BOHN. A translation; a pony. The volumes of Bohn's Classical
Library are in such general use among undergraduates in American
colleges, that _Bohn_ has come to be a common name for a
translation.
'Twas plenty of skin with a good deal of _Bohn_.
_Songs, Biennial Jubilee_, Yale Coll., 1855.
BOLT. An omission of a recitation or lecture. A correspondent from
Union College gives the following account of it:--"In West
College, where the Sophomores and Freshmen congregate, when there
was a famous orator expected, or any unusual spectacle to be
witnessed in the city, we would call a 'class meeting,' to
consider upon the propriety of asking Professor ---- for a _bolt_.
We had our chairman, and the subject being debated, was generally
decided in favor of the remission. A committee of good steady
fellows were selected, who forthwith waited upon the Professor,
and, after urging the matter, commonly returned with the welcome
assurance that we could have a _bolt_ from the next recitation."
One writer defines a _bolt_ in these words:--"The promiscuous
stampede of a class collectively. Caused generally by a few
seconds' tardiness of the Professor, occasionally by finding the
lock of the recitation-room door filled with shot."--_Sophomore
Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.
The quiet routine of college life had remained for some days
undisturbed, even by a single _bolt_.--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol.
II. p. 192.
BOLT. At Union College, to be absent from a recitation, on the
conditions related under the noun BOLT. Followed by _from_. At
Williams College, the word is applied with a different
signification. A correspondent writes: "We sometimes _bolt_ from a
recitation before the Professor arrives, and the term most
strikingly suggests the derivation, as our movements in the case
would somewhat resemble a 'streak of lightning,'--a
thunder-_bolt_."
BOLTER. At Union College, one who _bolts_ from a recitation.
2. A correspondent from the same college says: "If a student is
unable to answer a question in the class, and declares himself
unprepared, he also is a '_bolter_.'"
BONFIRE. The making of bonfires, by students, is not an unfrequent
occurrence at many of our colleges, and is usually a demonstration
of dissatisfaction, or is done merely for the sake of the
excitement. It is accounted a high offence, and at Harvard College
is prohibited by the following law:--"In case of a bonfire, or
unauthorized fireworks or illumination, any students crying fire,
sounding an alarm, leaving their rooms, shouting or clapping from
the windows, going to the fire or being seen at it, going into the
college yard, or assembling on account of such bonfire, shall be
deemed aiding and abetting such disorder, and punished
accordingly."--_Laws_, 1848, _Bonfires_.
A correspondent from Bowdoin College writes: "Bonfires occur
regularly twice a year; one on the night preceding the annual
State Fast, and the other is built by the Freshmen on the night
following the yearly examination. A pole some sixty or seventy
feet long is raised, around which brush and tar are heaped to a
great height. The construction of the pile occupies from four to
five hours."
Not ye, whom midnight cry ne'er urged to run
In search of fire, when fire there had been none;
Unless, perchance, some pump or hay-mound threw
Its _bonfire_ lustre o'er a jolly crew.
_Harvard Register_, p. 233.
BOOK-KEEPER. At Harvard College, students are allowed to go out of
town on Saturday, after the exercises, but are required, if not at
evening prayers, to enter their names before 10 P.M. with one of
the officers appointed for that purpose. Students were formerly
required to report themselves before 8 P.M., in winter, and 9, in
summer, and the person who registered the names was a member of
the Freshman Class, and was called the _book-keeper_.
I strode over the bridge, with a rapidity which grew with my
vexation, my distaste for wind, cold, and wet, and my anxiety to
reach my goal ere the hour appointed should expire, and the
_book-keeper's_ light should disappear from his window;
"For while his light holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return."--_Collegian_, p. 225.
See FRESHMAN, COLLEGE.
BOOK-WORK. Among students at Cambridge, Eng., all mathematics that
can be learned verbatim from books,--all that are not
problems.--_Bristed_.
He made a good fight of it, and ... beat the Trinity man a little
on the _book-work_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d, p. 96.
