers attend [St. Mary’s, Oxford] in their robes, and form a stately procession to and from the church. The Vice-Chancellor is escorted by his mace-bearers, familiarly called POKERS, to and from his residence.

Poll, subs. (Cambridge).—The ordinary examination for the B.A. degree, as distinguished from the “Honours” examination. Also a student who takes the “Pass” degree without “Honours.” Hence POLL-DEGREE and POLL-MAN. To go out in the poll = to take an ordinary degree.

1855. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 62. Several declared that they would GO OUT IN THE POLL.

1884. Jas. Payn, in Cornhill, April, 370. I took my degree, however—a first-class POLL; which my good folks at home believed to be an honourable distinction.

1889. Academy, Mar. 2. It is related of some Cambridge POLL-MAN that he was once so ill-advised as to desert a private tutor.

Verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To maltreat; to make impure. [That is, “pollute.”]

1900. St. James’s Gazette, Mar. 15, “Arnoldiana.” He [Matthew Arnold] was placed at the end of the great school, and, amid howls and jeers, pelted with a rain of PONTOS for some time. The PONTO, though a soft missile, being but the inside of a new roll, was probably sufficient in quantity.

Pony, subs. (general).—A translation; a CRIB (q.v.)—any adventitious aid to study. Also as verb.

1832. Tour through College, 30. Their lexicons, PONIES, and textbooks were strewed round their lamps on the table.

1856. Hall, College Words, s.v. Pony. So called, it may be, from the fleetness and ease with which a skilful rider is enabled to pass over places which to a common plodder may present obstacles.

Poon, verb (Winchester).—To prop up a piece of furniture with a wedge under the leg.—Wrench.

Pop, subs. (Eton).—A club at Eton. Chiefly confined to Oppidans (q.v.), though Collegers (q.v.) are sometimes elected.

1865. Etoniana, 207. “The Eton Society,” for reading and debates, has had a longer and more successful existence than the magazines. It is better known by its sobriquet of “POP,” supposed to be a contraction of Popina, the rooms where it was held for many years having been over a cookshop or confectioner’s. It was first instituted in 1811, when Charles Fox Townshend (who was the elder brother of the late Marquess, and died young) was the first president, and it has gone on ever since with considerable popularity and success. The preparation of the speeches leads to a certain amount of historical reading for the purpose; but the chief attraction of “POP” lies in its being a sort of social club, where papers and reviews are taken in; and, as the numbers are strictly limited (originally twenty-two, since increased to twenty-eight), to be elected into the society gives a boy a certain degree of prestige in the school. In summer the debates are almost nominal, out-door attractions being too strong; but in winter they sometimes last for several hours, and are kept up with great spirit. The members are almost exclusively oppidans, this being one of the points where the jealousy between them and the collegers comes out very distinctly. A few of the latter are admitted, but only when they have some special claim to popularity.

Poser, subs. (Winchester and Eton).—An examiner: formerly a bishop’s examining chaplain—at Eton for King’s College, and at Winchester for New College Scholarships and Exhibitions. Also APPOSER, OPPOSER, and OPPOSITOR. [Posen = to examine.—Prompt. Parv., 144.]

1574. Queen Elizabeth, Endorsement on Recommendation of Candidates for College Election, May 8. To our trustie and welbeloved the wardens of the new Colledges in Oxford and nere Winchester and other of them and to the OPPOSITORS and others having interest in the election of Scollers.

1603. Bacon, Discourse [1887]. Let his questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for a POSER.

1662. Fuller, Worthies, Norfolk, ii. 462. The University [Cambridge] ... appointed Doctor Cranmer ... to be POSER-GENERAL of all Candidates in Divinity.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 61. The election-day, both for Winchester and New College, is on the Tuesday next after the 7th of July (St. Thomas Beckett), when the warden of New College, Oxford, with two of his fellows, called the POSERS (or at one time supervisors), arrive at the college, where they are received with a Latin oration “ad portas” by the senior scholar.

1855. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 74. Fifty marks will prevent one from being POSTED, but there are always two or three too stupid as well as idle to save their POST. These drones are POSTED separately, as “not worthy to be classed,” and privately slanged afterwards by the master and seniors. Should a man be POSTED twice in succession, he is generally recommended to try the air of some small college, or devote his energies to some other walk of life.

Verb. 1. (University).—To reject: as in an examination; to PLUCK (q.v.); TO PLOUGH (q.v.).

2. (Eton).—To put down for doing badly in COLLECTIONS (q.v.), the penalty being either a holiday-PŒNA (q.v.), or a SWISHING (q.v.).

3. (University).—To put up a man’s name as not having paid for food supplied by the College: supplies are then stopped until the account is settled.

Postmaster, subs. (Oxford).—An Exhibitioner of Merton College. Also PORTIONIST (q.v.).

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, vii. Each college does its own postal department; and at Merton there are fourteen POSTMASTERS, for they get no end of letters there. “Oh, yes! I remember Mr. Larkyns ... telling us that the son of one of his old friends had been a POSTMASTER of Merton; but I fancied that he had said it had something to do with a scholarship.” “Ah, you see, it’s a long while since the governor was here, and his memory fails him,” remarked Mr. Charles Larkyns, very unfilially.

1886. Oxford Guide [S. J. & C.]. The POSTMASTERS anciently performed the duties of choristers, and their payment for this duty was six shillings and fourpence per annum.

1882. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 112. The dessert called POST-PAST was always the best sort of apples or pears, and biscuits, or else walnuts.

Post te, phr. (Charterhouse).—The most useful (says Tod) of all the old Charterhouse expressions. For example, POST TE MATH. EX. = “Will you have the kindness to permit me to glance over your mathematical exercise?” Or one can give a POST TE of anything; e.g. to give a friend a POST TE of a book is to give him the right of its perusal when you have done with it. The word is also used in a subtle and sarcastic sense; e.g. POST TE hat or POST TE chum signifies disapproval of the hat or friend of which or whom the remark was made.

Pot, subs. (Winchester).—A canal lock. Whence POT-CAD = a workman at the saw-mills; POT-GATES = lock-gates; POT-HOUSER = a jump into the canal from the roof of a house called POT-HOUSE.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 226. POT—A canal lock; the one just under Hills was generally meant when the word was used.

Pot-house (The), subs. (Cambridge).—St. Peter’s College: formerly Peterhouse.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 85. He asked me what it was.... I hadn’t a notion, so I made a shot and said “POT-HOUSE.” He said, “I suppose you mean St. Peter’s College.”

Præpositor, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—A School Præfect (q.v.): seventeenth century.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, v. The master mounted into the high desk by the door, and one of the PRÆPOSTORS of the week stood by him on the steps, the other three marching up and down the middle of the school with their canes, calling out “Silence, silence!”... Then the PRÆPOSTOR who stands by the master calls out the names, beginning with the sixth form; and as he calls, each boy answers “here” to his name, and walks out.

Prefect, subs. (general).—A superior or senior member of a school superintending in or out of school hours according to office and school: as in studies, preparation, games, &c. See quots., Præpositor, Præpostor, &c.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 226. Præfects—The eighteen Senior boys in College, and the twelve senior in Commoners. The ten senior of those in College were said to be in “Full power,” and took the office of Bible-Clerk in rotation; they all had the power of fagging the Juniors, but those not in full power were supposed not to have the right of fagging on the School side of Seventh Chamber Passage; practically, however, they always did. One of the Senior PRÆFECTS was called PRÆFECT of Hall, and was responsible in a great measure for the conduct of the boys out of school. His duties and privileges were numerous. There was also a “PRÆFECT of Tub,” who was supposed to see that the dinner was properly distributed; a “PRÆFECT of School,” who had the care of that building; and two “PRÆFECTS of Chapel,” who during alternate weeks called names in Chapel. There were fees attached to all these offices; and all the PRÆFECTS had a certain number of boys allotted to them as Pupils, each of whom paid one guinea each half.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75. Here let me observe that only the PRÆFECTS have separate basins to wash in; the juniors use the two stone conduits.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Præfects.... The number of Præfects was eighteen in College, three to each Chamber ... in Commoners first eight, with four senior-inferiors, who were like Præfects in half-power, and later twelve.... The word Præpostor was also used concurrently, it would appear, till the last century, when it disappeared, except in the formula demanding a remedy, in which it survives. What the relations of the two words were to each other it is not easy to determine.... Præpostor occurs in the College Register, and is still used in asking for Remedies. Both seem, therefore, to be official words. At Eton Præpostor survives, though they are stated to have begun with officers bearing other titles. They have also retained major, minor, minimus, which we have discarded for senior, secundus, junior. The “Præfect of Tub”—“qui nomen ducit ab olla”—who presided over meals, and whose perquisites are said to have been most lucrative—amounting to the value of £80 per annum—and the “Præfect of Cloisters” are obsolete offices.

1900. MS. Notes (Rev. A. Goodier, Stonyhurst). Præfects ... These are four in number.

Prep, subs. 1. (Dulwich).—Evening preparation. Cf. Banco, Toy-time, &c.

1890. Felstedian, Feb., p. 2. Johnson ma happened to be in PREP in good time, so he managed to get in a moment’s conversation with Jones.

Preparatory, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The preparatory Form at Hodder: originally Abecedarii.

Privs, subs. (Harrow).—Special privileges in the House: granted to either Sixth Form or Three-yearers (q.v.). These take different forms in different houses. To FIND (q.v.) and to TOLLY-UP are PRIVS: so is the right to wear a coat that is not regulation school dress after LOCK-UP (q.v.).

Pro, subs. (Oxford).—A proproctor, or second in command in the proctorial police. The two proctors appoint a certain number of proproctors each.

1823. Hints for Oxford, 10. They (Freshmen) cap the PRO’S too in the street, speak to people without being introduced, and are guilty of a thousand gaucheries.

1869. W. Bradwood, The O.V.H., x. The proctor (more strictly a PRO) backed out of the room with wholesale apologies.

Proctorized, adj. and adv. (University).—Stopped by a proctor and told to call on him.

1885. Punch, May 16, p. 233. Proctorised again last night! Coming home from jolly wine-party at John’s.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” But a Proctor, or—by the common practice—“PROGGER,” soon teaches the unwary that the wisest course is to wear it at the stated times, however objectionable it may be.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” A “PROGGING” may form part of another article. At present I have passed all due bounds.

Prose-task, subs. (Winchester).—A piece of Latin prose composition, which all the boys had to do once a week.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

1610. Shakspeare, Cor., i. 4. Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight With hearts more PROOF than shields.

1881. Pascoe, Public Schools.... But deprive a Wykehamist of words in constant use, such as “quill,” meaning to curry favour with; PRUFF, signifying sturdy, or proof against pain; “spree,” upstart, impudent; “cud,” pretty, and many more, and his vocabulary becomes limited.

1870. The Blue, Mar. It is, we believe, certain that T.R.H. the Prince and Princess Teck will grace one of the Lent PUBLIC SUPPERS with their distinguished presence.

1900. Daily Telegraph, Mar. 16, “London Day by Day.” That quaint and historic old custom known as the “public supping” of the children was celebrated last evening at Christ’s Hospital, Newgate Street, in the presence of the Lord Mayor, Alderman Vaughan Morgan (treasurer of the school), and other civic and educational dignitaries.

1900. Pall Mall Gazette, 20th Mar., 3. 2, “A Lenten Supper.” Attention is directed to this festival this year for two reasons—one, that it is a very ancient custom; the other, that this is nearly the last year in which it will be held; for it is clear that when the school has changed its site, its dress, and certain of its officers and masters, it will not care to carry on this quaint old ceremony. And indeed, were the Hospital to hold such revelry at Horsham there would be few to come as guests, if the name of guest can be assigned to one who plays a part so passive as that of seeing other people eat.... The scene of the supping is the Great Hall.... Six hundred boys and more appear as nothing; they are all seated.... At each table sits a matron, according to their wards (of which there are fifteen), and attached to each ward is a matron, who used to be called nurse. Beside the tables are the monitors, responsible for order—biggish boys—not “Grecians,” for Grecians do not appear at the Lent suppers, except to read or pray or sing, having already eaten in their wards. The first performance, probably, is to light the candles on the tables; each ward has four candles, and all are lighted at almost the same moment. The hall is lighted from the roof by gas, so the candlesticks are little more than ornaments. They are of oak, old, and well-weighted at the base, and can count their age by centuries.... Their quaintness is concealed by artificial flowers, which the boys pay for and the matrons arrange, the result more suggestive of suburban bonnets than antiquity and quaintness. Ask a boy Why? he will probably reply that “it always has been done.” Change has come; it used to be held on Sundays during Lent instead of Thursday as to-day, and up to absolutely recent years there were six suppers instead of four. These festivals interfere somewhat with school work, and those who are officially compelled to attend find sameness, even in a public supper, in the course of thirty years or so. As the clock strikes seven there is a rap, the boys stand up, the organ bursts into “God save the Queen,” and up the hall marches the Lord Mayor, preceded by the chief beadle of the Hospital, clad in gorgeous raiment and a mace suggestive of a fish-slice. Behind comes the treasurer of the Hospital, another alderman, and various governors, each bearing a green stick to mark his office. These sit in reserved seats at the far end of the hall, the Lord Mayor in the chair, while on his right hand by the wall are masters and on his left some “officers.” The ceremony—a strange mixture of a religious service, a meal, and a feudal relic—begun with the reading of a passage from the Sermon on the Mount by a Grecian standing in a pulpit, whence he proceeded to read special prayers written for the school by Bishop Compton, ending with the Lord’s Prayer, after which a hymn and “grace” and then the supper, during which the Lord Mayor, with a select few, made the grand tour of the hall. Such a supper was soon over, and it was not long before the boys had gathered up the plates and bowls and cloths and knives, and then came grace and an anthem well sung by a well-trained choir. This was followed by the feudal feature in the evening: the whole school, with the exception of the Grecians, “bows round,” i.e. the boys walk up two and two, marshalled by two beadles, who stand near, and drawing near the chair, then bow the head in reverence to an Authority. Most boys have a “trade,” and in this procession each one carries a symbol of that “trade.” The matron’s special boy carries a bonnet-candle in each hand, the knife-boy carries his knife-basket, and the cloth-boy takes his cloth neatly rolled beneath his wing, while, last of all, the bread-boy hoists the tall bread-basket shoulder-high and “bows round” with it, never failing to raise a laugh as well as a basket. When all have bowed, the boy-marshalling beadles bow also, and the revels are ended. It is believed that the original purpose of these suppers was to rouse interest in the outside public and possibly raise money from their pockets; at all events, collection boxes used to be placed about the hall on those occasions.

Pulling-out, subs. (Charterhouse: obsolete).—Pulling-out took place on Good Fridays. A line was marked from a corner of green to cloisters. On one side of this line stood the first and second forms, i.e. the Uppers, on the other side of it the Unders. The Unders had the right of calling on any unpopular Upper to run the gauntlet between two rows of Unders from cloister doors to a point near the chapel. They armed themselves with implements of all kinds, such as sticks, or stones fastened into stockings, with which to inflict punishment upon the Uppers. The latter naturally resisted; hence there were fierce fights and dangerous rushes. During the PULLING-OUT of 1824, a little fellow called Howard, a younger son of the Earl of Suffolk, was entangled in one of these rushes, dragged along the ground for some distance, with a mass of boys upon him, and received injuries from which he died soon after. This was the end of PULLING-OUT, but the custom was as old as the school.—Mozley. Also Calling-out.

1891. Wrench, Word-Book, s.v. Pulpiteers. An arrangement during Cloister-time of Sixth Book and Senior Part V. going up to books together.... Middle and Junior Part taken together were called Cloisters.

Pun, subs. (Harrow).—Punishment. Also as verb. Hence PUN-PAPER = specially ruled paper for PUNS and impositions.

To pun out, verb. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—To inform against. Ex. “I’ll PUN OUT”; “I’ll PUN you OUT.” Exclusively a London term: at Hertford the word is simply TO PUN, or TO PUN OF.

Punny, subs. (Manchester Grammar).—Punishment School or Drill: also known as P.S. and P.D.: both cause detention for three-quarters of an hour after school.

Punt, verb (Rugby).—To kick the ball (at football) before it touches the ground.

Punt-about, subs. (Rugby).—The practice-ball: at football. Also a practice game.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, I. v. He hadn’t long to wonder, however, for next minute East cried out, “Hurra! here’s the PUNT-ABOUT,—come along and try your hand at a kick.” The PUNT-ABOUT is the practice-ball, which is just brought out and kicked about anyhow from one boy to another before callings-over and dinner, and at other odd times.

Puny, subs. (old Oxford).—A Freshman: also a student at the Inns of Court.

15 [?]. Christmas Prince at St. John’s College, i. Others to make sporte withall, of this last sorte were they whom they call freshmenn, PUNIES of the first yeare.

15 [?]. Ulysses upon Ajax, B. 8. A very worme of wit, a PUNEY of Oxford, shall make you more hatefull than Battalus the hungrye fidler.

1593. Nashe, Christ’s Teares [Works (Grosart), iv. 228]. Sharing halfe with the Baudes their Hostesses, and laughing at the PUNIES they have lurched [robbed].

1634. Marston, in Lectores, &c. [Nares]. Shall each odd PUISNE of the lawyer’s inne, Each barmy-froth, that last day did beginne, To read his little, or his nere a whit.

c. 1640 [Shirley], Captain Underwit [Bullen, Old Plays, ii. 340]. Preach to the PUISNES of the Inne sobrietie. [Puisne (i.e. PUNY) was the term applied to students at the Inns of Court; also to Freshmen at Oxford.—Bullen.]

1847. Halliwell, Arch. and Prov. Words, s.v. Punies. Freshmen at Oxford were called PUNIES for the first year.

Pupe, subs. (Harrow).—A pupil-room. [Room = class or form: each tutor is assigned a Room, for the members of which he is generally responsible, and for whom he signs orders.]

Pux, verb (Royal High School, Edin.).—To punish with the tawse: e.g. “Did you get PUXED?”

