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furniture, &c., during the whole time of his having a _study_
assigned him.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798, p. 35.
To him that occupies my _study_,
I give, &c.--_Will of Charles Prentiss_.
STUMP. At Princeton College, to fail in reciting; to say, "Not
prepared," when called on to recite. A _stump_, a bad recitation;
used in the phrase, "_to make a stump_."
SUB-FRESH. A person previous to entering the Freshman Class is
called a _sub-fresh_, or one below a Freshman.
Praying his guardian powers
To assist a poor "_Sub-Fresh_" at the dread examination.
_Poem before the Iadma Soc. of Harv. Coll._, 1850, p. 14.
Our "_Sub-Fresh_" has that feeling.
_Ibid._, p. 16.
Everybody happy, except _Sub-Fresh_, and they trying hardest to
appear so.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XX. p. 103.
The timid _Sub-Fresh_ had determined to construct stout
barricades, with no lack of ammunition.--_Ibid._, p. 103.
Sometimes written _Sub_.
Information wanted of the "_Sub_" who didn't think it an honor to
be electioneered.--_N.B., Yale Coll., June_ 14, 1851.
See PENE.
SUBJECT. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a particular
author, or part of an author, set for examination; or a particular
branch of Mathematics, such as Optics, Hydrostatics,
&c.--_Bristed_.
To _get up a subject_, is to make one's self thoroughly master of
it.--_Bristed_.
SUB-RECTOR. A rector's deputy or substitute.--_Walton, Webster_.
SUB-SIZAR. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., formerly an order
of students lower than the _sizars_.
Masters of all sorts, and all ages,
Keepers, _subcizers_, lackeys, pages.
_Poems of Bp. Corbet_, p. 22.
There he sits and sees
How lackeys and _subsizers_ press
And scramble for degrees.
_Ibid._, p. 88.
See under SIZAR.
SUCK. At Middlebury College, to cheat at recitation or examination
by using _ponies_, _interliners_, or _helps_ of any kind.
SUPPLICAT. Latin; literally, _he supplicates_. In the English
universities, a petition; particularly a written application with
a certificate that the requisite conditions have been complied
with.--_Webster_.
A _Supplicat_, says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, is "an entreaty to
be admitted to the degree of B.A.; containing a certificate that
the Questionist has kept his full number of terms, or explaining
any deficiency. This document is presented to the caput by the
father of his college."
SURPLICE DAY. An occasion or day on which the surplice is worn by
the members of a university.
"On all Sundays and Saint-days, and the evenings preceding, every
member of the University, except noblemen, attends chapel in his
surplice."--_Grad. ad Cantab._, pp. 106, 107.
SUSPEND. In colleges, to separate a student from his class, and
place him under private instruction.
And those whose crimes are very great,
Let us _suspend_ or rusticate.--_Rebelliad_, p. 24.
SUSPENSION. In universities and colleges, the punishment of a
student for some offence, usually negligence, by separating him
from his class, and compelling him to pursue those branches of
study in which he is deficient under private instruction, provided
for the purpose.
SUSPENSION-PAPER. The paper in which the act of suspension from
college is declared.
Come, take these three _suspension-papers_;
They'll teach you how to cut such capers.
_Rebelliad_, p. 32.
SUSPENSION TO THE ROOM. In Princeton College, one of the
punishments for certain offences subjects a student to confinement
to his chamber and exclusion from his class, and requires him to
recite to a teacher privately for a certain time. This is
technically called _suspension to the room_.
SWEEP, SWEEPER. The name given at Yale and other colleges to the
person whose occupation it is to sweep the students' rooms, make
their beds, &c.
Then how welcome the entrance of the _sweep_, and how cutely we
fling jokes at each other through the dust!--_Yale Lit. Mag._,
Vol. XIV. p. 223.
Knocking down the _sweep_, in clearing the stairs, we described a
circle to our room.--_The Yale Banger_, Nov. 10, 1846.
A Freshman by the faithful _sweep_
Was found half buried in soft sleep.
_Ibid._, Nov. 10, 1846.
With fingers dirty and black,
From lower to upper room,
A College _Sweep_ went dustily round,
Plying his yellow broom.
_Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 12.
In the Yale Literary Magazine, Vol. III. p. 144, is "A tribute to
certain Members of the Faculty, whose names are omitted in the
Catalogue," in which appropriate praise is awarded to these useful
servants.