The men are continually writing out _book-work_, either at home or
in their tutor's rooms.--_Ibid._, p. 149.
BOOT-FOX. This name was at a former period given, in the German
universities, to a fox, or a student in his first half-year, from
the fact of his being required to black the boots of his more
advanced comrades.
BOOTLICK. To fawn upon; to court favor.
Scorns the acquaintance of those he deems beneath him; refuses to
_bootlick_ men for their votes.--_The Parthenon_, Union Coll.,
Vol. I. p. 6.
The "Wooden Spoon" exhibition passed off without any such hubbub,
except where the pieces were of such a character as to offend the
delicacy and modesty of some of those crouching, fawning,
_bootlicking_ hypocrites.--_The Gallinipper_, Dec. 1849.
BOOTLICKER. A student who seeks or gains favor from a teacher by
flattery or officious civilities; one who curries favor. A
correspondent from Union College writes: "As you watch the
students more closely, you will perhaps find some of them
particularly officious towards your teacher, and very apt to
linger after recitation to get a clearer knowledge of some
passage. They are _Bootlicks_, and that is known as _Bootlicking_;
a reproach, I am sorry to say, too indiscriminately applied." At
Yale, and _other colleges_, a tutor or any other officer who
informs against the students, or acts as a spy upon their conduct,
is also called a _bootlick_.
Three or four _bootlickers_ rise.--_Yale Banger_, Oct. 1848.
The rites of Wooden Spoons we next recite,
When _bootlick_ hypocrites upraised their might.
_Ibid._, Nov. 1849.
Then he arose, and offered himself as a "_bootlick_" to the
Faculty.--_Yale Battery_, Feb. 14, 1850.
BOOTS. At the College of South Carolina it is customary to present
the most unpopular member of a class with a pair of handsome
red-topped boots, on which is inscribed the word BEAUTY. They were
formerly given to the ugliest person, whence the inscription.
BORE. A tiresome person or unwelcome visitor, who makes himself
obnoxious by his disagreeable manners, or by a repetition of
visits.--_Bartlett_.
A person or thing that wearies by iteration.--_Webster_.
Although the use of this word is very general, yet it is so
peculiarly applicable to the many annoyances to which a collegian
is subjected, that it has come by adoption to be, to a certain
extent, a student term. One writer classes under this title
"text-books generally; the Professor who marks _slight_ mistakes;
the familiar young man who calls continually, and when he finds
the door fastened demonstrates his verdant curiosity by revealing
an inquisitive countenance through the ventilator."--_Sophomore
Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.
In college parlance, prayers, when the morning is cold or rainy,
are a _bore_; a hard lesson is a _bore_; a dull lecture or
lecturer is a _bore_; and, _par excellence_, an unwelcome visitor
is a _bore_ of _bores_. This latter personage is well described in
the following lines:--
"Next comes the bore, with visage sad and pale,
And tortures you with some lugubrious tale;
Relates stale jokes collected near and far,
And in return expects a choice cigar;
Your brandy-punch he calls the merest sham,
Yet does not _scruple_ to partake a _dram_.
His prying eyes your secret nooks explore;
No place is sacred to the college bore.
Not e'en the letter filled with Helen's praise,
Escapes the sight of his unhallowed gaze;
Ere one short hour its silent course has flown,
Your Helen's charms to half the class are known.
Your books he takes, nor deigns your leave to ask,
Such forms to him appear a useless task.
When themes unfinished stare you in the face,
Then enters one of this accursed race.
Though like the Angel bidding John to write,
Frail ------ form uprises to thy sight,
His stupid stories chase your thoughts away,
And drive you mad with his unwelcome stay.
When he, departing, creaks the closing door,
You raise the Grecian chorus, [Greek: kikkabau]."[02]
_MS. Poem_, F.E. Felton, Harv. Coll.
BOS. At the University of Virginia, the desserts which the
students, according to the statutes of college, are allowed twice
per week, are respectively called the _Senior_ and _Junior Bos_.
BOSH. Nonsense, trash, [Greek: phluaria]. An English Cantab's
expression.--_Bristed_.