1840. Collegian’s Guide, 144. His mother ... had been seen crossing the QUAD in tears.

1884. Daily News, Oct. 14, p. 5, col. 1. His undignified nickname is carved in the turf of the college QUAD.

Verb (Rugby).—To promenade round Cloisters at calling over before a football-match.

Quarter-marks, subs. (Harrow).—The aggregate of marks for work during the term, as opposed to marks gained in Trials (q.v.).

Quarter of Paper, subs. phr. (Winchester).—A quarter of a sheet of foolscap, on which the Prose and Verse Tasks were always written.—Mansfield (c. 1840). Cf. Vessel. Also used at Westminster.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 165. Besides this, he had to carry with him into school a portfolio containing a sufficiency of QUARTERNS of paper. All or any of these articles he was supposed to supply, upon requisition, to any boy of the “upper election.”

Quill, verb (Winchester).—To curry favour; to flatter: see Quilster. Hence (latterly) TO BE QUILLED = to be pleased. Cf. Quiller = a parasite.

Rabbiter, subs. (Winchester).—A blow, delivered by the side of the hand, on the back of the neck: as in killing a rabbit.

Rabbit-Skin, subs. (University).—The academical hood. Hence TO GET ONE’S RABBIT-SKIN = to obtain the B.A. degree. [Because trimmed with rabbit fur. Also CAT’S-SKIN.]

Rack, subs. (Winchester).—A DISPAR (q.v.), or portion consisting of a joint (or chop) from a neck or loin of mutton. [Rack (Halliwell) = the neck of mutton or pork; also (Johnson) = a neck of mutton cut for the table.]

1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 4. Lu. And me thought there came in a leg of mutton. Dro. What, all grosse meat? a RACKE had beene dainty.

1706. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v. Rack.... Probably from hracca, Saxon, the back of the head.

... May, Accomplished Cook, 57. Then again, put in the crag end of the RACK OF MUTTON to make the broth good. Ibid., p. 25. Take two joynts of mutton, RACK and loin.

1899. Answers, 14th Jan., 1. 1. This matter of the RAG is hedged about with many unwritten laws. One who has mastered these will never go to breakfast in another man’s rooms in cap and gown.... Nor will he wear the RAG in the theatre, which is strictly barred.

1900. Daily Mail, 10th Mar., 2. 4. There was keen excitement at Cambridge yesterday when the magistrates proceeded to deal with the last two prosecutions of students arising out of the notorious RAG in celebration of the relief of Ladysmith.

Ramrod (or Raymonder), subs. (Winchester).—A ball bowled all along the ground.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Range, verb (The Leys).—To play football in the small walled playground.

Rattle, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The hour of rising: e.g. “I got up at the RATTLE.” [From the instrument by which the boys are called.]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1886), 228. Reader—An office in the gift of every Præfect in Senior Fardel (q.v.), which excused the recipient from watching out at Cricket. His business was to read out aloud the translation of any book his Master was cramming for Election examination.

Reading-shelf, subs. (Winchester).—A shelf with a drawer fixed inside the head of a boy’s bed, on which to place a candle for nocturnal studies.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Recker, The (Harrow).—The town recreation-ground: here are held the school sports.

Regent, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—An assistant master: the Head-master was called “Maister” or “Principal Maister”; now “Rector.”

1484. Chapter Register of Southwell Minster. Nota generaliter. Ministri Ecclesiæ non vacant scolæ grammaticali. Magister grammaticalis non attendit debitis horis doctrinæ suorum scolarium in scola; et quam pluries indiscrete dat REMEDIUM suis scolaribus diebus ferialibus, quod quasi ad tempus nichil addiscunt, expendendo bona suorum parentum frustra et inaniter; et non locuntur latinum in scola sed anglicum.

d. 1519. Dean Colet, Statutes of St. Paul’s School. I will also that they shall have no REMEDYES. Yf the Maister granteth any REMEDYES he shall forfeit 40s., totiens quotiens, excepte the Kyng, or an Archbishopp, or a Bishop present in his own person in the Scole desire it.

1530. Thomas Magnus, Endowment Deed, Newark Grammar School. Thomas Magnus ordeyneth ... that the said maisters shall not be myche inclyned nor gyven to graunt REMEDY for Recreacyon or Dispoorte to their scolers unless it be ones in a wooke upon the Thuysday or Thursday, or that further REMEDY be requyred by any honorable or worshipfull Person or Personage, &c. &c.

1593. Rites Durham Cathedral Monastic Church [Surtees Society]. There was ... a garding and a bowling allie ... for the Novices sumetymes to recreate themselves when they had REMEDY of there master.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 49. In the short half we had at least one “REMEDY,” and a half day every week, and in summer two always; they were on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These “REMEDIES” were a kind of mitigated whole holidays. We were supposed to go into school for an hour or two in the morning and afternoon; but as no Master was present, it didn’t come to much. This was called “Books Chambers.” Remedies were not a matter of right, but were always specially applied for by Præfect of Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The custom was for him to waylay the Doctor on his way to morning chapel, and make the request, when, if granted, a gold ring was handed to the applicant, on which was engraved, “commendant rarior usus.” This ring was worn by the Præfect of Hall for the rest of the day, and returned by him to the Doctor at the beginning of middle school on the day following.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Remedy. A holiday in the half, with Books-chambers or Toy-time. Originally there was always one, and generally two REMEDIES in the week. Later every Tuesday in Easter-time and Cloister-time was a REMEDY, the Thursday’s REMEDY being often granted. Now Thursdays in Cloister-time only are REMEDIES proper in middle-school hours; there are on these days Morning-lines, and the afternoon is a half-holiday. Ascension-Day and the Queen’s Accession are holidays: all red-letter Saints’-days are Leave-out-days. Remedium seems to have been the original word for holiday: translated REMEDY.... The tradition of REMEDIES being granted by great persons survives in the custom of the Judges on Circuit demanding a Half-REMEDY.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 229. Remission—When owing to a Saint’s day having fallen on the day previous to that on which a Verse or Prose Task, or Vulgus, was due, the boys were excused from doing it, there was said to be REMISSION from it.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi, 65. It’s not in Selections from British Poetry which we have to get up for REP.

2. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—The REPRESENTATIVE elected by the Class to serve on the Committee of the School Club.

Repeal Garden, subs. (Stonyhurst).—One of the Higher Line Gardens. [Used for Irish declamation at the beginning of the century.] Obsolete.

Resurrection, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A sort of eat-all feast, consisting of a meeting to discuss the remnants of an Academy Do (q.v.) held on the previous day.

Rhetoric, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The Sixth Form. [From the chief work once studied in the form. Cf. Regulæ Professoris Rhetoricæ in the Ratio Studiorum Societatis Jesu.]

Riot Act, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A body of school rules, read over and commented upon by the Head Master on the first Wednesday afternoon in term before the whole school.

Ripping, subs. (Eton).—A ceremony incidental to the departure of a Senior Colleger for King’s College, Cambridge: when he has got King’s (q.v.) his gown has to be stitched up that it may be RIPPED afterwards by the Provost or his deputy.

Rod-maker, subs. (Winchester).—The man who made the rods used in Bibling (q.v.).

1375. Percival [Halliwell]. Were they wighte, were they woke, Alle that he tille stroke He made their bodies to ROKE.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. Words, s.v. Roke.... To shake; to roll ... to stir liquids.

Roker, subs. (Winchester).—A ruler; a stick; a poker. See Roke. Flat-roker = a flat ruler.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 230. The ROLL par excellence is the list of the boys who have passed their examination for New College, and of those who are to come in to Winchester. There is also a ROLL printed every November, which contains the name of every one connected with the School, from the Warden to the Choristers. The lists from which the Præfects of Hall and Chapel called names; the papers on which the names of the absentees on such occasions were written; the papers on which were written the “Standing up”; the lists of the boys who had leave out on a Saints’ day; the papers put on the Master’s desk when boys wished to go out of school; those handed to the Master at the close of School by the Bible-Clerk or Ostiarius with the names of the delinquents, and many other similar papers, were all called ROLLS.

1877. Pascoe, Every-day Life, &c. Anything approaching swagger is severely rebuked; there is no more objectionable quality than that understood by the expression “He’s got such a horrid ROLL ON.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 316. Another ancient barbarism survived even long after Butler’s accession. There were in the head-master’s house two public rooms for the use of his boarders—the hall and the play-room. The latter was open to all, but the hall was regarded as a sort of club-room, which no boy was allowed to enter, except at dinner and supper time, until he had become a member by being ROLLED-IN. Any one who desired the privilege of admission (and none below the upper fifth were eligible), gave in his name to the head-boy some days beforehand, in order that due preparations might be made for the inauguration. Immediately a certain number of rolls (finds they were called—etymology unknown) were ordered at the baker’s, and rebaked every morning until they were pretty nearly as hard as pebbles. At nine o’clock on the morning fixed for the ROLLING-IN, the members of the hall ranged themselves on the long table which ran along one side of the room, each with his pile of these rolls before him, and a fag to pick them up. The candidate knelt, facing them, on a form close against the opposite wall, with his head resting on his hands, so as to guard the face, while they held, as well as they could, a plate on the top of the head by way of helmet. Thus protected, the head itself formed a mark for the very peculiar missiles which were ready to be aimed. When all was ready, a time-keeper, watch in hand, gave the word—“Now!” when fast and furiously—and very spitefully, if the boy was unpopular—the rolls were showered upon the devoted head for the space of one minute, neither more nor less. Such protection as the plate gave was soon lost by its being broken to pieces. It was, as may be imagined, a very severe ordeal, the bruises being very painful for weeks afterwards.

Room, subs. (Stonyhurst).—In Stonyhurst nomenclature, ROOM as a place-name is modern. See Duchess’ Rooms, Duke’s Room, Place, &c.

Root-about, subs. (The Leys).—Promiscuous football practice. Also as verb.

Rorke (or Rawk), subs. (Tonbridge).—A navvy. [? Latin raucus. Cf. Rorker.]

Rorker, subs. (Derby).—A street boy; a cad. [? Latin raucus. Cf. Rorke.]

Rosh (or Roush), verb (Royal Military Academy).—To bustle; to horseplay. Hence STOP ROUSHING! = an injunction to silence.

Rotter, subs. (Tonbridge).—A boy who shirks his fair share: at games, &c.; a fainéant.

Rouge, subs. (Eton).—A point in the Eton game of football: 3 ROUGES = 1 goal. Cf. Scrouge.

1895. Felstedian, April, pp. 43-4. “Vic” ... entirely baffles me, and so does the expression TO ROUGE; but the fact that it occurs in the early numbers of the Felstedian—“we won the game by one goal, three ROUGES”—points to its origin.

Roush, subs. (Winchester).—1. A rush, or charge: as by a man, a beast, or by water.

Rowing-man, subs. (University).—A spreester; a loose fish. [“Row” as in “bough.”]

Rows, subs. (Winchester).—The fixed benches at each end of School: called respectively Senior, Middle, and Junior ROW.

1892. Evening Standard, 25th Nov. 4, 5. The controversy was started by the death of one who succumbed to his exertions. “An Old Medical Rug” describes the sufferings he endured.

1896. Tonbridgian, No. 339, 1124. At St. John’s, Sells has developed into a good RUGGER half, Pinching is one of the best forwards, and also plays Socker for the College at times.

1897. Felstedian, Nov., p. 194. As regards RUGGER the ’Varsity team have been somewhat under-rated.

Run. To run Cloisters, verb. phr. (Winchester).—A boy was said to run Cloisters when he obtained his remove from Junior Part to Senior Part at the end of Cloister-time (a period of ten or twelve weeks at the end of Long Half).

Runabout, subs. (Charterhouse).—An irregular form of football: formerly called Compulsory.

Running-stone, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A stone set at a distance from the CRICKET-STONE (q.v.), to and from which a batsman ran when making a score. See Stonyhurst-cricket.

1885. Stonyhurst Mag., ii. 85. The distance from the Cricket-stone to the RUNNING-STONE to be twenty-seven yards.

Rusticate, verb (common).—To send away a student for a time from a College or University by way of punishment; to SHIP (q.v.). Hence RUSTICATION.

1714. Spectator, No. 596. After this I was deeply in love with a milliner, and at last with my bedmaker, upon which I was sent away, or, in the university phrase, RUSTICATED for ever.

1779. Johnson, Life of Milton, par. 12. It seems plain from his own verses to Diodati, that he had incurred RUSTICATION; a temporary dismission into the country, with perhaps the loss of a term.

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very near RUSTICATION [at Cambridge], merely for kicking up a row after a beakering party.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, lxxix. You have totally forgotten me, and the Dean informs me that you have never condescended a single line to him, which latter enquiry on my part nearly cost me a RUSTICATION.... Dear Cecil Cavendish, our gifted friend, slight of limb and soft of voice, has been RUSTICATED for immersing four bricklayers in that green receptacle of stagnant water and duckweed, yclept the “Haha.”

1841. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. viii. Non-university men sneer at RUSTICATION; they can’t see any particular punishment in having to absent yourself from your studies for a term or two.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, ch. xxx. Who, the landlord tells me, has just been RUSTICATED for insulting Dr. Doublechin.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. “The Master ... said as how Mr. Bouncer had better go down into the country for a year, for change of hair, and to visit his friends.” “Very kind indeed of Dr. Portman,” said our hero, who missed the moral of the story, and took the RUSTICATION for a kind forgiveness of injuries.

1885. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 29. Students who are liable at any moment to be RUSTICATED.

Saccer, subs. (Harrow).—The Sacrament. Cf. Soccer, Rugger, Brekker, Collecker, &c.

Salt, subs. (Eton).—The gratuity exacted at the now obsolete triennial festival of the Montem (q.v.).

1886. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. Salt-hill. At the Eton Montem the captain of the school used to collect money from the visitors on Montem day. Standing on a mound at Slough, he waved a flag, and persons appointed for the purpose collected the donations. The mound is still called SALT-HILL, and the money given was called SALT. The word salt is similar to the Latin sala’rium (salary), the pay given to Roman soldiers and civil officers.

1890. Speaker, 22nd Feb., 210. 2. In lively but worldly fashion we go to Eton, with its buried Montem, its “SALT! your majesty, SALT!” its gin-twirley, and its jumping through paper fires in Long-Chamber.

Sanderites (Charterhouse).—The head-master’s house. [Dr. Sanders was head-master 1832-53.]

Sands, subs. (Winchester).—The pavement on the north side of Chapel in Chamber Court.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. ii. When I once attempted to read Pope’s poems out of school hours, I was laughed at, and called a SAP.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, 117. After several fruitless attempts to shake my determination, they pronounced me an incorrigible SAP, and leaving me to my own devices, proceeded to try their powers upon Oaklands.

1856. Whyte-Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xvii. At school, if he makes an effort at distinction in school-hours, he is stigmatised by his comrades as a SAP.

1888. Goschen, Speech at Aberdeen, Jan. 31. Remember the many epithets applied to those who, not content with doing their work, commit the heinous offence of being absorbed in it ... schools and colleges ... have invented for this purpose, with that peculiar felicity which attaches to schoolboy nomenclature, phrases, semi-classical, or wholly vernacular, such as a “SAP,” a “smug,” a “swot,” a “bloke,” a “mugster.”

1853. Lytton, My Novel, Bk. I. ch. xii. He understands that he was sent to school to learn his lessons, and he learns them. You call that SAPPING—I call it doing his duty.

1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, ch. xii. “At it again!” exclaimed Dr. May. “Carry it away, Ethel; I will have no Latin or Greek touched these holidays.” “You know,” said Norman, “if I don’t SAP, I shall have no chance of keeping up!”

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 46. I ... haven’t to go SAPPING round to get it when I want my own tea.

Saturday-nighter, subs. (Harrow).—An exercise set for Saturday night: usually an essay, map, or poem.

Scadger, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A scamp; a rascal. Now a general colloquialism.

Scaff, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A selfish fellow. [The adjectival forms are SCALY and SCABBY, whence may be the derivation.] Obsolete: see Scouse.

Scaldings, intj. (Winchester).—A general injunction to be gone; “Be off!”

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scheme.... The candle on reaching a measured point ignites paper, which by burning a string releases a weight: this falls on the head of the boy to be waked.

Schitt, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A goal: at football. See Gowner.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Schitt.... This was the word in general use till 1860, when it was superseded by “goal.” In early Winchester football there seems to have been three methods of scoring—a goal, a gowner, a SCHITT, worth respectively 3, 2, and 1. The last behind stood between two gowns, which made a goal. The ball passing over his head or between his legs scored three, over the gowns two, over the rest of “worms” one. When the whole of “worms” was made to count equally, every goal was a SCHITT.

School-twelve, subs. (Harrow).—The twelve who take a leading part at the concert.

1620. Account [to J. Hutton at his entrance into the College]. For a SCOBB to hold his books, 3s. 6d.

1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, xlii. Parker’s SCOB was 220. Scob was box in Winchester slang.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scob.... An oak box with a double lid, set at the angles of the squares of wooden benches in school. It is used as desk and book-case.... Probably the word has been transferred from the bench itself, and comes from Fr. Escabeau. Lat. Scabellum.

Sconce, verb. 1. (University: once common).—To fine; to deduct by way of fine; to discontinue. Also as subs. Whence TO BUILD A SCONCE = to run up a score (as at an alehouse, or of fines).

1632. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. sc. 2. College! I have had a head in most of the butteries of Cambridge, and it has been SCONCED to purpose.

c. 1640. [Shirley] Captain Underwit [Bullen, Old Plays, ii. 323]. Tho. I can teach you to build a SCONCE, sir.

1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Sconce. To build a large SCONCE, to run deep upon tick or trust.

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, i. p. 9 (2nd ed.). No, no, my dear, I understand more manners than to leave my friends to go to church—no, tho’ they SCONCE me a fortnight’s commons, I’ll not do it.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Sconce (v.) ... also a cant word for running up a score at an alehouse or tavern.

1760. Johnston, Chrysal, ch. xxviii. [Cooke’s ed., N.D.]. These youths have been playing a small game, cribbing from the till, and building SCONCES, and such like tricks that there was no taking hold of.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays, viii. He ran into debt with everybody that would trust him, and none could build a SCONCE better than he.

