If they won't keep company with _squirts_ and dandies, who's going
to make a monkey of himself?--_Maj. Jones's Courtship_, p. 160.
SQUIRT. To make a showy recitation.
He'd rather slump than _squirt_.
_Poem before Y.H._, p. 9.
Webster has this word with the meaning, "to throw out words, to
let fly," and marks it as out of use.
SQUIRTINESS. The quality of being showy.
SQUIRTISH. Showy; dandified.
It's my opinion that these slicked up _squirtish_ kind a fellars
ain't particular hard baked, and they always goes in for
aristocracy notions.--_Robb, Squatter Life_, p. 73.
SQUIRTY. Showy; fond of display; gaudy.
Applied to an oration which is full of bombast and grandiloquence;
to a foppish fellow; to an apartment gayly adorned, &c.
And should they "scrape" in prayers, because they are long
And rather "_squirty_" at times.
_Childe Harvard_, p. 58.
STAMMBOOK. German. A remembrance-book; an album. Among the German
students stammbooks were kept formerly, as commonly as
autograph-books now are among American students.
But do procure me the favor of thy Rapunzel writing something in
my _Stammbook_.--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p.
242.
STANDING. Academical age, or rank.
Of what _standing_ are you? I am a Senior Soph.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._
Her mother told me all about your love,
And asked me of your prospects and your _standing_.
_Collegian_, 1830, p. 267.
_To stand for an honor_; i.e. to offer one's self as a candidate
for an honor.
STAR. In triennial catalogues a star designates those who have
died. This sign was first used with this signification by Mather,
in his Magnalia, in a list prepared by him of the graduates of
Harvard College, with a fanciful allusion, it is supposed, to the
abode of those thus marked.
Our tale shall be told by a silent _star_,
On the page of some future Triennial.
_Poem before Class of 1849, Harv. Coll._, p. 4.
We had only to look still further back to find the _stars_
clustering more closely, indicating the rapid flight of the
spirits of short-lived tenants of earth to another
sphere.--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. II. p. 66.
STAR. To mark a star opposite the name of a person, signifying
that he is dead.
Six of the sixteen Presidents of our University have been
inaugurated in this place; and the oldest living graduate, the
Hon. Paine Wingate of Stratham, New Hampshire, who stands on the
Catalogue a lonely survivor amidst the _starred_ names of the
dead, took his degree within these walls.--_A Sermon on leaving
the Old Meeting-house in Cambridge_, by Rev. William Newell, Dec.
1, 1833, p. 22.
Among those fathers were the venerable remnants of classes that
are _starred_ to the last two or three, or it may be to the last
one.--_Scenes and Characters in College_, p. 6.
STATEMENT OF FACTS. At Yale College, a name given to a public
meeting called for the purpose of setting forth the respective
merits of the two great societies in that institution, viz.
"Linonia" and "The Brothers in Unity." There are six orators,
three from Linonia and three from the Brothers,--a Senior, a
Junior, and the President of each society. The Freshmen are
invited by handsomely printed cards to attend the meeting, and
they also have the best seats reserved for them, and are treated
with the most intense politeness. As now conducted, the _Statement
of Facts_ is any thing rather than what is implied by the name. It
is simply an opportunity for the display of speaking talent, in
which wit and sarcasm are considered of far greater importance
than truth. The Freshmen are rarely swayed to either side. In nine
cases out of ten they have already chosen their society, and
attend the statement merely from a love of novelty and fun. The
custom grew up about the year 1830, after the practice of dividing
the students alphabetically between the two societies had fallen
into disuse. Like all similar customs, the Statement of Facts has
reached its present college importance by gradual growth. At first
the societies met in a small room of the College, and the
statements did really consist of the facts in the case. Now the
exercises take place in a public hall, and form a kind of
intellectual tournament, where each society, in the presence of a
large audience, strives to get the advantage of the other.
From a newspaper account of the observance of this literary
festival during the present year, the annexed extract is taken.