But Spriggins's peculiar forte is that kind of talk which some
people irreverently call "_bosh_."--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XX. p.
259.
BOSKY. In the cant of the Oxonians, being tipsy.--_Grose_.
Now when he comes home fuddled, alias _Bosky_, I shall not be so
unmannerly as to say his Lordship ever gets drunk.--_The Sizar_,
cited in _Gradus ad Cantab._, pp. 20, 21.
BOWEL. At Harvard College, a student in common parlance will
express his destitution or poverty by saying, "I have not a
_bowel_." The use of the word with this signification has arisen,
probably, from a jocular reference to a quaint Scriptural
expression.
BRACKET. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the result of the
final examination in the Senate-House is published in lists signed
by the examiners. In these lists the names of those who have been
examined are "placed in individual order of merit." When the rank
of two or three men is the same, their names are inclosed in
_brackets_.
At the close of the course, and before the examination is
concluded, there is made out a new arrangement of the classes
called the _Brackets_. These, in which each is placed according to
merit, are hung upon the pillars in the Senate-House.--_Alma
Mater_, Vol. II. p. 93.
As there is no provision in the printed lists for expressing the
number of marks by which each man beats the one next below him,
and there may be more difference between the twelfth and
thirteenth than between the third and twelfth, it has been
proposed to extend the use of the _brackets_ (which are now only
employed in cases of literal equality between two or three men),
and put together six, eight, or ten, whose marks are nearly equal.
--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 227.
BRACKET. In a general sense, to place in a certain order.
I very early in the Sophomore year gave up all thoughts of
obtaining high honors, and settled down contentedly among the
twelve or fifteen who are _bracketed_, after the first two or
three, as "English Orations."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 6.
There remained but two, _bracketed_ at the foot of the
class.--_Ibid._, p. 62.
The Trinity man who was _bracketed_ Senior Classic.--_Ibid._, p.
187.
BRANDER. In the German universities a name given to a student
during his second term.
Meanwhile large tufts and strips of paper had been twisted into
the hair of the _Branders_, as those are called who have been
already one term at the University, and then at a given signal
were set on fire, and the _Branders_ rode round the table on
chairs, amid roars of laughter.--_Longfellow's Hyperion_, p. 114.
See BRAND-FOX, BURNT FOX.
BRAND-FOX. A student in a German university "becomes a
_Brand-fuchs_, or fox with a brand, after the foxes of Samson," in
his second half-year.--_Howitt_.
BRICK. A gay, wild, thoughtless fellow, but not so _hard_ as the
word itself might seem to imply.
He is a queer fellow,--not so bad as he seems,--his own enemy, but
a regular _brick_.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 143.
He will come himself (public tutor or private), like a _brick_ as
he is, and consume his share of the generous potables.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 78.
See LIKE A BRICK.
BRICK MILL. At the University of Vermont, the students speak of
the college as the _Brick Mill_, or the _Old Brick Mill_.
BUCK. At Princeton College, anything which is in an intensive
degree good, excellent, pleasant, or agreeable, is called _buck_.
BULL. At Dartmouth College, to recite badly; to make a poor
recitation. From the substantive _bull_, a blunder or
contradiction, or from the use of the word as a prefix, signifying
large, lubberly, blundering.
BULL-DOG. In the English universities, the lictor or servant who
attends a proctor when on duty.
Sentiments which vanish for ever at the sight of the proctor with
his _bull-dogs_, as they call them, or four muscular fellows which
always follow him, like so many bailiffs.--_Westminster Rev._, Am.
Ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 232.
The proctors, through their attendants, commonly called
_bull-dogs_, received much certain information, &c.--_Collegian's
Guide_, p. 170.
And he had breathed the proctor's _dogs_.
_Tennyson, Prologue to Princess_.
BULLY CLUB. The following account of the _Bully Club_, which was
formerly a most honored transmittendum at Yale College, is taken
from an entertaining little work, entitled Sketches of Yale
College. "_Bullyism_ had its origin, like everything else that is
venerated, far back in antiquity; no one pretends to know the era
of its commencement, nor to say with certainty what was the cause
of its establishment, or the original design of the institution.