1768. Foote, Devil upon Two Sticks, ii. 1. She paid my bill the next day without SCONCING off sixpence.

1821. The Etonian, ii. 391. Was SCONCED in a quart of ale for quoting Latin, a passage from Juvenal; murmured, and the fine was doubled.

1823. Bee, Slang Dict., s.v. Sconce ... To discontinue: as SCONCE his diet = give less victuals. Sconce the reckoning = to go no further in debt, but bolt.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Sconce.... “To SCONCE, to eat more than another, Winton; to SCONCE, to impose a pecuniary mulct, Oxon.,” Kennett, MS. To SCONCE at Oxford, was to put a person’s name in the College buttery books by way of fine.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Sconce. The Dons fined or SCONCED for small offences; e.g. five shillings for wearing a coloured coat in hall at dinner-time. Among undergrads, a pun, or an oath, or an indecent remark, was SCONCED by the head of the table. If the offender could, however, floor the tankard of beer which he was SCONCED, he could retort on his SCONCER to the extent of twice the amount he was SCONCED in.

1883. H. T. Ellacombe [Notes and Queries, 6 S., viii. 326]. Men were SCONCED if accidentally they appeared in hall undressed. I think the SCONCE was a quantity of beer to the scouts. The SCONCE-table was hung up in the buttery.

1899. Answers, 14th Jan., i. 1. The average freshman is not very long at Oxford before he is acquainted with the mysteries of SCONCING. A SCONCE is a fine of a quart of ale, in which the unlucky fresher is mulcted for various offences in Hall.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 476. Opponents who get in each other’s way and “SCONCE” the “kicks.”

2. (Winchester).—To hinder; to get in the way: as of a kick at football, a catch at cricket, &c.: e.g. “If you had not SCONCED, I should have made a flyer!”

Scourge, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—To flog. Whence SCOURGING = a flogging of three strokes. See Scrubbing and Tund.

1883. Trollope, What I Remember.... The words “flog” or “flogging,” it is to be observed, were never heard among us, in the mouth either of the masters or the boys. We were SCOURGED.

Scout, subs. (Oxford).—A College servant: combining the duties of valet, waiter, messenger, &c.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iii. Infatuated Mr. Green! If you could have foreseen that those spoons and forks would have soon passed—by a mysterious system of loss which undergraduate powers can never fathom—into the property of Mr. Robert Filcher, the excellent, though occasionally erratic, SCOUT of your beloved son ... you would have been content to have let your son and heir represent the ancestral wealth by any sham that would equally well have served his purpose!

1884. Julian Sturgis in Longmans’ Mag., v. 65. The old don went back to his chair, and ... thrust the bits into the waste-paper basket, as his “SCOUT” came in with a note.

Scrape out, verb (Winchester).—When a Præfect wished to go out of School, he SCRAPED with his foot till he got a nod from the Master.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Scrub, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To write fast: e.g. “SCRUB it down.” Also as subs. = handwriting. [Lat. scribere.] See Strive.

Scrubbing, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A flogging: four strokes at SCRUBBING-FORMS. See Scourge.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 109. The ordinary punishment consisted of four cuts, and was called “A SCRUBBING.” The individual who was to be punished was told “to order his name,” which he did by going to the Ostiarius, and requesting him to do so; that officer accordingly, at the end of school time, would take his name to the Master, who would then call it out, and the victim had to kneel down at Senior row, while two Juniors laid bare the regulation space of his back. The first time a boy’s name was ordered, the punishment was remitted on his pleading “Primum tempus.” For a more serious breach of duty, a flogging of six cuts (a “Bibler”) was administered, in which case the culprit had to “order his name to the Bible-Clerk,” and that individual, with the help of Ostiarius, performed the office of Jack Ketch. If a boy was detected in a lie, or any very disgraceful proceeding—a rare occurrence, I am happy to say—he had to stand up in the centre of Junior row during the whole of the school time, immediately preceding the infliction of the flogging; this pillory process was called a “Bibler under the nail.” I have also heard, that for a very heinous offence, a boy might be punished in Sixth Chamber, in which case the number of stripes was not limited; but I never knew an instance of this.

1864. Blackwood’s Magazine, vol. xcv., p. 79. Underneath is the place of execution, where delinquents are BIBLED. Ibid., p. 72. It need hardly be said that it [the rod] is applied in the ordinary fashion: six cuts forming what is technically called a BIBLING—on which occasions the Bible-Clerk introduces the victim; four being the sum of a less terrible operation called a SCRUBBING.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scrubbing.... According to T. A. Trollope, the word in use in his day was SCOURGING: this, however, he describes as of three strokes: he does not mention “bibling.” He was in College 1820-28.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 62. The Oxford visitors, on their arrival, proceed at once to “Election Chamber” to hear any complaints which the boys may have to prefer. This is called the SCRUTINY, the seven senior prefects, and the seven juniors in chambers (one from each chamber), are separately questioned; but complaints are seldom made. Next morning the examination for election of scholars to New College begins—no longer in the renowned “Election Chamber” itself, but in the long “Warden Gallery,” as more convenient for the purpose; all prefects who are of standing to leave the school are examined with any other who choose.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scrutiny. An examination of the seven Seniors and seven Juniors in College, on the subject of their personal comfort, &c., in College. There were two SCRUTINEES in the year; one conducted by the Warden of New College and Posers in Election Week, the other by the Wardens and Fellows of Winchester in Sealing Week.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, v. “I say,” said East, as he got his wind, looking with much increased respect at Tom, “you ain’t a bad SCUD, not by no means. Well, I’m as warm as a toast now.”

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Scull. The head, or master of a college: nearly obsolete; the gallery, however, in St. Mary’s (the Oxford University church), where the “Heads of Houses” sit in solemn state, is still nicknamed the “Golgotha” by the undergraduates.

Scuttle, verb (Christ’s Hospital, Hertford).—To cry out under oppression with a view to attracting the notice of one in authority. Hence SCUTTLE-CAT = one who SCUTTLES. Obsolete.

Second-bounce, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A kind of handball once very popular.

Second-bowler, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A wicket-keeper. See Stonyhurst-cricket.

Second-Elevens, subs. (Harrow).—(1) A match, at football, for practice: between two Houses, not as a House-match (q.v.). Also (2) a match, at cricket, between any Eleven from two Houses, save Caps (q.v.) and those in a regular game. Also Seconders.

Second-examen, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A punishment for great carelessness in study during a term: e.g. I’ve got SECOND-EXAM.

Semper, adj. (Winchester).—Always: e.g. I have got SEMPER leave-out. See Appendix.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 233. A very common prefix; e.g. a boy was said to be SEMPER Continent, Tardy, or Ex Trumps if he was often at Sick-house, or late for Chapel, or habitually went up to Books without having looked at his lessons. An official who was always present at the College meetings went by the name of Semper Testis.

Send. To send down, verb. phr. (University).—To expel; to rusticate. See Go down.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 89. Next day they were hauled and SENT DOWN.

1891. Felstedian, April, p. 32. They SENT him down for two terms for smashing a shop window.

To send up, verb. phr. (Harrow).—(1) To send up to the head-master for some offence. Also (2) of an exercise sent up to the head-master as “very good.”

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 246. The boarders reside chiefly either in the head-master’s house, or SENIOR HALL, as it is called, or in a house adjoining rented by him, and called the “Junior Hall.” The second-master also has a “Hall,” which will accommodate about twenty. But the buildings are old, in many cases badly adapted for their present use, and have either been purchased, built, or rented from time to time by the head-master as the numbers of the school required.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 233. Senior Part, the Fifth—The part next below the Præfects, generally called SENIOR PART.

1900. St. James’s Gazette, Mar. 15, “Arnoldiana.” One day they were both invited to breakfast by the Head, in the company of a “stupid boy” from SENIOR PART.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 23. The schoolroom was still SEVENTH-CHAMBER—Magna illa domus, as the founder’s directions call it—though, as some of the commoners must have been taught together with the scholars, it is difficult to understand how so many could have found room there without great confusion.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 187. When a boy is first placed in the school he is attached to another boy in the same form something in the relation of an apprentice. The new boy is called the “SHADOW,” the other, the “Substance.” For the first week the SHADOW follows the Substance everywhere, takes his place next to him in class, accompanies him as he rises or falls, and is exempt from any responsibility for his own mistakes in or out of school. During this interval of indulgence, his patron is expected to initiate him in all the work of the school, to see that he is provided with the necessary books and other appliances, and, in short, to teach him by degrees to enter upon a substantial and responsible existence of his own.

1865. Macdonald, Alec Forbes, ii. 5. At length a certain semi (second-classman, or more popularly SHEEP) stood up to give his opinion on some subject in dispute.

Sheepskin, subs. (University).—The diploma received on taking a degree. [Because inscribed on parchment.] Hence a person who has taken a degree.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 178. At the end of this room [the school-room] there is a kind of semicircular apse, in which the SHELL form were formerly taught, and the shape of which is said to have given rise to this name, since adopted at several other public schools.

Shepherd, subs. (Harrow).—Every sixth boy in Cricket-bill (q.v.): he answers for the five below him being present.

Shield (The), subs. (Harrow).—The Ashburton Shield: shot for at Bisley by Public School Eights.

1864. Eton School-days, xiii. He could not go out of his tutor’s if there happened to be any one in the yard without some one throwing a stone at him, or hissing, or SHINNING him if he passed near enough.

Ship, verb. 1. (Sherborne).—To turn a boy out of bed with his mattress on top of him. Cf. Launch.

Shirk, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An old building of some dimensions, containing a number of private rooms; erected for temporary use, but since found of too much service to be demolished.

1884. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 277. Gothic architecture of all descriptions, including Elizabethan, was trampled out by the Renaissance (revived Greek), of which SHIRK is a very bad specimen (where it tries to be ornamental, as in its triangular pediment and the pilasters beside the larger window).

Shirt-sleevie, subs. (Loretto).—A dance; on winter Saturday evenings, and sometimes in the open air at the end of summer term. [The costume is rational de rigeur: a flannel shirt open at neck and flannel trousers—no coat or waistcoat may be worn.]

Shooter, subs. (Harrow).—A black morning coat: as distinguished from the tail-coat worn by the Fifth and Sixth Forms.

Shot, intj. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A cry of warning at the approach of a master.

Out by shot, phr. (Stonyhurst).—At football when the ball before going out hits one of the opposite side to the one who last kicked. See Force.

Shuffle, verb (Winchester).—To pretend; to feign: as “to SHUFFLE asleep.” Hence SHUFFLER.

Siberia, subs. (Felsted).—A section of the house containing many private rooms. [From its supposed temperature in winter.]

1889. Felstedian, July, 65. There lieth here a district which hath the name SIBERIA: and also its people are called not Siberians, but SIBERIA.

Sick-house, subs. (Winchester).—The College sanatorium, which stands in Sick-house meads. See also Box-house and Box-buildings.

Silver-fork, subs. (Winchester).—A wooden skewer used as a chop-stick when forks were scarce.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Silver-pence, subs. (Westminster).—Small money rewards—which were the pride of Westminsters in Cowper’s day—are still continued. The coins are furnished to the school by the Queen’s almoner in their unmilled state, prior to their issue as currency. Some are given by the head-master every week, and are valued quite as much as more substantial prizes. Silver money is also furnished by the college steward to the guests at the Elections dinners, that they may be prepared to reward the epigrams; but this is the ordinary coin of the realm.

Sim, subs. (Cambridge).—A Simeonite, or member of the Evangelical section of the Church of England. The modern equivalent is Pi-man (q.v.). [From the Rev. Charles Simeon (1759-1836), fifty-four years Vicar of Holy Trinity, Cambridge.]

1826. Todd, The Sizar’s Table [Whibley, Cap and Gown, 109]. Some carnally given to women and wine, Some apostles of Simeon, all pure and divine.

1853. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 39. While passing for a terribly hard reading-man, and a SIM of the straightest kind with the empty bottles.

Sink, subs. (The Leys).—(1) A heavy feed; a “stodge.” Also (2) one who indulges therein; a glutton.

Six-and-Six, subs. (Winchester).—Football: six a side. Cf. Twenty-Two and Twenty-Two. See Appendix.

Sixes, subs. (The Leys).—Football teams for competition—six a side. See Kid, and Appendix.

Six of ..., phr. (Harrow).—An order to the value of sixpence. Thus SIX OF SAUSAGES WITH (archaic) = sixpennyworth of sausages with potatoes.

Sixpenny, subs. (Eton).—A large field for football and cricket. See Playing-fields.

1864. Eton School-days, vi. I tell you plainly, if you are not in SIXPENNY after twelve, I will do my best to give you a hiding wherever I meet you.

Six-raps, subs. (Stonyhurst: recently obsolete).—A game consisting chiefly in rapping balls across the playground to be caught by others.

1887. Stonyhurst Mag., iii. 18, “Stonyhurst in the Fifties.” Six raps, it may be remarked, was in those days played with a miniature Stonyhurst-cricket (q.v.) ball.

Size, subs. (Cambridge).—An allowance of bread, &c., for a particular price; but see quots. Whence SIZINGS.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Works, ii. 68]. The Maister Butler of Pembrooke Hall, a farre better Scholler than thy selfe, (in my iudgement) and one that sheweth more discretion and gouernment in setting vp a SISE of Bread, than thou in all thy whole booke.

1614. Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit at Several Weapons, ii. To be so strict A niggard to your commons, that you’re fain To SIZE your belly out with shoulder fees, With kidnies, rumps, &c.

1620. Minsheu, Dict., s.v. Size. A farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter S.

1632. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. 2. College! I have had a head in most of the butteries of Cambridge, and it has been sconced to purpose. I know what belongs to SIZING, and have answered to my cue in my days.

1656. BLOUNT, Glossographia, ... Size.—A farthing’s worth of bread or drink which scholars at Cambridge had at the buttery.

1773. Hawkins, Origin of the Drama, iii. 271. You are still at Cambridge with your SIZE cue.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 21. In general, a SIZE is a small plateful of any eatable; and at dinner, TO SIZE is to order for yourself any little luxury that may chance to tempt you, in addition to the general fare, for which you are expected to pay the cook at the end of the term.

1853. Bristed, Five Years, 20. Go through a regular second course instead of the SIZINGS.

Verb (Cambridge).—To order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in College hall. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate per SIZE, or portion, to the college cook. Whence, to pay one’s share of the expense: as at a supper-party. Sizing-party = a number of students who contribute each his own part towards a supper, &c.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Size ... If a man asks you to sup he treats you: if TO SIZE, you pay for what you eat, liquors only being provided by the inviter.

Sizer (or Sizar), subs. (Cambridge).—A poor scholar. They were elected annually; paid rent for rooms and other fees on a lower scale than ordinary students; and got their dinners including sizings (see Size, subs. and verb) from what was left at the Upper or Fellows’ table, free, or nearly so. They were equivalent to the BATTLERS (q.v.) or SERVITORS (q.v.) of Oxford.

1574. [R. W. Church, Spenser (1888), ch. i. p. 9.] On the 20th of May, he was admitted SIZAR, or serving clerk at Pembroke Hall.

1670. J. Eachard, Contempt of the Clergy [Arber’s Garner, vol. vii. p. 257]. They took therefore, heretofore, a very good method to prevent SIZARS overheating their brains. Bed-making, chamber-sweeping, and water-fetching were doubtless great preservatives against too much vain philosophy.

1779. Johnson, Life of Milton, Par. 7. He was ... removed in the beginning of his sixteenth year to Christ’s College in Cambridge, where he entered a SIZAR, Feb. 12, 1624.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Oxford in the Long Vacation). In moods of humility I can be a SIZAR, or a Servitor. When the peacock vein rises, I strut a Gentleman Commoner.

1840. Lytton, Money, ii. 3. I was put to school—sent to college, a SIZAR. Do you know what a SIZAR is? In pride he is a gentleman—in knowledge he is a scholar—and he crawls about, amidst gentlemen and scholars, with the livery of a pauper on his back!

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Sizer.... A student at Cambridge whose expenses for living are partially provided by the College, originally a servitor, as serving one of the Fellows. Each Fellow of a College had one servitor allotted to him.

1857. Moncrieff, Bashful Man, ii. 4. Collegian. Who’s that fat gentleman that’s just got in? Coachman. That fat gentleman’s a SIZER from Corpus.

Skew, subs. (Harrow).—An entrance examination held on the last Thursday of term. See Dab, and Appendix.

Ski (or Sci), subs. (Westminster).—A plebeian; an outsider: specifically the outer rabble of invaders of the territory of Dean’s yard, belonging of right to the gens togata as Romans. [Said to be an abbreviation of Volsci.]

Skimmer, subs. (Winchester).—A method of entering the water when bathing: by just skimming beneath the surface, and rising again immediately.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, viii. I swopped the beggar to a SKIMMERY man for regular slap-up sets of the ballet.

1860. G. and P. Wharton, Wits and Beaux of Society, p. 427. After leaving Westminster School he was sent to immortal SKIMMERY (St. Mary’s Hall), Oxford.

Skip, subs. (Dublin).—A College servant: valet, messenger, and waiter combined: the Oxford SCOUT (q.v.), and at Cambridge a GYP (q.v.). Formerly (in general use) = a footman.

1703. Ward, London Spy, Pt. VII. p. 151. As a Courtier’s Footman when he meets his Brother SKIP in the middle of Covent-garden.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xiii. For the uninitiated I have only to add that SKIP is the Trinity College [Dublin] appellation for servant.

1842. Tait’s Mag., Oct., “Rem. College Life.” The SKIP, or according to the Oxford etymology, the man-vulture, is not fit for his calling who cannot time his business so as to be present simultaneously at several places.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xx. His wounded tutor, his many duns, the SKIP and bedmaker who waited upon him.

Skirmish. To skirmish on, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To run home from Hills (q.v.) when it commenced to rain.

1889. Drage, Cyril, vii. Such a little SKUG, to use a word in use at my tutor’s.

Sky, verb (Harrow).—(1) To charge any one, or to knock down: at football. Also (2) = to hit or throw anything away.

