TO BE SWIPED, _verb. phr._ (Harrow).—To be birched.
*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.
_Verb_ (general).—To work hard: as at lessons.
IN A SWOT, _phr._ (Shrewsbury).—In a rage.
*Syntax*, _subs._ (Stonyhurst).—The upper Fourth Form.
*Tachs*, _subs._ (Tonbridge).—A fad; a mental eccentricity.
_See_ HOBBS.
_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._)
_Verb_ (Tonbridge).—To stare at: mostly confined to one
House.
*Tack*, _subs._ (Sherborne).—A feast in one’s study.
*Tag*, _subs._ (Winchester).—An off-side kick: at football. Also
as _verb_.
_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.]
*Tap* (Eton).—_See_ Appendix.
*Taps.* _See_ TOLLY (sense 2).
*Tardy*, _adv._ (Winchester).—Late: as “I was TARDY TASK”
(_q.v._).
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.]
*Team*, _subs._ (University).—The pupils of a private tutor or
coach.
*Teddy-hall*, _subs._ (Oxford).—St. Edmund’s Hall.
*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_.]
*Teek*, _subs._ (Harrow).—Mathematics. _See_ TIQUE.
*Temple*, _subs._ (Winchester).—A niche in Mead’s Wall.
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.
*Tertian*, _subs._ (Aberdeen).—A student in the third class.
*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.
*Thick*, _subs._ (Winchester and Rugby).—A stupid fellow. Also
as _adj._
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.
*Thicker*, _subs._ (Harrow).—Thucydides: translated in the Upper
School.
*Third Elevens* (or *Thirders*), _subs._ (Harrow).—A house
SECOND ELEVEN (_q.v._) playing another house Second Eleven
at football.
*Third-guarder*, _subs._ (Stonyhurst).—_See_ GUARDER.
*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.
*Thos’s-hole*, _subs._ (Rugby). _See_ quot.
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.
*Threepenny*, _subs._ (general).—A tuck-shop cake of that value.
*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.
*Tight*, _adj._ (Winchester).—Fast; hard.
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.
*Tin-gloves*, _subs._ (Winchester).—_See_ quot.
_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.
*Tin-tab*, _subs._ (Dulwich).—The carpenter’s shop.
*Tip*, _subs._ (Felsted).—1. A false report.
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.