We can only learn from dim and doubtful tradition, that many years
ago, no one knows how many, there was a feud between students and
townsmen: a sort of general ill-feeling, which manifested itself
in the lower classes of society in rudeness and insult. Not
patiently borne with, it grew worse and worse, until a regular
organization became necessary for defence against the nightly
assaults of a gang of drunken rowdies. Nor were their opponents
disposed to quit the unequal fight. An organization in opposition
followed, and a band of tipsy townsmen, headed by some hardy tars,
took the field, were met, no one knows whether in offence or
defence, and after a fight repulsed, and a huge knotty club
wrested from their leader. This trophy of personal courage was
preserved, the organization perpetuated, and the _Bully Club_ was
every year, with procession and set form of speech, bestowed upon
the newly acknowledged leader. But in process of time the
organization has assumed a different character: there was no
longer need of a system of defence,--the "Bully" was still
acknowledged as class leader. He marshalled all processions, was
moderator of all meetings, and performed the various duties of a
chief. The title became now a matter of dispute; it sounded harsh
and rude to ears polite, and a strong party proposed a change: but
the supporters of antiquity pleaded the venerable character of the
customs identified almost with the College itself. Thus the
classes were divided, a part electing a marshal, class-leader, or
moderator, and a part still choosing a _bully_ and _minor
bully_--the latter usually the least of their number--from each
class, and still bestowing on them the wonted clubs, mounted with
gold, the badges of their office.
"Unimportant as these distinctions seem, they formed the ground of
constant controversy, each party claiming for its leader the
precedence, until the dissensions ended in a scene of confusion
too well known to need detail: the usual procession on
Commencement day was broken up, and the partisans fell upon each
other pell-mell; scarce heeding, in their hot fray, the orders of
the Faculty, the threats of the constables, or even the rebuke of
the chief magistrate of the State; the alumni were left to find
their seats in church as they best could, the aged and beloved
President following in sorrow, unescorted, to perform the duties
of the day. It need not be told that the disputes were judicially
ended by a peremptory ordinance, prohibiting all class
organizations of any name whatever."
A more particular account of the Bully Club, and of the manner in
which the students of Yale came to possess it, is given in the
annexed extract.
"Many years ago, the farther back towards the Middle Ages the
better, some students went out one evening to an inn at Dragon, as
it was then called, now the populous and pretty village of Fair
Haven, to regale themselves with an oyster supper, or for some
other kind of recreation. They there fell into an affray with the
young men of the place, a hardy if not a hard set, who regarded
their presence there, at their own favorite resort, as an
intrusion. The students proved too few for their adversaries. They
reported the matter at College, giving an aggravated account of
it, and, being strongly reinforced, went out the next evening to
renew the fight. The oystermen and sailors were prepared for them.
A desperate conflict ensued, chiefly in the house, above stairs
and below, into which the sons of science entered pell-mell. Which
came off the worse, I neither know nor care, believing defeat to
be far less discreditable to either party, and especially to the
students, than the fact of their engaging in such a brawl. Where
the matter itself is essentially disgraceful, success or failure
is indifferent, as it regards the honor of the actors. Among the
Dragoners, a great bully of a fellow, who appeared to be their
leader, wielded a huge club, formed from an oak limb, with a
gnarled excrescence on the end, heavy enough to battle with an
elephant. A student remarkable for his strength in the arms and
hands, griped the fellow so hard about the wrist that his fingers
opened, and let the club fall. It was seized, and brought off as a
trophy. Such is the history of the Bully Club. It became the
occasion of an annual election of a person to take charge of it,
and to act as leader of the students in case of a quarrel between
them, and others. 'Bully' was the title of this chivalrous and
high office."--_Scenes and Characters in College_, New Haven,
1847, pp. 215, 216.
BUMPTIOUS. Conceited, forward, pushing. An English Cantab's
expression.--_Bristed_.