Slack, verb (Durham).—To sell: specifically, to dispose of property to a dealer in second-hand goods. [From the name of a second-hand bookseller in Durham.]

1890. Great Public Schools, p. 95. The upper ground on these days is given up to practice at the nets for the Eleven and the “Sixth Form” game, and to practice in fielding and catching. Boys below the Removes have to fag for them, and these fags are managed by SLAVE-DRIVERS (three or four boys appointed for the purpose).

Slime, verb (Durham).—To try and cut games. Also = to loaf; to lounge: e.g. SLIMING down town. See App.

Verb (Stonyhurst).—At hockey to hit at the ball when the right hand is less than a foot below the left on the stick.

Sloggers, subs. (Cambridge).—The second division of boats; corresponding to the Oxford TORPIDS (q.v.).

Slosher, subs. (Cheltenham).—An assistant in a boarding-house charged with superintending dormitories, evening work, &c.

Slum, verb (Derby).—To evade; to get out of anything, as work. Also (University), to avoid observation by using by-streets.

Small, adj. (Harrow).—1. Under sixteen years of age: eligible to go in for SMALL events in the sports. See Big.

2. Applied to boarding-houses kept by some of the assistant masters, and strictly limited to seven or eight boys: a comparatively modern arrangement, having been instituted circa 1850.

Small-pill, subs. (The Leys).—A diminutive football; used on “runs.”

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II. xi. The little gentleman was going in for his Degree, alias Great-go, alias Greats; and our hero for his first examination in literis humanioribus, alias Responsions, alias Little-go, alias SMALLS.

1863. Reade, Hard Cash.... Cramming for SMALLS.... Julia reminded her that SMALLS was the new word for LITTLE-GO.

Smoker (or Smoke-shell), subs. (Royal Military Academy).—A chamber-mug.

Smug, subs. (general).—An ill-mannered, ill-dressed, or unpopular student. Also as verb = to keep indoors hard at work; whence also (as subs.) a hard worker.

Snack, subs. (Winchester).—A racket ball: formerly a bat-fives ball. [Snack-balls (Glouc.) = balls made of SNACK (a dried fungus), which are very elastic and bounce well.]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 234. Snapping up for false quantities.—When up at Books, if any boy, when translating, made a false quantity, any other boy (however low down in the Part) who could first correct him was allowed to go up above him. If, however, the SNAPPER-UP was himself wrong, he had to go to the bottom of the Part.

Snoke, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—(1) An underhand person: e.g. “He is a great SNOKE”; (2) an untoward circumstance: e.g. “It was a great SNOKE, we lost the match.”

Verb. To inform: of an offence. Not necessarily “to sneak,” because it could be used of a master reporting to the Head-master.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Snoke. To ferret out; to pry into. North. Snoke-horne, Townley Myst., p. 68, a sneaking fellow.

Snook, verb (Shrewsbury).—(1) To do the whole of an examination proper. Whence (2) to beat in argument or repartee.

Snooker, subs. (Royal Military Academy).—A newly-joined cadet of the fourth class.

Verb (Winchester).—To accompany. [The School precept is Sociati omnes incedunto.]

Sock, subs. 1. (Eton).—Edibles of any kind. Hence TO SOCK = to eat outside regular meals: e.g. “We SOCKED Lyndsay minor three times last week,” i.e. we gave him something to eat outside his regular meals three times last week. Whence SOCK = to give.

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools.... The consumption of SOCK, too, in school was considerable, and on occasion very conspicuous.

1883. Brinsley-Richards, Seven Years at Eton.... We Eton fellows, great and small, SOCKED prodigiously. By the way, I do not know whence that term SOCK, as applied to what boys at some schools call “grub,” and others “tick,” is derived; for I question the theory which makes it spring from “suck.” I am rather disposed to accept the story that at the beginning of this century, one of the men, who sold fruits and tarts at the wall, got nicknamed SOCKS, in consequence of his having discarded knee-breeches and stockings in favour of pants and short hose. The man’s nickname might then have spread to his business and to his wares by a process familiar to etymologists, till SOCKING came to mean the purchase of good things not from SOCKS only, but from any other vendor.

1889. Buckland, Eton Fifty Years Ago [Macmillan’s Mag., Nov.]. “My governor has SOCKED me a book.”... A boy has also been heard to ask another to SOCK him a construe of his lesson.

2. (Winchester).—To hit hard: especially at cricket. Also to beat; to defeat: as in a game.

Socker, subs. (general).—Association football. Cf. Rugger. Also Soccer.

1896. Tonbridgian, 339, 1124. Hartley has been playing very well this season, and has also become a great half-back at SOCKER.

1897. Felstedian, Nov., p. 194. In SOCCER, with old Blues up, we ought to be very strong.

Sodality, subs. (Stonyhurst).—Higher Line Sodality and Lower Line Sodality = two confraternities of which boys are members; they meet at fixed times for devotions. A member is called a Sodalist.

Sodger (or Sojer), subs. (Winchester).—The Latin cross (a PERCHER, q.v.) marked against a Præfect’s name when absent.

1880. Music of a Merry Heart, 55. The books went up, and in due time were returned to us after examination, with the most startling faults indicated by a good big cross in the margin, which crosses, for some reason, were known as SODGERS.

Sog, subs. (Charterhouse and Winchester).—Twenty shillings; a sovereign.

Soph, subs. (Cambridge).—A student of the second or third year; the distinctions are: A first year man = Freshman (q.v.); second year = Junior SOPH; third year = Senior SOPH.

1870. Goodrich [Webster, Unabridged, s.v. Sophomose]. This word has generally been considered an American barbarism, but it was probably introduced into our country at a very early period from the University of Cambridge, England. Among the cant terms at that University, as given in the “Gradus ad Cantabrigiam,” we find SOPH-MOR as the next distinctive appellation to Freshman. It is added that a writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine thinks Mor an abbreviation of the Greek μωρία, introduced at a time when the “Encomium Moriæ,” the “Praise of Folly,” by Erasmus, was so generally used. The ordinary derivation of the word, from σοφός and μωρός would seem, therefore, to be incorrect. The young SOPHS at Cambridge appear formerly to have received the adjunct mor, μωρός, to their names, either as one they courted for the reason mentioned above, or as one given them in sport for the supposed exhibition of inflated feeling in entering upon their new honours. The term thus implied seems to have passed at a very early period from Cambridge in England to Cambridge in America, as the next distinctive appellation to Freshmen, and thus to have been attached to the second of the four classes in our American colleges, while it has now almost ceased to be known, even as a cant word, at the parent institution in England from whence it came.

Sorry, intj. (Winchester).—“I beg your pardon.” [Not now confined to Winchester.—Wrench.]

Soup-ticket, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A card issued to a boy set down for Saturday afternoon detention: a DETÉN (q.v.).

Spadge, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—An affected walk. Also as verb. Formerly merely “to walk.” [Cf. Lat. spatiari; Ger. spatzieren.]

Spange, adj. (Royal Military Academy).—New; elegant; smart: e.g. “to look SPANGE,” “a SPANGE uniform.”

Sparrow’s-hall, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The old infirmary. [The head-bailiff was one Sparrow, and here the servants received their wages from him.]

Spec, subs. (Winchester).—Something enjoyable or pleasant; a good thing. On spec = in consequence.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Spec.... What a SPEC! My pitch-up have turned up, and I’ve got leave-out ON SPEC.

Speecher, subs. (Harrow).—The speech-day: usually the first Thursday in July, when prizes are given. Greek, German, or French plays are acted, and there is also an afternoon concert. The speecher = the Speech-room, built in 1871.

Speedyman, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—The messenger who brought the news of a vacancy at New College, Oxford. Whence sped to New College = elected to a scholarship.

Spending-house, subs. (Rugby).—A pastry-cook’s: the custom, until Dr. Arnold abolished it, had been for the boys to take their morning and evening buttery commons of bread and cold milk to one of these establishments, and with “extras,” such as tea, coffee, butter, &c., to obtain a more decent meal than was otherwise possible.

1890. Great Public Schools, p. 150. Every boy had a SPENDING-HOUSE, as it was called, at one of the confectioners’ in High Street, where he left his books, bat, fishing-rod, &c.—to save a journey to his boarding-house—and spent his spare cash. It was in the back-yards of these houses that dogs and guns were kept.

1889. Felstedian, July, 66. Others ... calling out ... frightful SPESSES, which word is in our language “specimens”; but as this is too long for their memories, they have shortened it.

Spin, verb (Royal Military Academy).—To reject: as to an examination; to pluck; to plough.

Spink, subs. (Royal Military Academy).—Milk: specifically, condensed milk.

Spinning-house, subs. (University).—The prison of the Vice-Chancellor’s court.

Spital Sermons (Christ’s Hospital).—Once the chief feature of the Easter festivities of this ancient foundation. See Appendix.

1834. Trollope, History of Christ’s Hospital [condensed and annotated by the editor of The Blue]. All Easter festivities connected with the School seem to be concentrated in the SPITAL SERMONS. The great antiquity of those discourses may be judged from the fact, that at the Easter following the foundation and opening of the School [1552], its members were present at St. Mary Spital. At this their first appearance at the Spital the boys appeared in that costume which, with the exception of the hats, still distinguishes them. A custom had long prevailed, according to which some learned person was appointed yearly by the Bishop of London to preach at Paul’s Cross on Good Friday on the Passion; and on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday following, three others were appointed in like manner to uphold the doctrine of the Resurrection, at the Pulpit Cross in the Spital. On the Sunday following, a fifth preached at Paul’s Cross, passed judgment on the merits of those who had preceded him, and concluded the ceremony with an appropriate exhortation from himself. What this passing of judgment meant, and what purpose it served, is rather hard to decide. It would almost seem as if some prize or reward were offered for the best sermon. The SPITAL SERMONS are certainly the oldest institution of their kind in London, and probably in England. But they have naturally been subject to great changes. At first there were five, two at Paul’s Cross and three at St. Mary Spital. Many alterations followed; for instance, the Great Rebellion put an end for a time both to pulpit and sermons, until the Restoration, when they were revived, that is, the three SPITAL SERMONS proper (for the judge disappears) at St. Bride’s Church, which still stands in Fleet Street. Nothing interrupted them again until 1797, when the preachers once more were removed to Christ’s Church, where the SERMONS, now only two in number, have been regularly delivered, until within the memory of many still in the school [1890] the Corporation reduced their number to a minimum; and now one SPITAL SERMON instead of five is listened to, not at St. Mary Spital, or Paul’s Cross, or St. Bride’s, but at Christ Church, Newgate Street. Though the scene has not changed since 1797, the accompanying ceremony has been sadly mutilated. In my [Mr. Trollope’s] time, instead of the subjects which were wont to be discussed from the Pulpit Cross of St. Mary Spital, discourses were delivered commemorative of the five Sister Hospitals of Christ’s Hospital, St. Thomas’, St. Bartholomew’s, Bridewell, and Bethlehem. This feature has almost entirely disappeared; the reverend preachers now pass by, or casually mention, the original reason for their presence in the handsome pulpit of Christ Church. “On each day the boys of Christ’s Hospital, with the legend ‘He is risen’ attached to their left shoulder, form part of the Civic procession; walking on the first day in the order of their schools, the King’s boys bearing their nautical instruments.” [These King’s boys are, of course, the Mathemats, who seem in earlier days, before the development of the Classical side, and the chances of a University career, to have been the most prominent part of the School.] They assembled on Monday in the Square of the Royal Exchange, and on their return were joined by the Lord Mayor and Civic procession, with the ladies. On Tuesday they proceeded direct to the Mansion House; each boy received a new sixpence, each monitor a shilling, and each Grecian half a guinea. [It appears that Alderman Thomson, whose portrait hangs in the Hall, whose name is engraven on the walls of the Hospital, and to whom we owe the Classical and Mathematical Medals, doubled the donation in every case, and his successors have not returned to the original amount.] The boys were again followed by the Civic authorities, without the ladies, to Christ Church, where a Junior Bishop preached on Monday, and a clergyman selected by the Lord Mayor (usually his chaplain) on Tuesday. But the most interesting feature of all was that on both occasions an anthem composed by one of the Grecians, and set to music by the organist, was sung by the children.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 235. When a boy suffered some injury himself, in order to spite another person; or having in some way injured another, received punishment, he was said to be SPITING GABELL. Dr. Gabell was formerly Head-master, and the extreme inexpediency of attempting to annoy him gave rise to the proverb.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Spite. The word in Wykehamical usage generally connoted the frame of mind rather than the acts in which it finds expression. But the phrase “to SPITE Gabell” describes the act popularly known as “cutting off your nose to SPITE your face.”

Sport, verb (Winchester).—To spread: as a baulk (or report); to wear: as clothes; to provide: as a feast; to indulge in: as smoking, walking, &c.—a general verb of action. Whence SPORTING ACTION = an affected manner, gesture, or gait, or betrayal of emotion. [Sport (var. dial.) = to show, to exhibit.]

1900. Tod, Charterhouse, p. 102. The splendour of Exeat garb defies description. It is enough to say that the Carthusian’s apparel then is as costly as his purse will buy, and that he calls it SPORTINGS.

Spree, adj. (Winchester).—(1) Conceited; stuck-up: of persons. (2) Smart; stylish; befitting a Wykehamist: of dress, &c. [Spree (Devon) = spruce, gay.]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 72. At the end of the half year we used to have large entertainments called “SPREE MESSES,” between Toy-time and Chapel, consisting of tea, coffee, muffins, cakes, &c., the funds for which were generally provided by fines inflicted during Toy-time for talking loud, slamming the door, coming in without whistling (to show that it was not a Master entering), improper language, &c. &c. Sometimes a SPREE MESS was given by the boys about to leave at the end of that Half.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Spree.... As applied to juniors, uppish; inclined to assume airs, or usurp privileges not belonging to juniors. As applied to acts, permissible only to prefects or those of senior standing.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Spreeman. A Commoner Inferior, who, in consideration of his social status or long standing in the School, was invested by Præfects with privileges similar to those enjoyed by Candle-keepers in College.

Squab (or Squob), verb (King Edward’s, Birm.).—To squeeze by. [The foot is placed against a wall or desk, and the back against the victim, who is similarly treated from the opposite side by some one else, or pressed against a wall.] Hence SQUAB-UP = “push,” generally. [Squab (Devon) = to squeeze, to knock, to beat.]

Square. To square round, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To make room: as at a fire, &c.

Squash, subs. 1. (Stonyhurst).—A mellay (at football) of the two sides round the goal-posts. A goal secured in this way is called a “squash-goal.” Also Harrow.

1876. Collins, The Public Schools [Harrow], p. 312. The gravel cut the leather case of the ball occasionally, as well as the hands and faces of those who scrambled over it in a SQUASH, as that close mêlée is called, which Rugby men know as a “scrummage,” and Etonians as a “rouge.”

1885. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 144. The second law on the Code enacts that “no one may push, pull, charge, or trip another player.” How then is a SQUASH GOAL to be accounted for?

2. (Harrow).—A game of racquets not played with a Harder (q.v.), but with an indiarubber ball, which is also called a SQUASH.

Squeaky, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—High-pitched: of the voice. Cf. Gruff.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. The voices, in our own peculiar phraseology, being divided into two classes—those who sang SQUEAKY and those who sang GRUFF. The monitors were constantly on the look-out for boys with SQUEAKY voices, and did any youth make himself at all prominent in this respect, down upon him would pounce the monitor, forthwith to transpose him to the organ gallery, there to submit his musical abilities to a trial by the organist. The latter was an elderly gentleman, inclined at times to be rather irritable.

Squo, adj. (Charterhouse).—Squash (q.v.); as in SQUO-court, SQUO-ball, SQUO-bat, &c.

Stamp, subs. (Harrow).—Every one is provided with a “school stamp”; the name is cut on it, and this must be printed on all books, &c. Above the Second Fifth boys keep their own stamp.

Stand. To stand out for College, verb. phr. (Westminster).—To enter for a King’s scholarship. Candidates must be under fifteen years of age, and have been in the school as a town boy for not less than a year preceding.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 182. Then if he thinks proper he “STANDS OUT FOR COLLEGE”—or, in the old Latin phraseology, becomes one of the minores candidati. He undergoes a very severe examination, called the “Challenge” [q.v.], the form of which must have been preserved from Queen Elizabeth’s days, and is the last surviving relic of the old scholastic disputations; those tournaments of Latin and logic, in which Queen Bess was wont to reward a successful champion with a purse of gold from her own virgin hand, and her successor, James, distributed liberally the more economical guerdon of royal applause and criticism.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 235. Standing-up week—During the last week of Long Half all the boys, except Sixth Book and Senior Part, had to say a number of lines by heart in eight lessons, which they were supposed to have learned in the course of the previous year; this was called STANDING-UP. Marks were given according to merit, and these marks had a very material effect on the respective positions of the boys in their Parts.

Station. On station, adv. phr. (Westminster).—The attendance, by juniors, on the games in the “Green” in Great Dean’s Yard, or, on a rainy day, in College.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 186. The juniors are expected to remain ON STATION in college for the short intervals after breakfast and after dinner, and at other times in the playgrounds (the “Green” in Dean’s Yard or Vincent Square, according to the time of year or the game that happens to be in season); except on decidedly wet days, when STATION is always in college.

Statue (The), subs. (Stonyhurst).—A statue of the Virgin looked after by the boys. They have “Month of May” devotions, and write “May verses” in her honour.

Stay. To stay out, verb. phr. 1. (Eton).—To stay out of school. See quot.

1883. Brinsley-Richards, Seven Years at Eton. Sometimes Blazes had a lazy fit, and put himself on the sick-list for a day. This was called STAY OUT, for the reason that one had to stay in.

1866-72. “Mac,” Sketchy Memories of Eton. Many things at Eton were called by misnomers, in the construction of which the lucus a non lucendo principle came out very strong. Thus, when we stayed in, we said we were STAYING OUT; when “absence” was called, we had to be present; a third of a year was called a half, &c. &c.

Stedman promo, subs. (Charterhouse).—An unexpected (and probably undeserved) promotion. [Because announced in the lists printed by Mr. R. B. Stedman, the school bookseller at Godalming.]