The Steward ... engages _sweepers_ for the College.--_Laws Harv.
Coll._, 1816, p. 48.
One of the _sweepers_ finding a parcel of wood,... the defendant,
in the absence of the owner of the wood, authorizes the _sweeper_
to carry it away.--_Scenes and Characters in College_, p. 98.
SWELL BLOCK. In the University of Virginia, a sobriquet applied to
dandies and vain pretenders.
SWING. At several American colleges, the word _swing_ is used for
coming out with a secret society badge; 1st, of the society, to
_swing out_ the new men; and, 2d, of the men, intransitively, to
_swing_, or to _swing out_, i.e. to appear with the badge of a
secret society. Generally, _to swing out_ signifies to appear in
something new.
The new members have "_swung out_," and all again is
harmony.--_Sophomore Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.
SYNDIC. Latin, _syndicus_; Greek, [Greek: sundikos; sun], _with_,
and [Greek: dikae], _justice_.
An officer of government, invested with different powers in
different countries. Almost all the companies in Paris, the
University, &c., have their _syndics_. The University of Cambridge
has its _syndics_, who are chosen from the Senate to transact
special business, as the regulation of fees, forming of laws,
inspecting the library, buildings, printing, &c.--_Webster. Cam.
Cal._
SYNDICATE. A council or body of syndics.
The state of instruction in and encouragement to the study of
Theology were thus set forth in the report of a _syndicate_
appointed to consider the subject in 1842.--_Bristed's Five Years
in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 293.
_T_.
TADS. At Centre College, Ky., there is "a society," says a
correspondent, "composed of the very best fellows of the College,
calling themselves _Tads_, who are generally associated together,
for the object of electing, by the additional votes of their
members, any of their friends who are brought forward as
candidates for any honor or appointment in the literary societies
to which they belong."
TAKE UP. To call on a student to rehearse a lesson.
Professor _took_ him _up_ on Greek;
He tried to talk, but couldn't speak.
_MS Poem_.
TAKE UP ONE'S CONNECTIONS. In students' phrase, to leave college.
Used in American institutions.
TARDES. At the older American colleges, when charges were made and
excuses rendered in Latin, the student who had come late to any
religious service was addressed by the proper officer with the
word _Tardes_, a kind of barbarous second person singular of some
unknown verb, signifying, probably, "You are or were late."
Much absence, _tardes_ and egresses,
The college-evil on him seizes.
_Trumbull's Progress of Dullness_, Part I.
TARDY. In colleges, late in attendance on a public
exercise.--_Webster_.
TAVERN. At Harvard College, the rooms No. 24 Massachusetts Hall,
and No. 8 Hollis Hall, were occupied from the year 1789 to 1793 by
Mr. Charles Angier. His table was always supplied with wine,
brandy, crackers, etc., of which his friends were at liberty to
partake at any time. From this circumstance his rooms were called
_the Tavern_ for nearly twenty years after his graduation.
In connection with this incident, it may not be uninteresting to
state, that the cellars of the two buildings above mentioned were
divided each into thirty-two compartments, corresponding with the
number of rooms. In these the students and tutors stored their
liquors, sometimes in no inconsiderable quantities. Frequent
entries are met with in the records of the Faculty, in which the
students are charged with pilfering wine, brandy, or eatables from
the tutors' _bins_.
TAXOR. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., an officer appointed
to regulate the assize of bread, the true gauge of weights,
etc.--_Cam. Cal._
TEAM. In the English universities, the pupils of a private tutor
or COACH.--_Bristed_.
No man who has not taken a good degree expects or pretends to take
good men into his _team_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 69.
It frequently, indeed usually happens, that a "coach" of
reputation declines taking men into his _team_ before they have
made time in public.--_Ibid._, p. 85.
TEAR. At Princeton College, a _perfect tear_ is a very extra
recitation, superior to a _rowl_.
TEMPLE. At Bowdoin College, a privy is thus designated.
TEN-STRIKE. At Hamilton College, a perfect recitation, ten being
the mark given for a perfect recitation.