About nine, A.M., the new scholars are announced from the chapel
gates. On this occasion it is not etiquette for the candidates
themselves to be in waiting,--it looks too
"_bumptious_."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 193.
BURIAL OF EUCLID. "The custom of bestowing burial honors upon the
ashes of Euclid with becoming demonstrations of respect has been
handed down," says the author of the Sketches of Yale College,
"from time immemorial." The account proceeds as follows:--"This
book, the terror of the dilatory and unapt, having at length been
completely mastered, the class, as their acquaintance with the
Greek mathematician is about to close, assemble in their
respective places of meeting, and prepare (secretly for fear of
the Faculty) for the anniversary. The necessary committee having
been appointed, and the regular preparations ordered, a ceremony
has sometimes taken place like the following. The huge poker is
heated in the old stove, and driven through the smoking volume,
and the division, marshalled in line, for _once_ at least see
_through_ the whole affair. They then march over it in solemn
procession, and are enabled, as they step firmly on its covers, to
assert with truth that they have gone over it,--poor jokes indeed,
but sufficient to afford abundant laughter. And then follow
speeches, comical and pathetic, and shouting and merriment. The
night assigned having arrived, how carefully they assemble, all
silent, at the place appointed. Laid on its bier, covered with
sable pall, and borne in solemn state, the corpse (i.e. the book)
is carried with slow procession, with the moaning music of flutes
and fifes, the screaming of fiddles, and the thumping and mumbling
of a cracked drum, to the open grave or the funeral pyre. A
gleaming line of blazing torches and twinkling lanterns wave along
the quiet streets and through the opened fields, and the snow
creaks hoarsely under the tread of a hundred men. They reach the
scene, and a circle forms around the consecrated spot; if the
ceremony is a burial, the defunct is laid all carefully in his
grave, and then his friends celebrate in prose or verse his
memory, his virtues, and his untimely end: and three oboli are
tossed into his tomb to satisfy the surly boatman of the Styx.
Lingeringly is the last look taken of the familiar countenance, as
the procession passes slowly around the tomb; and the moaning is
made,--a sound of groans going up to the seventh heavens,--and the
earth is thrown in, and the headstone with epitaph placed duly to
hallow the grave of the dead. Or if, according to the custom of
his native land, the body of Euclid is committed to the funeral
flames, the pyre, duly prepared with combustibles, is made the
centre of the ring; a ponderous jar of turpentine or whiskey is
the fragrant incense, and as the lighted fire mounts up in the
still night, and the alarm in the city sounds dim in the distance,
the eulogium is spoken, and the memory of the illustrious dead
honored; the urn receives the sacred ashes, which, borne in solemn
procession, are placed in some conspicuous situation, or solemnly
deposited in some fitting sarcophagus. So the sport ends; a song,
a loud hurrah, and the last jovial roysterer seeks short and
profound slumber."--pp. 166-169.
The above was written in the year 1843. That the interest in the
observance of this custom at Yale College has not since that time
diminished, may be inferred from the following account of the
exercises of the Sophomore Class of 1850, on parting company with
their old mathematical friend, given by a correspondent of the New
York Tribune.