-ster, inseparable suffix (Winchester).—The termination agent: as Brockster, Mugster, Thokester, Quilster, &c.

1891. Harry Fludyer, 120. Well, about the boat procession. It went off splendid. You know I’m in the St. George, and Forker Major—a great heavy brute—is our captain, and Tipkins is steerer.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 236. Sticking-up.—On the last three Fridays of each Half, a boy was selected by appointment of Commoner Præfects and Course-keeper, and placed on the top of Toys (q.v.) in their Hall, and was pelted with Pontos (q.v.) by the rest. The following Peals (q.v.) were chanted previously, one on each day: “Locks and Keys,” “Boots and Leathers,” and “Gomer Hats.”

Stick-ups, subs. (Harrow).—Stand-up, or high collars: as opposed to “turn-downs.” The rules as to collars are very intricate, and differ in various Houses. At Charterhouse STICK-UPS are not permissible until the end of the first year.

Stinks, subs. (general).—Chemistry. Also as a nickname for a lecturer thereon.

Stodge, subs. (Charterhouse).—The inside of a roll; the crumb of new bread.

Stone (The), subs. (Christ’s Hospital: obsolete).—The Steward’s table in Hall. To go to the stone = to go up for trial, judgment, and sentence for misconduct.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. With respect to misconduct out of school hours, the several monitors were the police, and the Steward the sole judge. When first appointed, the young monitors displayed excessive zeal in the discovery of delinquencies, and would call out with as much severity as it was possible to throw into the voice of a youth of fourteen, “Go to THE STONE, you, sir!” “The stone” was the name given to the Steward’s table in the Hall, where offenders were tried, judgment delivered, and sentence carried out, immediately after meals. The mildest punishment consisted of caning on the open hand (ironically termed “cakes”), and next in severity was flogging with the birch (called “brushing”); and Fate, with a grim sense of humour which we failed to appreciate at the time, decreed that the head beadle in our time, who was appointed to administer the said brushings and cakes, should bear the appropriate name of Honey.

Stop. To stop out, verb. phr. (Harrow and Charterhouse).—To absent oneself from school: at Harrow, through indisposition.

Stopping-up, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An extra time of study allowed to elder boys when the rest have gone to bed: e.g. “I am going to STOPPING-UP to-night.”

Strangers’ Place, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The guest-rooms. When a boy had friends staying in the College he was said to be “in the STRANGERS’ PLACE.” Cf. Place.

Straw, subs. 1. (Harrow).—A straw hat worn by the whole school all the year round, except on Sundays and at games. The ELEVEN STRAW = a speckled black-and-white straw hat worn by the Cricket Eleven.

2. (Rugby).—For two years after his first term (during which a silk hat or “topper” was de rigueur) a boy wears a black-and-white speckled straw hat with a black ribbon. Each House has its own distinctive ribbon. At the end of his third year a boy could “take” his “white straw,” but he was not expected to do this unless he were a Swell (q.v.).

Strive, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To write with care: see Scrub. E.g. “Copy this!” “Shall I STRIVE, Sir, or ‘scrub’ it down?”

1888. Felstedian, Dec., p. 98. Now these hollow globes [footballs] flying through the air, collide with their sandals, and this colliding they call STUBBING. Ibid. (Nov. 1896, 153). Boys are fined for STUBBING on a forty higher than their own.

1895. Felstedian, June, p. 104. Among plausible etymologies it is attempted to derive STUB from “the sound made by a stubbed football.” ... But the word STUB deserves to be rescued from its fate. I had always imagined it to be an East Anglian word for “kick,” but it is, to the best of my belief, obsolete in England.... A contributor to Notes and Queries, writing on a totally different subject, quoted the following words from a speech by an American judge: “As a barefooted boy I STUBBED my chapped toes over a rough New England farm.” [Stub is commonly dialectical, in the sense of “to grub.”]

Stuckling, subs. (Winchester).—A kind of flat pastry made of the current year’s apples and dried currants.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Stuckling. An apple pasty, thin, somewhat half circular in shape, and not made in a dish.

1883. Trollope, What I Remember.... Stuckling was a kind of flat pastry made of chopped apples and currants. And the speciality of it was that the apples must be that year’s apples. They used to be sent up from Devonshire or Cornwall, and sometimes were with difficulty obtained.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Stuckling. A pudding at Election dinner, made of meat, apple, and carraway.

Sub-minister, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The superior responsible for the health of the house. See Minister.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 237. Superannuate.—A boy who was obliged to leave at Election, owing to his being past eighteen years of age. Founders (q.v.) were not SUPERANNUATE till they were twenty-five.

Surly Hall (Eton).—A public-house on the right bank of the Thames, some three and a half miles from Windsor. See Fourth of June.

Sur-master, subs. (Manchester Grammar: obsolete).—The second master; the “Usher.” [There is now no second in command.]

Sus, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—The remains of a Præfect’s tea: a fag’s perquisite.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 237. Sus.—The Juniors’ tea: generally drunk out of a pint cup when in bed.

Swank, verb (general).—To work hard. [O.E. Swinke = to labour.] Hence SWANKER = a hard worker. See Swink.

... MS. Cott. Vespas, D. vii. f. 3. I SWANK in mi sighing stede, I sal wasche bi al nyghtes mi bede. Ibid., 46. I SWANK criand, haase made. Chekes mine for pine I hade.

18[?]. T. R. Oliphant, Eton College.... It is very hard to define exactly what is meant by a SWELL at Eton; but it usually implies a boy who, brought into notice either by athletic prowess or scholarship, or high standing in the school, by this means becomes acquainted with the leading members of the school, and is found on acquaintance to develop considerable social qualities, which make him hand and glove with all the Eton magnates.

2. (Rugby).—The word SWELL (says Mr. Lees Knowles) had an indefinite, but well understood, meaning in the school. A member of the school “twenty,” or “fifteen” as it is now, or a member of the eleven, was, for instance, a SWELL.

Swells, subs. (Winchester).—Sunday services; Saints’-days, &c. [When surplices were worn.]

Swill, verb (Shrewsbury).—To take a shower-bath; also (Winchester) to wash by throwing water over the body.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” Having taken out the washing-stool, I proceed to call the Senior Præfect; when he gets up I have to SWILL him (i.e. pour a can of water over his back in his bath), and then rub him down with a towel.

Swinger, subs. (Charterhouse).—A box on the ears. Cf. Swinge = to lash, to beat. Also SWINGE as verb.

1579. Mariage of Witt and Wisdome. O, the passion of God! so I shalbe SWINGED; So, my bones shalbe bang’d! The poredge pot is stolne: what, Lob, I say, Come away, and be hangd!

1637. Du Bartas [Nares]. Then often SWINDGING, with his sinnewy train, Somtimes his sides, somtimes the dusty plain.

[..?..] Havelok the Dane [Skeat, E.E.T.S. (1868), 214]. An ofte dede him sore SWINGE, And wit hondes smerte dinge; So that the blod ran of his fleys, That tendre was, and swithe neys.

Swink, verb (Winchester).—To sweat; to work hard. Also as subs. See Swank.

1579. Mariage of Witt and Wisdome. But now I SWINKE and sweate in vaine, My labour hath no end, And moping in my study still, My youthfull yeares I spend.

1590. Spenser, Faërie Queene.... Honour, estate, and all this worlde’s good, For which men SWINCKE and sweat incessantly.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Swink.... The former [to sweat] is the primary Wykehamical meaning: SWINK and sweat have therefore changed places.

Swipes, subs. 1. (Stonyhurst).—The boy-servant who serves out beer at dinner.

Swish, verb (Eton and Charterhouse).—To flog. Hence SWISHING = a beating.

c. 1889. Illustrated London News. Flogging, or, as it is called at Eton, SWISHING, is to be abolished at that aristocratic seminary.

1891. Harry Fludyer, 47. He complained of us and Tipkins, and I got SWISHED the other day.

Swot (Swat or Sweat), subs. (general).—Lessons; work: specifically, mathematics at Royal Military Academy. Also a hard-working student.

1883. Pascoe, Everyday Life at Our Public Schools.... So much for work or SWOT, as the Harrovian, in common with other boys, somewhat inelegantly terms the more important part of instruction he receives at school.

c. 1327. Chester Plays, ii. 27. For south this harde I hym saye, That he woulde rise the thirde daye; Nowe suerlye and he so maye, He hath a wounderous TACHE.

c. 1400. Occleve MS. [Soc. Ant.], 134, f. 279. And to his fadris maneris enclyne, And wikkid TACCHIS and vices eschewe.

[..?..] MS. Cantab, Ff. i. 6, f. 157. It is a TACCHE of a devouryng hounde To resseyve superfluyté and do excesse.

d. 1565. Chaloner, Moriæ Euc., p. 3, b. It is a common TATCHE, naturally gevin to all men, as well as priests, to watche well for theyr owne lucre.

1612. Warner, Albion’s England, Bk. xiii. p. 318. First Jupiter that did usurp his father’s throne, Of whom even his adorers write evil TACHES many an one.

1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Tache or Tatch. A blot, spot, stain, or vice; tache, French.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Tache.... A quality, or disposition; a trick; enterprise; boldness of design. (A.-N.)

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 237. Tag.... When a player has kicked the ball well forward, and has followed it, if it was then kicked back again behind him by the other side, he was then obliged to return to his original position with his own side. If the ball had, in the meantime, been again kicked in front of him, before he regained his position, and he was to kick it, it would be considered unfair, and he would be said TO TAG.

Tails, subs. (Harrow).—The swallow-tailed coats worn by all in the Upper School, and (as “charity-tails”) by all in the Lower School who are considered by the Head of the School to be tall enough to require them.

Tank, verb (King Edward’s, Birm.).—To cane: a rarer word than COSH (q.v.). [Tank (Warwicks.) = a blow.]

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” That done I return to chambers, fling on my gown, which I am obliged to keep off till the last moment as a sign of servitude to shew that I am only a junior, and then scramble in to chapel somehow, very likely late, with an impot in store from my form master, and a licking from the præfect in my chamber for being TARDY, though as likely as not he was himself the cause of it.

Task, subs. (Winchester).—All kinds of composition other than an Essay or Vulgus.

Tatol, subs. (Winchester).—A tutor in Commoners. These came into course in alternate weeks, their duties being to preside at meals, Toys (q.v.) and names-calling, and to go round galleries at 9.15.

Tavern (The), subs. (Oxford).—New Inn Hall. [From its title, “New Inn,” and also because the buttery is open all day, and the members of the Hall can call for what they please at any hour, the same as in a tavern.]

Tawse, subs. (Scots: general).—A leather strap used in Scotland instead of the cane. [Tawse (North) = a piece of tanned leather.]

Teejay (or Tege), subs. (Winchester).—A new-comer under the charge of an older scholar, who also instructs him in NOTIONS (q.v.). Also as verb. [That is, Protégé.]

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools.... On the last night of term there is a bonfire in Ball Court, and all the TEMPLES or miniature architectural excavations in Mead’s Wall are lighted up with candle-ends.

Ten-o’clock Recreation, subs. phr. (Stonyhurst).—Still keeps its name, though now for some years it comes nearly an hour later.

Tepe, verb (Durham: obsolete).—To smoke: a lane near School was called Tepe Lane.

Terrace, The (Harrow).—The terrace below the chapel, towards the Footer-fields.

Tetra, subs. (Felsted: obsolete).—A “record”: TO GO BEYOND THE TETRA = to beat the record. [A stuttering pronunciation of, some say, “tremendous,” others, “extraordinary.”] See Appendix.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, I. vii. What a THICK I was to come! Here we are, dead beat, and yet I know we’re close to the run in, if we knew the country.

Third Elevens (or Thirders), subs. (Harrow).—A house Second Eleven (q.v.) playing another house Second Eleven at football.

Thoke, subs. (Winchester).—Rest; lying in bed. Hence as verb = to lie in bed late. [Prov. Eng. thoky = sluggish.] Whence TO THOKE UPON = to anticipate with pleasure; THOKESTER = an idler.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Thokish. Slothful; sluggish. East. In Lincolnshire it is usually THOKY.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Thoke. I’m THOKING ON next week: what a THOKE it will be, with a Leave-out-day, a Hatch-THOKE, and a half remedy.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 465. He attributed his success—or, at any rate, his long survival—to the art of “THOKING”—in the vulgar tongue, “slacking”—which he had laboriously acquired during his first years of office.

Thoker, subs. (Winchester).—A thick slice of bread soaked in water and then baked.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, vii. And so Tom and the Tadpole, in night-shirts and trousers, started off downstairs, and through “THOS’S-HOLE,” as the little buttery, where candles and beer and bread and cheese were served out at night, was called, across the School-house court.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 367. “Thos” [Thomas Woobridge] the well-remembered old school-house servitor, being mounted on the leading horse.

Three. Come back at three, phr. (Royal High School, Edin.).—The formula to signify detention after school hours.

Throw, verb (University).—To master; to succeed: as in a paper, lesson, examination, examiner, &c.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 98. These blessed exams. are getting awfully close now, but I think I shall floor mine, and Dick’s sure to THROW his examiners down.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Tight.... A TIGHT bowler, &c. As superlative adverb now only used in TIGHT junior. Tight-snob, TIGHT-rot, and other such uses are obsolete.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 54. But there were other ordeals that were not quite so harmless. Green was liable to be asked whether he possessed a pair of TIN-GLOVES. As this article does not generally form part of a boy’s outfit, Bully would proceed to furnish him with a pair in the following manner:—Taking a half consumed stick from the fire, he would draw the “red-hot end” down the back of Green’s hand between each of the knuckles to the wrist, and having produced three satisfactory lines of blisters would then make two or three transverse lines across. A scientifically fitted pair of gloves of this description was generally, if not pleasant wear, of great durability.

1890. Felstedian, Feb., p. 3. Some one ventured to suggest that it was all a beastly TIP.... Many would just like to get hold of the fellow that started the TIP.

1893. Felstedian, Dec., p. 143. Nor is it credible that he stands in need of those useful and entertaining scraps of general information to which we apply the term “TIPS” in our ordinary conversation.

1895. Felstedian, April, p. 45. Tip.—“Tip” and “tip-spreading,” expressing with that brevity which is the soul of wit, our horror of scandal and scandal-mongering, again defy analysis.

Tique, subs. (Harrow).—(1) Arithmetic; and (2) mathematics. [From a French master’s peculiar English pronunciation.]

Titch, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A flogging. Also as verb [Onomatopœia]. See Appendix.

Tizzy-poole, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A fives ball [costing 6d., and sold by a head porter named Poole.]

Toad, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—In College a piece of hot toast put into beer.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 84, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” I remember now; it was that brute A—— who “to FITTI”-ed me last night.... For the benefit of the uninitiated let me explain the modus operandi and its etymology: it is nothing more or less than the commencement of a line in the old familiar “As in præsenti perfectum, format in avi,” which we used to learn, “to fit-ti,” in reference to verbs of the third conjugation, transferred from the similarity of sound to the school-boy’s toe; it consisted in tying a running noose on a piece of string, cunningly turning up the bed-clothes at the foot, putting it round the big toe of an unconscious sleeper, running the noose up tight, and pulling till the victim followed the direction of string from the pain, getting farther and farther out of bed and nearer and nearer the floor, till mercifully released.

1894. Felstedian, Dec., p. 181. Wiltshire will probably row in one of the University TOGGERS next term.

1896. Tonbridgian, No. 339, 1124. Rowland rowed in the TOGGER, fifth on the river.

Told. To be told, verb. phr. (Tonbridge).—To obtain one’s colours in a school team.

Tolly, subs. 1. (general).—A candle. [From tallow.] Cf. Brolly, Yolly, &c.

2. (Stonyhurst).—The flat instrument for administering punishment on the hand: the maximum is “twice nine.” Sometimes called TAPS (q.v.): e.g. “I’ve to get TAPS to-night.”

To tolly up, verb. phr. (Harrow).—To surreptitiously light candles after gas is out.

Tom, subs. (Oxford).—The great bell of Christ Church. [It tolls 101 times each evening at ten minutes past nine o’clock (there being 101 students on the foundation), and marks the time for the closing of the College gates. “Tom” is one of the lions of Oxford. It formerly belonged to Oseney Abbey, and weighs about 17,000 pounds, being more than double the weight of the great bell of St. Paul’s.]

Tommy, subs. (Dublin).—A sham shirt-front. [From the Greek τομή, a section.]

Tonkabout, subs. (Charterhouse).—The hitting up of catches at cricket: said to be a Bodeite (q.v.) term.

Toot (or Tout), verb (Royal High School, Edin.).—To treat to lunch. [Recently introduced by a boy from New Zealand. Originally shout, then tout, whence TOOT. “Shout” = to stand treat.]

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 240. Toe-pan.—A large basin of red earthenware placed in each chamber for washing the feet in.

Top-side, subs. (Harrow).—A wing at football: the opposite one to Bottom-side (q.v.).

Torch-race, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—Formerly, part of the breaking-up ceremony of the winter half-year. On the last morning the boys, after early chapel, rushed out of gates, each bearing a burning birch-broom, up College Street and along the wall of the Close up to the old White Hart Inn, where breakfast was prepared before the chaises started for their various destinations. This curious TORCH-RACE subsequently gave way to a race of the seniors in sedan chairs.

Torpid, subs. (Harrow).—A boy who has not been two years in the school. There is a cup for the Cock-house (q.v.) at torpids in football.

Torpids, subs. (Oxford).—(1) The eight-oared spring races; (2) the boats; and (3) the crews. Also Togger.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II. xii. The Misses Green had the satisfaction to see their brother pulling in one of the fifteen TORPIDS that followed immediately in the wake of the other boats.

1889. Felstedian, Feb., p. 11. After the TORPIDS will come the Clinker Forms—an institution hitherto unknown in Oxford.

1900. Westminster Gazette, 21st Feb., 8. 3. Oxford University TORPIDS. These races were concluded to-day.

Tosh, subs. (general).—A foot-tub; a bath. Also, as verb = to throw water over a person: e.g. “He TOSHED his house beak by mistake, and got three hundred.” Hence Tosh-pond (Royal Military Academy) = the bathing-pond. [That is, “toe-wash.”]