TEN-YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., these are
allowed to take the degree of Bachelor in Divinity without having
been B.A. or M.A., by the statute of 9th Queen Elizabeth, which
permits persons, who are admitted at any college when twenty-four
years of age and upwards, to take the degree of B.D. after their
names have remained on the _boards_ ten years or more. After the
first eight years, they must reside in the University the greater
part of three several terms, and perform the exercises which are
required by the statutes.--_Cam. Cal._
TERM. In universities and colleges, the time during which
instruction is regularly given to students, who are obliged by the
statutes and laws of the institution to attend to the recitations,
lectures, and other exercises.--_Webster_.
In the University of Cambridge, Eng., there are three terms during
each year, which are fixed by invariable rules. October or
Michaelmas term begins on the 10th of October, and ends on the
16th of December. Lent or January term begins on the 13th of
January, and ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Easter or
Midsummer term, begins on the eleventh day (the Wednesday
sennight) after Easter-day, and ends on the Friday after
Commencement day. Commencement is always on the first Tuesday in
July.
At Oxford University, there are four terms in the year. Michaelmas
term begins on the 10th of October, and ends on the 17th of
December. Hilary term begins on the 14th of January, and ends the
day before Palm Sunday. But if the Saturday before Palm Sunday
should be a festival, the term does not end till the Monday
following. Easter term begins on the tenth day after Easter
Sunday, and ends on the day before Whitsunday. Trinity term begins
on the Wednesday after Whitsunday, and ends the Saturday after the
Act, which is always on the first Tuesday in July.
At the Dublin University, the terms in each year are four in
number. Hilary term begins on the Monday after Epiphany, and ends
the day before Palm Sunday. Easter term begins on the eighth day
after Easter Sunday, and ends on Whitsun-eve. Trinity term begins
on Trinity Monday, and ends on the 8th of July. Michaelmas term
begins on the 1st of October (or on the 2d, if the 1st should be
Sunday), and ends on December 16th.
TERRĘ FILIUS. Latin; _son of earth_.
Formerly, one appointed to write a satirical Latin poem at the
public Acts in the University of Oxford; not unlike the
prevaricator at Cambridge, Eng.--_Webster_.
Full accounts of the compositions written on these occasions may
be found in a work in two volumes, entitled "Terrę-Filius; or the
Secret History of the University of Oxford," printed in the year
1726.
See TRIPOS PAPER.
TESTAMUR. Latin; literally, _we testify_. In the English
universities, a certificate of proficiency, without which a person
is not able to take his degree. So called from the first word in
the formula.
There is not one out of twenty of my pupils who can look forward
with unmixed pleasure to a _testamur_.--_Collegian's Guide_, p.
254.
Every _testamur_ must be signed by three out of the four
examiners, at least.--_Ibid._, p. 282.
THEATRE. At Oxford, a building in which are held the annual
commemoration of benefactors, the recitation of prize
compositions, and the occasional ceremony of conferring degrees on
distinguished personages.--_Oxford Guide_.
THEME. In college phrase, a short dissertation composed by a
student.
It is the practice at Cambridge [Mass.] for the Professor of
Rhetoric and the English Language, commencing in the first or
second quarter of the student's Sophomore year, to give the class
a text; generally some brief moral quotation from some of the
ancient or modern poets, from which the students write a short
essay, usually denominated a _theme_.--_Works of R.T. Paine_, p.
xxi.
Far be it from me to enter into competition with students who have
been practising the sublime art of _theme_ and forensic writing
for two years.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 316.
But on the sleepy day of _themes_,
May doze away a dozen reams.
_Ibid._, p. 283.
Nimrod holds his "first _theme_" in one hand, and is leaning his
head on the other.--_Ibid._, p. 253.
THEME-BEARER. At Harvard College, until within a few years, a
student was chosen once in a term by his classmates to perform the
duties of _theme-bearer_. He received the subjects for themes and
forensics from the Professors of Rhetoric and of Moral Philosophy,
and posted them up in convenient places, usually in the entries of
the buildings and on, the bulletin-boards. He also distributed the
corrected themes, at first giving them to the students after
evening prayers, and, when this had been forbidden by the
President, carrying them to their rooms. For these services he
received seventy-five cents per term from each member of the
class.
THEME-PAPER. In American colleges, a kind of paper on which
students write their themes or composition. It is of the size of
an ordinary letter-sheet, contains eighteen or nineteen lines
placed at wide intervals, and is ruled in red ink with a margin a
little less than an inch in width.