"Arrangements having been well matured, notice was secretly given
out on Wednesday last that the obsequies would be celebrated that
evening at 'Barney's Hall,' on Church Street. An excellent band of
music was engaged for the occasion, and an efficient Force
Committee assigned to their duty, who performed their office with
great credit, taking singular care that no 'tutor' or 'spy' should
secure an entrance to the hall. The 'countersign' selected was
'Zeus,' and fortunately was not betrayed. The hall being full at
half past ten, the doors were closed, and the exercises commenced
with music. Then followed numerous pieces of various character,
and among them an _Oration_, a _Poem_, _Funeral Sermon_ (of a very
metaphysical character), a _Dirge_, and, at the grave, a _Prayer
to Pluto_. These pieces all exhibited taste and labor, and were
acknowledged to be of a higher tone than that of any productions
which have ever been delivered on a similar occasion. Besides
these, there were several songs interspersed throughout the
Programme, in both Latin and English, which were sung with great
jollity and effect. The band added greatly to the character of the
performances, by their frequent and appropriate pieces. A large
coffin was placed before the altar, within which, lay the
veritable Euclid, arranged in a becoming winding-sheet, the body
being composed of combustibles, and these thoroughly saturated
with turpentine. The company left the hall at half past twelve,
formed in an orderly procession, preceded by the band, and bearing
the coffin in their midst. Those who composed the procession were
arrayed in disguises, to avoid detection, and bore a full
complement of brilliant torches. The skeleton of Euclid (a
faithful caricature), himself bearing a torch, might have been
seen dancing in the midst, to the great amusement of all
beholders. They marched up Chapel Street as far as the south end
of the College, where they were saluted with three hearty cheers
by their fellow-students, and then continued through College
Street in front of the whole College square, at the north
extremity of which they were again greeted by cheers, and thence
followed a circuitous way to _quasi_ Potter's Field, about a mile
from the city, where the concluding ceremonies were performed.
These consist of walking over the coffin, thus _surmounting the
difficulties_ of the author; boring a hole through a copy of
Euclid with a hot iron, that the class may see _through_ it; and
finally burning it upon the funeral pyre, in order to _throw
light_ upon the subject. After these exercises, the procession
returned, with music, to the State-House, where they disbanded,
and returned to their desolate habitations. The affair surpassed
anything of the kind that has ever taken place here, and nothing
was wanting to render it a complete performance. It testifies to
the spirit and character of the class of '53."--_Literary World_,
Nov. 23, 1850, from the _New York Tribune_.
In the Sketches of Williams College, printed in the year 1847, is
a description of the manner in which the funeral exercises of
Euclid are sometimes conducted in that institution. It is as
follows:--"The burial took place last night. The class assembled
in the recitation-room in full numbers, at 9 o'clock. The
deceased, much emaciated, and in a torn and tattered dress, was
stretched on a black table in the centre of the room. This table,
by the way, was formed of the old blackboard, which, like a
mirror, had so often reflected the image of old Euclid. In the
body of the corpse was a triangular hole, made for the _post
mortem_ examination, a report of which was read. Through this
hole, those who wished were allowed to look; and then, placing the
body on their heads, they could say with truth that they had for
once seen through and understood Euclid.
"A eulogy was then pronounced, followed by an oration and the
reading of the epitaph, after which the class formed a procession,
and marched with slow and solemn tread to the place of burial. The
spot selected was in the woods, half a mile south of the College.
As we approached the place, we saw a bright fire burning on the
altar of turf, and torches gleaming through the dark pines. All
was still, save the occasional sympathetic groans of some forlorn
bull-frogs, which came up like minute-guns from the marsh below.
"When we arrived at the spot, the sexton received the body. This
dignitary presented rather a grotesque appearance. He wore a white
robe bound around his waist with a black scarf, and on his head a
black, conical-shaped hat, some three feet high. Haying fastened
the remains to the extremity of a long, black wand, he held them
in the fire of the altar until they were nearly consumed, and then
laid the charred mass in the urn, muttering an incantation in
Latin. The urn being buried deep in the ground, we formed a ring
around the grave, and sung the dirge. Then, lighting our larches
by the dying fire, we retraced our steps with feelings suited to
the occasion."--pp. 74-76.
Of this observance the writer of the preface to the "Songs of
Yale" remarks: "The _Burial of Euclid_ is an old ceremony
practised at many colleges. At Yale it is conducted by the
Sophomore Class during the first term of the year. After literary
exercises within doors, a procession is formed, which proceeds at
midnight through the principal streets of the city, with music and
torches, conveying a coffin, supposed to contain the body of the
old mathematician, to the funeral pile, when the whole is fired
and consumed to ashes."--1853, p. 4.
From the lugubrious songs which are usually sung on these sad
occasions, the following dirge is selected. It appears in the
order of exercises for the "Burial of Euclid by the Class of '57,"
which took place at Yale College, November 8, 1854.