T’other-school, subs. (Winchester).—(1) One’s former school; and (2) any school not a Public School. Also as adj. = NON-LICET (q.v.), or unbecoming: because more or less alien to Winchester.

Touch. To touch in, verb. phr. (Stonyhurst).—To reach one’s block: of a batsman when running. See Stonyhurst-cricket. [According to the Rules, “The TOUCHING-IN line is within a bat’s length of the CRICKET-STONE” (q.v.).]

Touchy, adv. (Christ’s Hospital).—Rather: e.g. TOUCHY a lux = rather a good thing.

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life at our Public Schools.... After that last “all up,” there is a TOW or continuous run of from one to three miles.

Town and Gown, sub. phr. (University).—The townsmen v. the members of the University. [In her young days the position of the University was one of perpetual conflict—with the town, the Jews, the Friars, and the Papal Court.]

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II. iii. Town and gown disturbances are of considerable antiquity. Fuller and Matthew Paris give accounts of some which occurred as early as the year 1238. These disputes not unfrequently terminated fatally to some of the combatants. One of the most serious TOWN AND GOWN rows on record took place on the day of St. Scholastica the Virgin, February 10, 1345, when several lives were lost on either side. The University was at that time in the Lincoln diocese; and Grostête, the bishop, placed the townspeople under an interdict, from which they were not released till 1357, and then only on condition that the mayor and sixty of the chief burgesses should on every anniversary of the day of St. Scholastica, attend St. Mary’s Church and offer up mass for the soul of the slain scholars, and should also individually present an offering of one penny at the high altar. They, moreover, paid a yearly fine of 100 marks to the University, with the penalty of an additional fine of the same sum for every omission in attending at St. Mary’s. This continued up to the time of the Reformation, when it gradually fell into abeyance. In the fifteenth year of Elizabeth, however, the University asserted their claim to all arrears. The matter being brought to trial, it was decided that the town should continue the annual fine and penance, though the arrears were forgiven. The fine was yearly paid on the 10th of February up to our own time; the mayor and chief burgesses attended at St. Mary’s and made the offering at the conclusion of the litany, which, on that occasion, was read from the altar. This was at length put an end to by Convocation in the year 1825.

1899. Heywood, Guide to Oxford. The TOWN AND GOWN rows, as occasions for displays of physical force, lasted until quite recent times, as readers of Verdant Green and Tom Brown at Oxford will know. Nowadays, however, they are happily unknown.

1887. The Blue, Nov. Thus, a little farther on, mention is made of the time when a boy leaves the School. The consequent change of dress might be vulgarly expressed by “exchanging HOUSEYS FOR TOWNEYS,” but our author is before all things refined. “The boy is at liberty to exchange the garb of the house for one more congenial to modern taste.”

Town-lout, subs. (Rugby).—A scholar residing in the town with his parents.

Toys, subs. (Winchester).—A bureau—desk and book-case combined. Whence TOY-TIME (or TOYS) = evening preparation (in College) and (in Commoners) all time so spent.

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools. The clock striking seven each junior retires to his TOYS or bureau for an hour and a half, during what is known as TOYTIME, when the work of the next morning and the week’s composition have to be prepared.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Toys.... The expression TOY-TIME suggests that the “s” has been added. If TOYS has not descended from this word [teye], it must have been transferred from the contents of the toys, and mean simply one’s belongings.

1900. Daily Telegraph, 16th March, “London Day by Day.” After the boys had concluded their simple repast of tea and bread-and-butter, they formed up two-and-two, and bowed to the Lord Mayor, the different wards being headed by the TRADES, as the boys who carry the candlesticks, the bread-basket, table-cloth, and cutlery are termed.

Travelling-scholarship (or Fellowship), subs. (University).—Rustication (q.v.).

Treacle-bolly, subs. (Marlborough). A walk by the Kennett close to the College. [So called from the cottage of a miller so nick-named.]

Tree of Knowledge, The (Charterhouse).—The tree under which books, &c., are piled in the interval between second school and dinner (say 12.30 to 1.15), while run-about in winter and cricket-nets or position drill in summer is engaged in.

Treer, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—A boy who avoids organised games, but plays a private game with one or two friends. [Presumably because played by the trees at the side of the ground.]

Trencher, subs. 1. (Winchester).—A square wooden platter: in use in College.

Trial, subs. (Harrow).—An examination. Whence Trials = the examinations at the end of the summer and winter terms.

Tribune, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A large pew in ante-chapel: reserved for ladies.

Tripos, subs. (Cambridge).—A word dating from the sixteenth century, and used successively in a number of different senses. At first it was applied to the stool on which the champion of the University sat at the disputations held at the admission of Bachelors of Arts to their degree; then it was transferred to the Bachelor himself; still later to the humorous, or, in some cases, scurrilous, speech with which “Mr. Tripos” opened the proceedings, and to the verses of the Bachelors at the Acts. The honours-lists were printed (about 1847-8) on the backs of these verses, and so tripos came to mean an honour-list, and, last of all, the examination itself. Until the year 1824 there was only one tripos, the Mathematical; and up to 1850 only those who had obtained honours in mathematics were admitted to the Classical examination. The degree was not given for that examination till a few years later.

1877. Wordsworth, Scholæ Academicæ, 20. Such interest as is now attached to them belongs rather to the verses than to the list of the several TRIPOSES (for the name has now at last come to signify degree examinations) which have been circulated already severally.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 9. I’m seriously thinking of chucking my TRIPOS and taking up the History Special.

Trotter, subs. (University).—A tailor’s assistant who goes on round for orders.

1882. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 12, “Rummagings amongst our Records.” Grammar and Great Figures on their Declamation day ... were exempted from studies and allowed something of a collation in the TRUCK-HOUSE.

Tub, subs. 1. (University).—A boat broad in the beam, used by novices. Hence TUBBING = boating; to GET TUBBED = to be taught to row.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green.... So to the river he next day went, and made his first essay in a TUB.

1889. Morning Advertiser. If “up” at the University, we will probably pass our time between “grinding hard” and TUBBING on the river.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” Rowing is naturally a great attraction to many freshmen, and every College is always on the look-out for new oarsmen. What one does is to get “TUBBED,” that is, one is taught to row by members of the College eight in boats that are too TUB-like to be easily capsized.

2. (Winchester).—A chest in Hall into which Dispars (q.v.) not taken by the boys were put.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 79. In front of the screen stood “TUB,” from which the Præfect of that Ilk took his title; it was a strong painted oak chest, with a lid, about two feet high.... As will be seen, it was simply impossible for the Juniors to be up to time, the consequence of which was that more than half the dinners were not taken; these were thrown into “TUB” at the end of Hall, whence they were ultimately taken away by some poor women, and I always understood (though I am not certain that such was the case) that the “Præfect of TUB” got a certain sum for each “Dispar” not taken, and so had a direct interest in managing that as many as possible should go without their dinner. I will now explain the absence of the Juniors; immediately the Præfects were seated, the whole Hall resounded with shouts of “Junior—Junior—Junior,” rising in savageness of tone, as the supply became exhausted; in five minutes all the Juniors were darting wildly about in all directions, executing orders received from their lords and masters; some to Colson’s hatch for salt, or down in the cellar for beer, back to school for something forgotten, into chambers for a pint cup, down to the kitchen for gravy, &c. &c.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 23. Until the last few years the “præfect of TUB” (whose duty it was to examine the quality of the meat sent in by the college butcher, and after dinner to see to the proper collection and distribution of the remains) retained his title.

Tub-mess, subs. (Winchester).—The table at which the Senior Præfects sat in Hall.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Tuck, subs. (general).—Edibles of all kinds, but particularly pastry. Hence TUCK-SHOP = a pastry-cook’s.

Tuck-parcel, subs. (Charterhouse).—A hamper from home: the word is now becoming obsolete.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, I. vi. Come along down to Sally Harrowell’s; that’s our school-house TUCK-SHOP. She bakes such shining murphies. Ibid. The slogger looks rather sodden, as if he didn’t take much exercise and ate too much TUCK.

Tug, subs. (Eton).—A Colleger; a scholar on the foundation. Whence TUGGERY = College.

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools.... The long looked-for St. Andrew’s Day arrives, when the great match of collegers, or, as the small oppidan would term it, TUGS, and oppidans is to be played.

1883. Brinsley-Richards, Seven Years at Eton.... My interlocutor was a red-headed freckled little boy of eleven, who had come from Aberdeen “to try for TUGGERY,” that is, to try and pass in to the foundation as a King’s Scholar.

1890. Great Public Schools, 52. The Collegers did not always fare as bravely as they do now, either at board or bed. Terrible tales of their manner of life may be read.... Perhaps the recollections of that time caused the disrespect, almost bordering on contempt, with which the Oppidans used for many years to regard the Togati, or gown-wearing boys. [Note.—I suppose there is not much doubt that the nickname of TUG by which the Collegers used to go among the rest of the school, was derived from the toga they wore.]

Adj. (Winchester) = stale; ordinary; vapid; common. Whence TUGS = stale news; TUG-CLOTHES = everyday clothes; TUG-JAW = wearisome talk.

Tund, verb (Winchester).—To thrash. Whence TUNDING = a thrashing. [Lat. tundere.]

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life in Our Public Schools.... I never heard of any case in Eton like the TUNDING which, some years ago, brought our mother-school into disagreeable notice.

1883. Trollope, What I Remember.... It was the prefect of hall who ordered the infliction of a public TUNDING.... The following simple and truthful statement of what a public TUNDING was may enable those who take an interest in the matter to form some reasonable opinion whether the infliction of such punishment were a good or a bad thing.... Some dozen or so of boys, who had the best capacities for the performance, were appointed by him for the purpose, and the whole assembly stood around the daïs, while the hymn Te de profundis was sung. When all were thus assembled, and before the singers commenced, the culprit who had been sentenced to a TUNDING stepped out, pulled off his gown, and received from the hands of one deputed by the “prefect of hall,” and armed with a tough, pliant, ground-ash stick, a severe beating.

c. 1890. Punch [Confession by a Wykehamist]. I like to be TUNDED twice a day, And swished three times a week.

Turf, subs. 1. (Winchester).—The pitch: at cricket. The field is “long grass.”

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75. There are (or were) six cricket pitches on TURF.

Turl (The), subs. (Oxford).—Turl Street. [Formerly a narrow opening through the city wall into the High Street.]

Turn. To turn up, verb. phr. (Marlborough).—To chastise: with cane, stick, or fives-bat.

To be turned, verb. phr. (Harrow and Dulwich).—To be ploughed in a vive voce translation lesson.

Twank, verb (Durham).—To cane. See Lam and Yark. [Twank (East) = to give a smart slap with the flat of the hand.]

1861. Whyte-Melville, Good for Nothing, p. 39. I used to visit him regularly in the dear old college from the AFTER TWELVE.

1864. Eton School-days, vi. I tell you plainly, if you are not in Sixpenny AFTER TWELVE, I will do my best to give you a hiding wherever I meet you.

1883. Brinsley-Richards, Seven Years at Eton. Croppie, who abominated all laws and delighted in transgressions, resolved to go to the fair, and without difficulty he persuaded the Pug and me to join him. One day AFTER TWELVE the three of us passed over Windsor Bridge in the same condition as the “bold adventurers” alluded to in Gray’s Ode.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 446. The working system of the school has lately been slightly altered. Above the two sixth forms there has been placed a Head-master’s “TWELVE,” with the object of training the first TWELVE on the classical side for ’Varsity life. They are only in school about three hours a day, but have to get through a tough amount of work at their leisure.

Twelve Apostles, subs. 1. (Cambridge).—The last twelve in the Mathematical Tripos.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Pluck.... These unfortunate fellows are designated by many opprobrious appellations, such as the TWELVE APOSTLES, the Legion of Honour, Wise Men of the East, &c.

1887. Stonyhurst Mag., iii. 90. Stonyhurst boys of all past times since the coming of the original “TWELVE APOSTLES” ... will have noticed once a year, about Eastertide, a curious notice ... giving warning of an approaching meeting of the Court Leet.

Twenty-two and Twenty-two, subs. phr. (Winchester: obsolete).—Football: twenty-two a side.

Twig (The), subs. (Marlborough: obsolete).—The Head-master. [In whose authority rested the use of the birch.]

Twist (or Twoster), subs. (Winchester).—A stick spirally marked by a creeper having grown round it.

Ulula, subs. (Manchester Grammar).—The school magazine. [The Owl is the school crest, as it was that of the founder, Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter.]

Under-green (Charterhouse).—Formerly the present big or match football ground: now the Under’s cricket-ground.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 15. I think I shall speak at the UNION soon.... I tried on Tuesday last, but I couldn’t catch the President’s eye.

Up, adv. (Harrow).—In school. To be up to any one at second school = to go to any one for work at 10 or 11 o’clock.

Upper (Middle, or Under) Fire, subs. (Westminster).—The three fire-places, under former arrangements, in the present dormitory.

Upper School, subs. (Harrow).—In 1770 (the first year of the printed Bills (q.v.) of the school) the school comprised the monitors—their numbers varied from four to ten—the Fifth Form, the Shell, and the Fourth and Third Forms: these ranked as the UPPER SCHOOL. The UNDER SCHOOL was divided in a very peculiar fashion; there was first the “Scan and Prove” class, then the “Ovid,” the “Phædrus,” the “Upper Selectæ,” “Under Selectæ,” “Nomenclature,” “Grammar,” and “Accidence.”... At present there are, besides the monitors (fifteen in number), an Upper and Lower Sixth, three separate divisions of the Fifth, two “Removes,” three “Shells,” and three Fourths. On the Modern Side are one Sixth, three Fifths, one “Remove,” three Shells, and three Fourths.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 2. I can’t make out why the Pater is always so crusty about Rover. He told me every day last VAC he wouldn’t have his house over-run with dogs.

Valet, subs. (Winchester).—Every Præfect had a Junior in Chambers who acted in this capacity, made his tea or coffee, carried his things through from Chambers to School and back again, and looked after him in general.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

1803. Gradus ad Cantab. A VARMINT-MAN spurns a scholarship, would consider it a degradation to be a Fellow.

1827. Alma Mater.... The handsome man, my friend and pupil, was naturally enough a bit of a swell, or VARMINT-MAN.

’Varsity, subs. (Oxford and Cambridge).—The accepted corruption of University.

’Varsity-tit (or Tit), subs. (Durham).—A student of Durham University: in contempt.

Varying, subs. (Winchester).—A VULGUS (q.v.) done UP TO BOOKS (q.v.).

Verites (Charterhouse).—A boarding-house. [A corruption of Oliverites, after Dr. Oliver Walford, 1838-55.]

Vessel, subs. (Winchester).—The eighth of a sheet of LONG-PAPER (q.v.).—[Halliwell.] Ital. vassiola.

Vex, adv. (Christ’s Hospital).—“So much the worse for”: e.g. “Vex for you.” Cf. Chaff.

Vic, intj. (Felsted).—An exclamation giving warning of a master’s approach; the equivalent of cave, which is not used at Felsted. Also TO KEEP VIC.

1866-72. Sketchy Memories of Eton.... Being called a VILE-CHILD, the which I subsequently learnt was a very frequent term of mild reproach, and had no particular reference to the age of the individual to whom it was addressed. As a proof of this I may add that, being at Eton for the Winchester Match in 1883, I (moi-qui-vous-parle, height 6 feet 2 inches, and weight 14 stone 7 lbs.) was called a VILE-CHILD for being on a committee to oppose a certain obnoxious Indian Bill! I wasn’t sorry when tea was over, although many most pleasant evenings did I afterwards spend in that room.

Voluntary, subs. (Winchester).—A copy of verses written occasionally by some of the boys in Sixth Book and Senior Part ex proprio motu.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Vulgus, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A Latin epigram: four or six lines long. Hence VULGUS-BOOK = a CRIB (q.v.).

1883. Trollope, What I Remember.... The mention of a VULGUS requires some explanation. Every inferior, i.e. non-prefect, in the school was required every night to produce a copy of verses of from two to six lines on a given theme—four or six lines for the upper classes, two for the lowest. This was independent of a weekly verse task of greater length, and was called a VULGUS, I suppose, because everybody—the VULGUS—had to do it.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, II. iii. The VULGUS (commonly supposed to have been established by William of Wykeham at Winchester, and imported to Rugby by Arnold more for the sake of the lines which were learnt by heart with it than for its own intrinsic value, as I’ve always understood), ... is a short exercise in Greek or Latin verse, on a given subject, the minimum number of lines being fixed for each form.... At Rugby VULGUS and lines were the first lesson every other day in the week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; and ... it is obvious ... that the master of each Form had to set one hundred and fourteen subjects every year.... Now, human nature being prone to repeat itself, it will not be wondered that the masters gave the same subjects sometimes over again after a certain lapse of time. To meet and rebuke this bad habit of the masters, the school-boy mind, with its accustomed ingenuity, had invented an elaborate system of tradition. Almost every boy kept his own VULGUS written out in a book ... duly handed down from boy to boy, till ... popular boys, in whose hands bequeathed VULGUS-BOOKS have accumulated, are prepared with three or four VULGUSES on any subject in heaven or earth, or in “more worlds than one,” which an unfortunate master can pitch upon.... The only objection to the traditionary method of doing your VULGUSES was, the risk that the successions might have become confused, and so that you and another follower of traditions should show up the same identical VULGUS some fine morning; in which case, when it happened, considerable grief was the result.

Waffle, verb (Durham).—To talk nonsense. [North dial. waffle = to wave, to fluctuate; waffler (Camb.) = a person who is very weak; waffy (Linc.) = insipid.]

Walking-days, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—Several days allowed to a new boy during which he was initiated into the ways of the house by an old boy.