"For some years, students, as they have entered College, have been
permitted to choose the society with which they would connect
themselves, instead of being alphabetically allotted to one of the
two. This method has made the two societies earnest rivals, and
the accession of each class to College creates an earnest struggle
to see which shall secure the greater number of members. The
electioneering campaign, as it is termed, begins when the students
come to be examined for admission to College, that is, about the
time of the Commencement, and continues through a week or two of
the first term of the next year. Each society, of course, puts
forth the most determined efforts to conquer. It selects the most
prominent and popular men of the Senior Class as President, and
arrangements are so made that a Freshman no sooner enters town
than he finds himself unexpectedly surrounded by hosts of friends,
willing to do anything for him, and especially instruct him in his
duty with reference to the selection of societies. For the benefit
of those who do not yield to this private electioneering, this
Statement of Facts is made. It amounts, however, to little more
than a 'good time,' as there are very few who wait to be
influenced by 'facts' they know will be so distorted. The
advocates of each society feel bound, of course, to present its
affairs in the most favorable aspect. Disputants are selected,
generally with regard to their ability as speakers, one from the
Junior and one from the Senior Class. The Presidents of each
society also take part."--_N.Y. Daily Times_, Sept. 22, 1855.
As an illustration of the eloquence and ability which is often
displayed on these occasions, the following passages have been
selected from the address of John M. Holmes of Chicago, Ill., the
Junior orator in behalf of the Brothers in Unity at the Statement
of Facts held September 20th, 1855.
"Time forbids me to speak at length of the illustrious alumni of
the Brothers; of Professor Thatcher, the favorite of college,--of
Professor Silliman, the Nestor of American literati,--of the
revered head of this institution, President Woolsey, first
President of the Brothers in 1820,--of Professor Andrews, the
author of the best dictionary of the Latin language,--of such
divines as Dwight and Murdock,--of Bacon and Bushnell, the pride
of New England,--or of the great names of Clayton, Badger,
Calhoun, Ellsworth, and John Davis,--all of whom were nurtured and
disciplined in the halls of the Brothers, and there received the
Achillean baptism that made their lives invulnerable. But perhaps
I err in claiming such men as the peculium of the Brothers,--they
are the common heritage of the human race.
'Such names as theirs are pilgrim shrines,
Shrines to no code nor creed confined,
The Delphian vales, the Palestines,
The Meccas of the mind.'
"But there are other names which to overlook would be worse than
negligence,--it would be ingratitude unworthy of a son of Yale.
"At the head of that glorious host stands the venerable form of
Joel Barlow, who, in addition to his various civil and literary
distinctions, was the father of American poetry. There too is the
intellectual brow of Webster, not indeed the great defender of the
Constitution, but that other Webster, who spent his life in the
perpetuation of that language in which the Constitution is
embalmed, and whose memory will be coeval with that language to
the latest syllable of recorded time. Beside Webster on the
historic canvas appears the form of the only Judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States that ever graduated at this
College,--Chief Justice Baldwin, of the class of 1797. Next to him
is his classmate, a patriarchal old man who still lives to bless
the associations of his youth,--who has consecrated the noblest
talents to the noblest earthly purposes,--the pioneer of Western
education,--the apostle of Temperance,--the life-long teacher of
immortality,--and who is the father of an illustrious family whose
genius has magnetized all Christendom. His classmate is Lyman
Beecher. But a year ago in the neighboring city of Hartford there
was a monument erected to another Brother in Unity,--the
philanthropist who first introduced into this country the system
of instructing deaf mutes. More than a thousand unfortunates bowed
around his grave. And although there was no audible voice of
eulogy or thankfulness, yet there were many tears. And grateful
thoughts went up to heaven in silent benediction for him who had
unchained their faculties, and given them the priceless treasures
of intellectual and social communion. Thomas H. Gallaudet was a
Brother in Unity.
"And he who has been truly called the most learned of poets and
the most poetical of learned men,--whose ascent to the heaven of
song has been like the pathway of his own broad sweeping
eagle,--J.G. Percival,--is a Brother in Unity. And what shall I
say of Morse? Of Morse, the wonder-worker, the world-girdler, the
space-destroyer, the author of the noblest invention whose glory
was ever concentrated in a single man, who has realized the
fabulous prerogative of Olympian Jove, and by the instantaneous
intercommunication of thought has accomplished the work of ages in
binding together the whole civilized world into one great
Brotherhood in Unity?