Shoe-strings, lucifers, omnibus-tickets, _theme-paper_,
postage-stamps, and the nutriment of pipes.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I.
p. 266.
THEOLOGUE. A cant name among collegians for a student in theology.
The hardened hearts of Freshmen and _Theologues_ burned with
righteous indignation.--_Yale Tomahawk_, May, 1852.
The _Theologs_ are not so wicked as the Medics.--_Burlesque
Catalogue, Yale Coll._, 1852-53, p. 30.
THESES-COLLECTOR. One who collects or prepares _theses_. The
following extract from the laws of Harvard College will explain
further what is meant by this term. "The President, Professors,
and Tutors, annually, some time in the third term, shall select
from the Junior Class a number of _Theses-Collectors_, to prepare
theses for the next year; from which selection they shall appoint
so many divisions as shall be equal to the number of branches they
may assign. And each one shall, in the particular branch assigned
him, collect so many theses as the government may judge expedient;
and all the theses, thus collected, shall be delivered to the
President, by the Saturday immediately succeeding the end of the
Spring vacation in the Senior year, at furthest, from which the
President, Professors, and Tutors shall select such as they shall
judge proper to be published. But if the theses delivered to the
President, in any particular branch, should not afford a
sufficient number suitable for publication, a further number shall
be required. The name of the student who collected any set or
number of theses shall be annexed to the theses collected by him,
in every publication. Should any one neglect to collect the theses
required of him, he shall be liable to lose his degree."--1814, p.
35.
The Theses-Collectors were formerly chosen by the class, as the
following extract from a MS. Journal will show.
"March 27th, 1792. My Class assembled in the chapel to choose
theses-collectors, a valedictory orator, and poet. Jackson was
chosen to deliver the Latin oration, and Cutler to deliver the
poem. Ellis was almost unanimously chosen a collector of the
grammatical theses. Prince was chosen metaphysical
theses-collector, with considerable opposition. Lowell was chosen
mathematical theses-collector, though not unanimously. Chamberlain
was chosen physical theses-collector."
THESIS. A position or proposition which a person advances and
offers to maintain, or which is actually maintained by argument; a
theme; a subject; particularly, a subject or proposition for a
school or university exercise, or the exercise itself.--_Webster_.
In the older American colleges, the _theses_ held a prominent
place in the exercises of Commencement. At Harvard College the
earliest theses extant bear the date of the year 1687. They were
Theses Technological, Logical, Grammatical, Rhetorical,
Mathematical, and Physical. The last theses were presented in the
year 1820. The earliest theses extant belonging to Yale College
are of 1714, and the last were printed in 1797.
THIRDING. In England, "a custom practised at the universities,
where two _thirds_ of the original price is allowed by
upholsterers to the students for household goods returned them
within the year."--_Grose's Dict._
On this subject De Quincey says: "The Oxford rule is, that, if you
take the rooms (which is at your own option), in that case you
_third_ the furniture and the embellishments; i.e. you succeed to
the total cost diminished by one third. You pay, therefore, two
guineas out of each three to your _immediate_ predecessor."--_Life
and Manners_, p. 250.
THIRD-YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the title of
Third-Year Men, or Senior Sophs or Sophisters, is given to
students during the third year of their residence at the
University.
THUNDERING BOLUS. See INTONITANS BOLUS.
TICK. A recitation made by one who does not know of what he is
talking.
_Ticks_, screws, and deads were all put under contribution.--_A
Tour through College_, Boston, 1832, p. 25.
TICKER. One who recites without knowing what he is talking about;
one entirely independent of any book-knowledge.
If any "_Ticker_" dare to look
A stealthy moment on his book.
_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 123.
TICKING. The act of reciting without knowing anything about the
lesson.
And what with _ticking_, screwing, and deading, am candidate for a
piece of parchment to-morrow.--_Harv. Reg._, p. 194.
TIGHT. A common slang term among students; the comparative, of
which _drunk_ is the superlative.
Some twenty of as jolly chaps as e'er got jolly _tight_.
_Poem before Y.H._, 1849.
Hast spent the livelong night
In smoking Esculapios,--in getting jolly _tight_?
_Poem before Iadma_, 1850.
He clenched his fist as fain for fight,
Sank back, and gently murmured "_tight_."
_MS. Poem_, W.F. Allen, 1848.