1890. Great Public Schools, 26. There are, as is well known, two [football] games played at Eton—one at the WALL, the other in the FIELD. The first is only played by a very limited number of boys, for there is but one WALL; the game is of a mysterious and intricate nature, and the uninitiated spectator cannot as a rule even see how a point (called a Shy) is obtained. Indeed were it not for the time-honoured match between Collegers and Oppidans on St. Andrew’s Day, the game would probably become obsolete.... The Eton FIELD game has, in the opinion of the writer [the Rev. Sydney R. James], merits, as a game for boys, superior to those of any other kind of football. In it speed and skilful dribbling and accurate kicking have their due success, but strength and dogged perseverance and pluck are not left out in the cold.

Wallyford, subs. (Loretto).—The usual run on a wet whole school-day: about 3-1/2 miles. See Long Wallyford.

Wanker, subs. (Felsted).—A bloater. [From “stinker”—“stwanker”—“wanker.”]

1892. Felstedian, Oct., 105. My name it is “WANKER”; a leaner or lanker, Salter or ranker, fish never swam. Ibid., June 1897, p. 100. He sniffs. “’Eugh, WANKERS again.”

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 27. The chief of the whole establishment is the WARDEN, who has nothing to do with the teaching of the boys; he admits and when necessary expels them, confers on them the dignity of “Præfect,” listens to their complaints, and, in fact, in all matters appertaining to the management of the school and the society is omnipotent.

Washing-drawer, subs. (Winchester).—In College, a box to hold toilet requisites.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 74, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” I remember that the Senior Præfect is going to get up to mug early before chapel, and I have to call him and take his WASHING-STOOL (a rough wooden table generally used for putting washing basins on, which, when covered with a cloth, serves as a writing-table) out into Chamber Court.... Here let me observe that only the præfects have separate basins to wash in; the juniors use the two stone conduits.

Watch, subs. (Westminster).—A junior who has to remain in College during play-hours to answer inquiries, receive messages, and so forth, performing, in fact, the duties of a servant.

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life in Our Public Schools. Boating, or WATER, as it is called at Westminster, is in a very flourishing condition.

Westminster Customs. See Cap; Challenge; Early; Play; Monos; Pancake; Shadow; Silver-pence and Westminster Play. Besides these are others worthy of mention:—

1. The College Waistcoat.—A remarkable and original service was, up to the date of the Public Schools Commission, exacted of a Westminster junior. He was supposed to be a treasury of small conveniences for his seniors’ use in and out of school. He wore a college waistcoat of peculiar pattern, in the pockets of which he had to carry about and produce immediately on legal demand—the items are recorded in the published evidence—two penknives, two pieces of india-rubber, two pencils, two pieces of sealing-wax, two pieces of pen-string, two dips (q.v.), two dip-corks, two wedges, two pieces of gutta-percha (for putting on the points of foils), and any number of pens. Besides, he had to carry a portfolio containing a sufficiency of “quarterns” of paper.

2. Latin Formulæ.—Quaint old Latin formulæ continued in use at Westminster, unchanged since its earliest foundation. While the school is at morning lesson, the monitor ostii (see Monos) watches the clock, and at half-past eleven comes to the monitor of school and announces the time. The monitor goes to the head-master’s desk, makes his bow, and says, “Sesqui est undecima.” At a quarter to twelve he makes the further announcement, “Instat duodecima.” When twelve o’clock has struck he says again, “Sonuit duodecima;” at a quarter-past twelve, “Prima quarta acta est;” at half-past, “Sesqui est duodecima,” at which welcome words books are shut, and the whole school is dismissed. The same formalities, with the necessary variations, are repeated during afternoon lessons. Before dinner the Captain calls out two boys of the Second Election, one to say grace—“Age gratias”—and the other to repeat the proper responses—“Agite responsa;” and when dinner is over, before grace again, he pays even the juniors the compliment of asking whether they have had enough—“Satisne edistis et bibistis?” to which the compulsory answer is made—in old times too often by hungry lips—“Satis edimus et bibimus.” Every night at ten o’clock the monitor of chamber gives the order for the juniors to put out the lights and go to bed—“Extinctis lucernis intrate lectos.” It is only within the last generation or two that the rule of speaking Latin exclusively, both by boys and masters, during school hours has fallen into abeyance.

Westminster Play.—A Latin comedy, presented annually in the dormitory of St. Peter’s College, a custom dating from Queen Elizabeth’s days. The performances take place just before the Christmas holidays, the play being repeated three times. The cast is strictly confined to the forty scholars on the foundation. At the close of last presentation a Cap (q.v.) is collected, the surplus of which, after paying expenses, is divided among the performers.

1839. C. T. Buckland, Eton Fifty Years Ago [1889, Macmillan’s, Nov.]. It was the ambition of most boys to be a WET-BOB, and to be “in the boats.” The school was divided between WET-BOBS and dry-bobs, the former taking their pleasure on the river, and the latter in the cricket-field.

Whiter, subs. (Harrow).—A white waistcoat: this may be worn by those who have been three years in the school.

Wicket-cricket, subs. (Stonyhurst).—Cricket played with a stick or “wicket.”

Wilderness (The), subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The Dark Walk; a part of the garden. Cf. Gerard, Stonyhurst, p. 179.

Wilderness (Charterhouse).—A playing ground at Old Charterhouse before Thomas Sutton bought the estate: now a belt of trees to the south of Under-green (q.v.).

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, vii. Now I’m going to WINE with Smalls to-night.

Wise Men of the East, subs. phr. (Cambridge).—The last twelve in the Mathematical Tripos (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Pluck.... These unfortunate individuals were designated by many opprobrious appellations, such as the Twelve Apostles, the Legion of Honour, WISE MEN OF THE EAST, &c.

Wooston, adv. (Christ’s Hospital).—Very: e.g. Wooston a jolly fellow; a WOOSTON jolly fellow; I am WOOSTON, chaffy. [That is, “whore son.”—Guillemard.]

14[?]. Townley Mysteries, “Processus Noe.” My bonys are so stark No wonder if they WARK For I am full old.

14[?]. Alexander [Ashmol.], line 531. So sare WERKIS hire the wame. Ibid., line 539. Of WERKE well ne I wede (am mad).

1860. R. Brierly, Ab. in London. I shaked his hond till my arm WARTCHT, then he shaked mine till his arm WARTCHT.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Work. The use of REMEDY (q.v.) for a holiday seems to imply that WORK is a painful disease.

Worms, subs. (Winchester).—A trenched line on the turf: used as goal at football. See quot.

1881. Pascoe, Life in Our Public Schools. Across the two ends of the ground a small trench is dug, about four inches wide and two deep, and a goal is obtained when the ball is fairly kicked across the trench (Wiccamicé WORMS).

Wrangler, subs. (Cambridge).—The name given to those who are placed in the first class in the first or elementary portion of the public examination for honours in pure and mixed mathematics, commonly called the Mathematical Tripos, those placed in the second class being known as Senior Optimes, and those in the third class as Junior Optimes. Up to and including the year 1882, the student who took absolutely the first place in the Mathematical Tripos used to be termed Senior Wrangler; those who came next to him being second, third, fourth, &c., wranglers. Since then the title has been given to the student who takes the first place in Part I. of the Mathematical Tripos. The name is derived from the public disputations, in which candidates for degrees were formerly required to exhibit their powers.

1870. The Blue, March. We were rejoiced to hear of the University success of a late Grecian—G. A. Greenhill, who was announced as Second WRANGLER in the late Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge. Further on in the month we heard of his being bracketed with Mr. Pendlebury (the Senior WRANGLER) as Smith’s Prizeman, a thing seldom heard of at Cambridge, and never before has any Blue attained that high honour.

Writer, subs. (Winchester).—A Junior acting as secretary to a College officer.

Yarder, subs. (Harrow).—Cricket played in the school yard: in the summer term.

To get yards, verb. phr. (Harrow).—To get a catch at football and be allowed a free kick, not running more than can be covered in three running strides. Hence TO GIVE YARDS = to give such a catch; TO STEP YARDS = to cover the distance in “kicking off yards” in three strides; TO KNOCK DOWN YARDS = to prevent another from “taking yards.” [Originally three yards.]

Yards (The), subs. 1. (Durham).—The list of members, originally of the First Game, but now of the Second Game—at football or cricket. [Formerly in the cricket season only a patch of ground thirty yards square was mowed. Those who had the privilege of playing on this were said to be “on the YARDS.”]

Yark, verb (Durham).—To cane. See Twank and Lam. [Yark (North) = to strike, to beat.]

Yellow-hammer, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A Blue (q.v.) in disgrace for gross misconduct and under discipline. See quot.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, August 1874]. In the case of a hardened offender, or of gross misdemeanour, a system of degradation was adopted, by causing the culprit to wear his coat turned inside out, and as the body of the coat had a yellow lining, the metamorphosis was remarkably striking, and (unkindest cut of all!) the subjects of this hideous transformation—these involuntary turn-coats—were by their schoolfellows nicknamed YELLOW-HAMMERS.

Yolly, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A post-chaise. [That is, “Yellow,” that having been generally a favourite colour for these vehicles.]

-y, inseparable suffix (Manchester Grammar).—See Mathy, Chemmy, Gymmy, &c.

Abbey, The (Durham).—The Cathedral. The boys of Durham School (and they alone) speak, and always have spoken, of the Cathedral as “the Abbey.” This is supposed to show that the school dates from pre-Reformation days, though its foundation is put down to the time of Henry VIII. The Charity Commissioners admit the claim, and pay to the Head-master a pension founded by Cardinal Langley in 1415 for the master of his school in Durham.

Academia, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A select literary club: in vogue where the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum flourishes. Not now existent at Stonyhurst, but it is in great vigour in America and on the Continent.

Ambulacrum, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The covered playground used in wet weather.

Atramentarius, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The ink-pot boy: an office once in vogue, the holder of it being responsible for the cleanliness, &c., of the ink-pots in the class-rooms. For this he was given a Good-day (q.v.) at the end of the year.

Bannet (and Bannet-fire), subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—See Bonnet and Bonnet-fire, ante: in each case an error has crept in; the correct spelling is, of course, bannet.

Beggar’s-ace (and Ball of Honour), subs. (Stonyhurst).—Two extra balls given by the winning side in a game to enable their opponents to catch up if possible.

Bill, subs. (Eton).—An old Etonian states that “in the Bill” used to mean only that a boy was “complained of” to the Head-master. See ante.

Blandyke (Stonyhurst).—See ante. It may be interesting to call attention to the connection between Stonyhurst and St. Omers and many of the words and phrases occurring in this vocabulary. They not only date from the Continental period, but find their explanation in it alone. The College was founded in 1592 at St. Omers, and continued without a break (at Bruges and Liège) previous to the settlement in England in 1794.

Bloody Wars, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A common name for any stiffness: such as that usually experienced at the beginning of the football or cricket season: e.g. “I’ve got the BLOODY WARS.”

Blue, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante; concerning the dress, I learn that the cap was given up many years ago. There used to be a yellow petticoat under the blue skirt. The boys also wear white “bands.”

Bluebottle, subs. (Christ’s Hospital: Hertford).—A BLUE (q.v.): used by girls at Hertford. See Grasshopper (Appendix) and Hedgehog (ante).

Bouncer, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A ball kicked from the hand before it reaches the ground: Stonyhurst-football (q.v.).

Boy, subs. (Harrow).—Specifically, a fag a grade above the lowest form. See ante. As a verb, TO BOY = to call for a fag: all fags are summoned by a long drawn-out shout.

Brick (and Clat), subs. (Stonyhurst).—The names given to the two rival camps in a certain notorious quasi-insurrection in the College some fifty years ago. A full account appears in Fitzgerald’s Stonyhurst Memories.

Bumf. To buy a bumf, verb. phr. (general).—To purchase a newspaper. Math-bumf = mathematical paper. See ante.

Bus, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An extra nondescript class formed chiefly of boys not born to study.

Butter, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A boy known often to miss a catch. Hence, as verb = to miss a catch.

Cæsar’s-bridge (Stonyhurst).—An old bridge over the Hodder. Also Cromwell’s-bridge, though it is probable that Cromwell crossed the Hodder higher up. See Higger Brig.

Cage, The (Royal High School, Edin.).—A covered area, between two gates, in which prisoners at games are confined. Also, as verb = to put in this enclosure.

Candle-keepers, subs. (Winchester).—Mansfield in his School-Life at Winchester College, p. 30 (see quot. 1840, ante), says, “Why so called I have no idea,” but see Adam’s Wykehamica (1878), 418.

Cards. On cards, phr. (Harrow).—A report on conduct taken to the Head-master.

Champion, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A boy in a Lower Line (q.v.) class who, on account of age or size, joins in the games of the Higher Line (q.v.). Cf. Charity-tails.

Clap, verb (Christ’s Hospital: Hertford).—To push in front of. Whence Clapper = one who so pushes.

Common-key, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A key by which most of the doors on the boys’ side of the house are opened.

Concertatio, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An exhibition of class-work given from time to time in the Community refectory by the Lower Line (q.v.) classes.

Copy, subs. (Harrow).—Formerly Copy = a prize-book, chosen by the recipient. See ante.

Cork, verb (Eton).—To throw. [An Old Etonian informs me that “Cork” and not Calk (q.v.) is the correct orthography.]

Cowshed, The (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante. It should be stated that The Cowshed is a sort of pent-house near the Warden’s residence which workmen use for divers purposes.

Cricket-machine, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A boy who studies cricket scores with excessive care.

Crow’s-wing (and -refectory), subs. (Stonyhurst).—The part of the house in which the masters live and fare. See Crow.

Cut. To cut in, verb. phr. (Harrow).—If a boy misses his place in the line at Bill (q.v.), and tries to run in irregularly, he is said TO CUT IN.

D, subs. (Felsted).—A division of “punishment bounds.” Nominally the bounds were:—A = practically no bounds; B = the ordinary bounds, the roads about a mile from the school; C = punishment bounds, confinement to the cricket-fields and playground; and D = confinement to the old school-house playground, one of the commonest forms of punishment till 1876, when the present school-house was opened. C and D were also known respectively as Mongrel and Quod.

Dame, subs. (Eton and Harrow).—Originally many ladies kept boarding-houses: hence the word. See ante.

Damnation-hill (Harrow).—See Damnation-corner and Howson and Warner, Harrow School (1898), 80.

Ditch, The (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante. The ditch is one of the three playgrounds, or rather open spaces, within the walls of Christ’s Hospital: it takes its name from the old City ditch which ran beneath it. The two others are the “Hall Play,” and the “Garden.”

Double-remove. To get a DOUBLE-REMOVE, verb. phr. (Harrow).—To skip a form.

Dox, subs. (Tonbridge).—The head-master. [An abbreviation of “doctor.”]

Early bed, subs. (Stonyhurst).—In winter time the smaller boys go to bed an hour before the rest. Elder boys may avail themselves of this if sick: e.g. “There is no EARLY BED to-night.”

Extraordinary, subs. (Stonyhurst).—Classes in which extra classics are read in the lower forms.

Fag-poker, intj. (Harrow: obsolete).—A cry to a fag to fetch a stake for the fire.

1827. Collins, The Public Schools [Harrow], p. 318. Poker and tongs were unknown luxuries in the “play-room” at Butler’s; and the junior fag, at the call of “FAG poker,” had to rush out in the cold to pull a hedge-stake of substantial dimensions from the fence or faggot-stack.

Feeder-cric (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante. This game got its name from the “feeder,” i.e. the thrower of the ball, and the humble imitation that it was of cricket. The bat was a stick like a “glorified” ruler, but cut away at one end to resemble in some sort a cricket-bat. It was played against a buttress, on which was marked a circle in chalk, which served as a wicket. The ball was soft, with a hole in it; as in rounders the batsman might insist on certain conditions as to the method of “feeding,” and might refuse to recognise a “feed” unreasonable in height.

First-touch. To be first-touch, verb. phr. (Stonyhurst).—To be first in reaching the scene of a game, a place in which was secured by touching some object, as a handball, a wicket, &c.

2. (Stonyhurst).—A boy who does not play in any of the regular (cricket) matches. For such a practice net is provided, known as the FLAB’S-NET.

Fob, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To put on carelessly: as bands or buttons, without trouble, to look right for a minute or so.

Form-game, subs. (Harrow: obsolete).—At football, the games arranged in grades of ability, and not by Houses. They were named on the same principle as the school is arranged—Sixth Form game, Fifth Form game, and so on.

Forty, subs. (Felsted).—A division of the school for football or cricket. Each FORTY has its own ground.

Fotch, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A blow on the face. Also as verb = to strike.

Fug, subs. (Harrow).—See ante. The name is now given to a diminutive Association ball: formerly one of hair and chamois-leather.

Gomer, subs. (Winchester).—See ante, sense 2. I am informed that there is yet another usage. Gomers = a suit of clothes in which to go home. [Because College men wear gowns.]

1898. S. W. Gore, Harrow School, 225. Harrow is, I believe, one of the few schools where cricket is played in the Michaelmas term, when the traditional “GOOSE” MATCH is played. This was started on the 22nd of September 1849 by Mr. C. O. Eaton.

Grammar-match, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A football match in which the members of the highest class of the Lower Line (q.v.)—Grammar (q.v.)—play the lower classes combined.

Grasshopper, subs. (Christ’s Hospital: Hertford).—A BLUE-girl: used by boys at Hertford. See Bluebottle (Appendix) and Hedgehog (ante).

Then on leaving the school for college they obtain a gift of £60 for clothing and outfit, and an allowance of £70 a year while at college. Nor do they seem to owe any further allegiance in after life to Christ’s Hospital. For instance, many lads are educated specially for the navy, and are distinguished from the others by wearing a metal badge on the shoulder, but on leaving Christ’s they do not necessarily enter maritime life.

Head. Head of the Line, subs. phr. (Stonyhurst).—The Captain of the School.

Hedgehog (Christ’s Hospital).—See Bluebottle and Grasshopper (Appendix).

Hell, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A well-known hazard on the golf links: another is called Purgatory.

Henner, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A challenge to do something difficult, which the challenger must first do himself: e.g. “Here’s a HENNER for you!” [Probably from Old Scots hain.]

Higger Brig, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A bridge over the Hodder. It was by the old bridge at this point that Cromwell crossed on his way to Stonyhurst Hall, though some say it was at Cæsar’s Bridge (q.v.). [Derived from an attempt to pronounce “Higher Bridge” in the local fashion.]

In. All in, phr. (Stonyhurst).—A direction given (1) at end of recreation; and (2) to stay indoors at recreation time when wet.

Jicker, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—(1) The juice of a High (q.v.). [It is suggested that this is a “portmanteau word”—from juice and liquor.] Also (2) = blacking.

Jickery, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Big: e.g. “You’re in for a JICKERY row.” [Query = overflowing, like the JICKER (juice) of a “high” (fruit tart).]

Jiffs, The (Christ’s Hospital).—The Jiffs are about the oldest part of the Hospital building. The name is given to cloisters lying on the left hand as one enters from Christ Church passage. They are at a lower level, and are reached by four steps. It was the only part not burned in the Great Fire. The rooms above were destroyed. [Suggested derivations are:—(1) from “Grey Friars” = G.F.’s; and (2) from a beadle, Geoffrey—Geoff’s—Jiffs.]

Joseph, subs. (Harrow: obsolete).—Generic for boy: e.g. BEETLE-JOSEPH = an entomological collector; MUSIC-JOSEPH = a boy who studied music, and so forth.

Keen, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Good: e.g. “jolly KEEN” = very good.

King, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A game peculiar to the school. The players range themselves on one side of the playground, one going into the centre and calling “King!” The centre player endeavours to catch some one, who then joins him, and this goes on till all are caught. A rush is then made for the side, the last to reach it taking the centre place in a new game. It forms an excellent training for football and a source of revenue to tailors.

Lady Gallery (Stonyhurst).—A gallery in which is a statue of the Blessed Virgin.

Last-quarter, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An interval at the end of long recreations for toilet purposes, &c., before studies or other duties: e.g. “Is there LAST-QUARTER after this recreation?”

Leeming’s Knot (Stonyhurst).—A ditch or hole in a neighbouring wood. [From some local farmer who is said to have jumped into it.]

Little Man, subs. (Eton).—See ante: this term, I am informed, is only applied to one particular man in a certain shop.

Long Sleep, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A longer time than usual in bed: e.g. “There will be LONG SLEEP to-morrow,” “May I have LONG SLEEP?”

Long-soft, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A long, low bounce: Stonyhurst-football (q.v.).

Lord’s. To be in Lord’s, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To be a member of the first Eleven at cricket, dating from the old Public School matches at Lord’s between Winchester, Harrow, and Eton. Whence Lord’s-Ex = the Exeat for the Eton and Harrow match.

Lounge, subs. (Eton).—Both present and past Eton schoolmen inform me that, as far as they know, this word was, and is, never used.

Low, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—There are two sorts of fruit pies sold at the school shop, called respectively, according to their shape, “HIGH” and “LOW,” the word “pie” being generally omitted.

Magazine, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The dormitory of the smaller boys in the College. Once a trunk room.

Mathemat, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante, and add following to quot. 1895:—

The most distinctive feature in the MATHEMAT life was the yearly “going to Court.” Our hair was trimmed and brushed for the occasion by the Hospital barber, buttonholes and gloves lavished on us. When we went to Buckingham Palace we drove five in a carriage, the redundant gentleman being literally and metaphorically sat upon by his justly indignant comrades. But more interesting were our visits to Windsor, with the march from the station to the Castle, the long weary waiting in endless corridors and gorgeous ante-chambers, the well-earned lunch, with John Brown peeping in at the door; then Her Majesty’s inspection of our drawings; and finally, our free range over the Castle and toilsome ascent of the Round Tower. I remember the following circumstance: One MATHEMAT exhibited a painting of a ship still building. Prince George of Wales remarked to his brother, “What a ‘rummy’ ship,” at which the exhibitor laughed, causing the elder Prince to exclaim, “Look, George, he’s laughing at you.”

Mayfair (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A walk in the playground. Cf. Bond-street.

Meeter, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A successful kick at a ball coming towards the one who kicks. See STONYHURST-FOOTBALL.

Monkey. Monkey-room (Stonyhurst).—A lumber-room: chiefly used as a stable for bicycles.

Nicks, intj. (Stonyhurst).—See ante. Also used at Stonyhurst by scouts at sight of a Prefect.

Nip’s-night, subs. (Felsted).—The annual entertainment for the village people. [Nip = a rustic.]

Nurse, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante. Obsolete in London, but retained at Hertford.

Officiate, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To interfere: i.e. to be “officious.” E.g. “Don’t officiate.”

On. All on, phr. (Stonyhurst).—The direction given at the end of recreation. Also All in.

Passy, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante. Now obsolete: the modern equivalent is Vish, which see (Appendix).

Peg. To peg in, verb. phr. (Stonyhurst).—(1) To throw in hard: of cricket. (2) To cane severely: of corporal punishment: e.g. “Does So-and-so PEG IN?” Also To LAMM IN.

People, subs. (Harrow).—Relations; visitors: e.g. “I’ve got PEOPLE coming down.”

Pepper-box, subs. (Eton).—A buttress in the original Fives Court on the Chapel steps—reproduced in all Eton Fives Courts.

Pester, subs. (Harrow).—The special cab used to convey boys with infectious diseases to Sanny (q.v.).

Philathlet (or Phil), subs. (Harrow).—See Phil, ante. Also the large school cricket ground used for lower games.

Philosopher’s-quarters, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The part of the house in which the Philosophers (q.v.) live.

Pi, adj. (originally Winchester).—See ante. This expression is now pretty general. Also Pi-jaw (or Pi-gas) = a serious admonition.

Pog, subs. (Felsted).—See ante: the suggested derivation is “Pig—pig-faced—pog.” “Put your POG” was the usual direction to Drawing-round (q.v.).

Post-office, verb (Harrow).—To promenade the High Street. [Where is situated the post-office.]

Prefect’s-room, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The room in which corporal punishment is inflicted. “To visit the PREFECT’S-ROOM” has a recognised significance. Also known as the Tolly-shop.

Prisoner’s-bars, subs. (Stonyhurst).—Otherwise known as “Prisoner’s-base.”

Rabble, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The Vesper Choir: i.e. the choir formed of boys not in the College choir proper, who sing alternately with the latter at Vespers.

Reading-room, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An hour of extra study after supper. So called from the room in which this study may be done. “I am going to Reading Room.”

Rector’s Tower (Stonyhurst).—A tower at the end of the west wing. Also known as Parbrick Tower, after the Rector who built it.

Report, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The account of the school work given by the Prefect of Studies in the Boys’ Refectory, before the whole house assembled, at the end of each term. The class which wins most honour is said to get First Praise. After the Report the Distinction Lists are read. Cf. Distinguished.

Retreat, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A period of three days annually devoted by the boys to practices of piety.

Rostrum, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A pulpit formerly in the boys’ refectory: used for reading during certain meals.

Rotten. Bells go rotten, phr. (Winchester).—See Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 432.

Sabbatine, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A kind of academical exhibition given by one of the Higher Line (q.v.) classes to the rest of the Higher Line and visitors on a Saturday afternoon. [From Sabbatum.]

Sack. To have (or GET) THE SACK, verb. phr. (Harrow).—To be dismissed from school for an offence. A common enough word, but its specific use at Harrow deserves mention.

Scaley, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A term of contempt: applied to all foreigners.

Sconse, subs. and adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—A selfish fellow; selfish. See Scaff.

Scrub, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A ball hit close to the wall or ground: handball.

Scug, subs. (Eton).—A term of contempt for any boy wanting in self-respect.

Second-dinner, subs. (Stonyhurst).—When a boy for any reason has been unable to dine with the rest, he is said to go to SECOND-DINNER.

Second-tip, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A form of Stonyhurst-cricket (q.v.), in which the batsman had to run once at least in two hits.

Second-washing, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The interval allowed every day before dinner for toilet purposes.

Semmies (or Seminarians), subs. (Stonyhurst).—Students at the Seminary or St. Mary’s Hall.

Semper (Winchester).—See ante. Semper Testis also = “a boy always ready to support any assertion of his friend.”

Senior Philosopher, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The head and spokesman of the Philosophers (q.v.).

Shark, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A “cadger.” Whence, as verb = to make up to; to cadge.

Shinner, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A kick on the shins. See Stonyhurst-football.

Shop-boys, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The boys responsible for the shop in the “house.” It is entirely in the boys’ own hands; the profits go to the games club.

Shuts, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A “sell.” Also as intj. = “Sold again!”

Side. Behind one’s side, phr. (Winchester).—Said of a man when nearer the opponents’ goal than the player on his own side who last touched the ball.

Sig, subs. (Harrow).—A signature for work: e.g. “To get a SIG.” See Signed.

Six-and-Six, subs. (Winchester).—See ante. Originally one match yearly between College and Commoners; now three matches between College, Commoners, and Houses. Also Sixes. See Apple-pie day.

Sixes, subs. (Harrow).—Alternate six balls in the Yard with another batsman. Hence TO GO SIXES = to go shares in anything.

Skew (Harrow).—See ante. Also, as verb = to turn (or fail) in Rep (q.v.).

Slime, verb. 1. (Felsted).—See ante. To sneak in, out, or past. Also as subs., TO DO A SLIME (even in games) = to take a crafty advantage.

Snoring-dormitory, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A special dormitory reserved for troublesome sleepers.

Spec, verb (Harrow and Durham).—To expect to get; to count on winning beforehand: as a race, &c.

Spital Sermon (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante. In The Blue of April 1900 appears an account of a Spital Sermon preached in Christ Church, Newgate Street, April 23rd, 1644: it is quaint. In recent years the Lord Mayor’s chaplain preached on Easter Monday, a bishop on Tuesday, but within the last twenty years the Monday sermon has been given up. Also, the boys no longer wear the bit of paper bearing the words, “He is risen,” and the “Mathemats” have ceased to carry their nautical instruments.

Spot. On the spot, phr. (Stonyhurst).—(1) In good humour; (2) in good condition.

Stonyhurst-cricket, subs. (Stonyhurst: recently obsolete).—A form of cricket played till very recent times at Stonyhurst, the ordinary game being known as London-cricket. The points of difference are chiefly these: (1) the balls must be swift, and bowled along the ground; (2) the batsman must hit—“slog” is the term; and (3) the game is played at a single wicket. Bat, ball, and wickets differ in shape and size from those used in cricket proper. In Father Gerard’s Stonyhurst will be found a detailed account of the game, and a connection is traced between it and a crude form once played at Eton. It is in all probability a survival of very primitive cricket which became stereotyped because of the life of the College abroad.

Stonyhurst-football, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A kind of football played at Stonyhurst and some other schools. It differs materially from the Association and Rugby game, chiefly in these respects: (1) any number may play at once; (2) the ball may be touched by the hand during the game, but not handled or carried as in Rugby football; (3) charging, or otherwise roughly treating another player, is prohibited. The goal-posts are longer and the space between them narrower than in other forms of the game; the ball is small and round. It is akin to a species of football played at Eton, and is clearly a relic of the past. In matches the sides usually have names: e.g. “French and English,” in the Grand Matches—a significant survival from old continental days; “Federals and Allies” (now obsolete); “Pipes and Windows”—a favourite impromptu match, the “Pipes” being those who sit on one side of the old “Study Place,” the “Windows” those who sit on the other. Now that the “Pipes” (hot-water pipes) are on the same side as the windows, the match is more commonly called “Walls and Windows,” but sometimes “Chapel Pipes and Windows.” “Shavers and Non-shavers” is another favourite match.

Swack, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—Deception. Whence To swack up = to deceive; to take in.

Swagger (or Side), subs. (Harrow).—(1) Appropriating privileges to which one has no right; and (2) using peculiar privileges which others may not use. Etiquette in this respect is very complex.

1898. Warner, Harrow School, 280. The rules of “SWAGGER” are most complex, like other traditional and unwritten codes, and in them a new boy is apt to find himself entangled. He goes out with his umbrella rolled up, and he finds he is swaggering; or he carries it by its middle, or under his arm, or he walks on the middle terrace after chapel, or he innocently wears his “blues” open when it is hot, or turns his trousers up when it is wet, and again he is swaggering. Lady visitors sometimes think small boys at Harrow rude. It is not rudeness which leads boys to stick close to the wall, even when coming up covered with mud from football, and shoulder the world into the gutter, it is modesty; to walk in the road is SWAGGER. To loiter at the house door, or to sing or whistle in the passages, and to wear a hat in the house are also forms of SWAGGER.

1898. Howson and Warner, Harrow School, 208. Then followed solos from those who could sing and those who could not—it made no difference. The latter class were called TALKERS, and every boy was encouraged to stand up and “talk it out.”

Tap, subs. (Eton).—Originally the Christopher (q.v.). Now the only place recognised by the authorities where a boy can get beer.

Tart-feast, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—Certain feasts indulged in by classes at the end of the school year.

Temple of Bel[l], The (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A square tower at the north-east corner of the playground in which the bell was formerly hung: now rendered invisible by the new buildings.

Tetra (Felsted).—See ante. Also as adj.: e.g. a science boy regarded “Stinks” as “TETRA-buck.”

Three-yearer, subs. (Harrow).—A boy who has been three years in the school, and who, by seniority, has the right to do certain things, which his juniors may not do.

Ticket, subs. (Winchester).—A promise, given by a Prefect to a Junior, to remit the next punishment when incurred.

Titch, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See ante. It is suggested that TITCH is a “portmanteau word”—“tight breeches,” the tightening of the garment being often a preliminary to the operation.

Tizzy-tick, subs. (Harrow).—An order on a tradesman to the extent of sixpence a day.

1900. Athenæum, 16th June, p. 743. The chapel rather loses by its stunted head, especially as a fine tapering spire (disrespectfully known as “The Tolly”) appears at the back of the Close.

Tolly-ticket, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A custom now generally obsolete, but still kept up by some masters. It used to be common, and consisted in giving a boy a card of good conduct as a reward for specially good work. If, later, he were to incur punishment for some offence, he would produce this card, and, unless the offence were too grave, could thereby receive a free pardon. Such cards were called TOLLY TICKETS or Immunity Cards. [A precisely similar custom is described as having existed at Eton in the forties by Mr. C. Kegan Paul in his Memories.]

Tubby (Christ’s Hospital).—A male servant of the school: his business was to move certain tubs, the use of which has long been discontinued, but the name remains.

Tuft, subs. (University).—A young nobleman, entered as a student at a university, so called from the TUFT or gold tassel worn on the cap. Also Gold-hatband (q.v.). Whence “tuft-hunter.”

Tuz I, phr. (Felsted).—The same as Fain it (q.v.), Bags I (q.v.), &c.

The School Twelve, subs. phr. (Harrow).—The twelve best singers (bass and tenor voices singing in unison) in the school. Whence The House Twelve = the same in each House.

Vacation-shoes (or -clothes), subs. (Stonyhurst).—Each boy is measured for these before the summer holidays.

Victory-walk, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A recognised reward given every half-term to the classes of the Lower Line (q.v.). The system is as follows:—Each class is divided into two sides, Romans and Carthaginians, the boys being set one against another as rivals. When lessons are asked, the rivals are asked in pairs, and each tries to correct the other. A successful correction is called a Victory. At the end of the half-term these victories are counted: the side which has the greater total is freed some afternoon for a Victory-walk.

Vile-child, subs. (Eton).—I am informed that this expression was only used by a particular tutor, and was never regarded as peculiar to Eton phraseology.

Vish, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Cross: the modern equivalent of Passy (q.v.). [That is, “vicious.”]

Whopping, subs. (Harrow).—1. A beating with a cane inflicted by a Monitor, Head of House, Sixth Form boy, &c., on a lower boy for a breach of discipline.

2. A Monitor’s-whopping—a more serious affair, only inflicted in grave cases; the delinquent is brought before the whole body of the Monitors in the Vaughan Library, and punishment given there.

Wooden-spoon, subs. (Cambridge).—The student last on the list of mathematical honours. See Tripos, Gulf, Twelve Apostles, Wrangler, &c.

Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.

Edinburgh & London

Transcriber’s note:

Unusual and variable spellings, hyphenations, and capitalizations have been retained.

All upright instances of ‘Cf.’ italicized (Bicker, [The] Dark Walk, Poetry, Rhetoric)

Black-jack, square brace inserted after ‘beer,’ “boy servitor of beer.]”

Challenge, square brace inserted after ‘q.v.,’ “the Eton Montem (q.v.).]”

Hatch, ‘garden’ changed to ‘garden-gate,’ “a garden-gate, wicket-gate”

Long Chamber, ‘Long Chamber’ changed to small capitals, “years.... LONG CHAMBER, a dormitory”

Long-meads, double qute inserted before ‘The,’ ““The time after dinner”

Mortar-board, double quote struck before ‘fusc,’ “(no “sub fusc” undergrad.)”

Mustard-and-Pepper Keeper, ‘A’ changed to ‘An,’ “An appointment in the”

Non-attached, double quote inserted after ‘NON-ATTACHED,’ ““NON-ATTACHED,” and is now”

Skirmish, full stop inserted after ‘verb,’ “verb. phr. (Winchester).—To”

Snicks, full stop inserted after ‘verb,’ “verb. phr. (Winchester).—To”

Swink, ‘Marriage’ changed to ‘Mariage,’ “Mariage of Witt and Wisdome”

Appendix, Stonyhurst-football, ‘form’ changed to ‘forms,’ “in other forms of”

1160	Derby.	1564	Felsted.
1387	Winchester.	1567	Rugby.
1441	Eton.	1571	Harrow.
1515	Manchester Grammar.	1592	Stonyhurst.
1538	Royal High School, Edin.	1611	Charterhouse.
1541	Durham Grammar.	1619	Dulwich.
1550	Sherborne.	1830	Loretto.
1551	Shrewsbury.	1841	Cheltenham.
1552	Christ’s Hospital.	1843	Marlborough.
1552	King Edward’s.	1848	Lancing.
1553	Tonbridge.	1859	Wellington.
1560	Westminster.	1875	The Leys.
Also the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Aberdeen, Dublin, &c.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
WORD-BOOK

PREFACE

APPENDIX

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLWORD-BOOK

PREFACE

APPENDIX

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
WORD-BOOK