While fathers, are bursting with rage and spite,
And old ladies vow that the students are _tight_.
_Yale Gallinipper_, Nov. 1848.
Speaking of the word "drunk," the Burlington Sentinel remarks:
"The last synonyme that we have observed is '_tight_,' a term, it
strikes us, rather inappropriate, since a 'tight' man, in the cant
use of the word, is almost always a 'loose character.' We give a
list of a few of the various words and phrases which have been in
use, at one time or another, to signify some stage of inebriation:
Over the bay, half seas over, hot, high, corned, cut, cocked,
shaved, disguised, jammed, damaged, sleepy, tired, discouraged,
snuffy, whipped, how come ye so, breezy, smoked, top-heavy,
fuddled, groggy, tipsy, smashed, swipy, slewed, cronk, salted
down, how fare ye, on the lee lurch, all sails set, three sheets
in the wind, well under way, battered, blowing, snubbed, sawed,
boosy, bruised, screwed, soaked, comfortable, stimulated,
jug-steamed, tangle-legged, fogmatic, blue-eyed, a passenger in
the Cape Ann stage, striped, faint, shot in the neck, bamboozled,
weak-jointed, got a brick in his hat, got a turkey on his back."
Dr. Franklin, in speaking of the intemperate drinker, says, he
will never, or seldom, allow that he is drunk; he may be "boosy,
cosey, foxed, merry, mellow, fuddled, groatable, confoundedly cut,
may see two moons, be among the Philistines, in a very good humor,
have been in the sun, is a little feverish, pretty well entered,
&c., but _never drunk_."
A highly entertaining list of the phrases which the Germans employ
"to clothe in a tolerable garb of decorum that dreamy condition
into which Bacchus frequently throws his votaries," is given in
_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., pp. 296, 297.
See SPRUNG.
2. At Williams College, this word is sometimes used as an
exclamation; e.g. "O _tight_!"
TIGHT FIT. At the University of Vermont, a good joke is
denominated by the students a _tight fit_, and the jokee is said
to be "hard up."
TILE. A hat. Evidently suggested by the meaning of the word, a
covering for the roof of buildings.
Then, taking it from off his head, began to brush his "_tile_."
_Poem before the Iadma_, 1850.
TOADY. A fawning, obsequious parasite; a toad-eater. In college
cant, one who seeks or gains favor with an instructor or
popularity with his classmates by mean and sycophantic actions.
TOADY. To flatter any one for gain.--_Halliwell_.
TOM. The great bell of Christ Church, Oxford, which formerly
belonged to Osney Abbey.
"This bell," says the Oxford Guide, "was recast in 1680, its
weight being about 17,000 pounds; more than double the weight of
the great bell in St. Paul's, London. This bell has always been
represented as one of the finest in England, but even at the risk
of dispelling an illusion under which most Oxford men have
labored, and which every member of Christ Church has indulged in
from 1680 to the present time, touching the fancied superiority of
mighty Tom, it must be confessed that it is neither an accurate
nor a musical bell. The note, as we are assured by the learned in
these matters, ought to be B flat, but is not so. On the contrary,
the bell is imperfect and inharmonious, and requires, in the
opinion of those best informed, and of most experience, to be
recast. It is, however, still a great curiosity, and may be seen
by applying to the porter at Tom-Gate lodge."--Ed. 1847, p. 5,
note a.
TO THE _n(-th.)_, TO THE _n + 1(-th.)_ Among English Cantabs
these algebraic expressions are used as intensives to denote the
most energetic way of doing anything.--_Bristed_.
TOWNEY. The name by which a student in an American college is
accustomed to designate any young man residing in the town in
which the college is situated, who is not a collegian.
And _Towneys_ left when she showed fight.
_Pow-wow of Class of '58, Yale Coll._
TRANSLATION. The act of turning one language into another.
At the University of Cambridge, Eng., this word is applied more
particularly to the turning of Greek or Latin into English.
In composition and cram I was yet untried, and the _translations_
in lecture-room were not difficult to acquit one's self on
respectably.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
34.
TRANSMITTENDUM, _pl._ TRANSMITTENDA or TRANSMITTENDUMS. Anything
transmitted, or handed down from one to another.
Students, on withdrawing from college, often leave in the room
which they last occupied, pictures, looking-glasses, chairs, &c.,
there to remain, and to be handed down to the latest posterity.
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