"Gentlemen, these are the men who wait to welcome you to the
blessings of our society. There they stand, like the majestic
statues that line the entrance to an eternal pyramid. And when I
look upon one statue, and another, and another, and contemplate
the colossal greatness of their proportions, as Canova gazed with
rapture upon the sun-god of the Vatican, I envy not the man whose
heart expands not with the sense of a new nobility, and whose eye
kindles not with the heart's enthusiasm, as he thinks that he too
is numbered among that glorious company,--that he too is sprung
from that royal ancestry. And who asks for a richer heritage, or a
more enduring epitaph, than that he too is a Brother in Unity?"
S.T.B. _Sanctæ Theologiæ Baccalaureus_, Bachelor in Theology.
See B.D.
S.T.D. _Sanctæ Theologiæ Doctor_. Doctor in Theology.
See D.D.
STEWARD. In colleges, an officer who provides food for the
students, and superintends the kitchen.--_Webster_.
In American colleges, the labors of the steward are at present
more extended, and not so servile, as set forth in the above
definition. To him is usually assigned the duty of making out the
term-bills and receiving the money thereon; of superintending the
college edifices with respect to repairs, &c.; of engaging proper
servants in the employ of the college; and of performing such
other services as are declared by the faculty of the college to be
within his province.
STICK. In college phrase, _to stick_, or _to get stuck_, is to be
unable to proceed, either in a recitation, declamation, or any
other exercise. An instructor is said to _stick_ a student, when
he asks a question which the student is unable to answer.
But he has not yet discovered, probably, that he ... that
"_sticks_" in Greek, and cannot tell, by demonstration of his own,
whether the three angles of a triangle are equal to two, or four,
... can nevertheless drawl out the word Fresh, &c.--_Scenes and
Characters in College_, p. 30.
S.T.P. _Sanctæ Theologiæ Professor_. Professor in Theology.
A degree of similar import to S.T.D., and D.D.
STUDENT. A person engaged in study; one who is devoted to
learning, either in a seminary or in private; a scholar; as, the
_students_ of an academy, of a college or university; a medical
_student_; a law _student_.
2. A man devoted to books; a bookish man; as, a hard _student_; a
close _student_.--_Webster_.
3. At Oxford, this word is used to designate one who stands upon
the foundation of the college to which he belongs, and is an
aspirant for academic emoluments.--_De Quincey_.
4. In German universities, by _student_ is understood "one who has
by matriculation acquired the rights of academical
citizenship."--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p. 27.
STUDY. A building or an apartment devoted to study or to literary
employment.--_Webster_.
In some of the older American colleges, it was formerly the custom
to partition off, in each chamber, two small rooms, where the
occupants, who were always two in number, could carry on their
literary pursuits. These rooms were called, from this
circumstance, _studies_. Speaking of the first college edifice
which was erected at New Haven, Mr. Clap, in his History of Yale
College, says: "It made a handsome appearance, and contained near
fifty _studies_ in convenient chambers"; and again he speaks of
Connecticut Hall as containing thirty-two chambers and sixty-four
_studies_. In the oldest buildings, some of these _studies_ remain
at the present day.
The _study_ rents, until December last, were discontinued with Mr.
Dunster.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 463.
Every Graduate and Undergraduate shall find his proportion of
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.
TERRÆ 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 "Terræ-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.
Articles thus left are called _transmittenda_.
The Great Mathematical Slate was a _transmittendum_ to the best
mathematical scholar in each class.--_MS. note in Cat. Med. Fac.
Soc._, 1833, p. 16.
TRENCHER-CAP. A-name, sometimes given to the square head-covering
worn by students in the English universities. Used figuratively to
denote collegiate power.
The _trencher-cap_ has claimed a right to take its part in the
movements which make or mar the destinies of nations, by the side
of plumed casque and priestly tiara.--_The English Universities
and their Reforms_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, Feb. 1849.
TRIANGLE. At Union College, a urinal, so called from its shape.
TRIENNIAL, or TRIENNIAL CATALOGUE. In American colleges, a
catalogue issued once in three years. This catalogue contains the
names of the officers and students, arranged according to the
years in which they were connected with the college, an account of
the high public offices which they have filled, degrees which they
have received, time of death, &c.[66]
The _Triennial Catalogue_ becomes increasingly a mournful
record--it should be monitory, as well as mournful--to survivors,
looking at the stars thickening on it, from one date to
another.--_Scenes and Characters in College_, p. 198.
Our tale shall be told by a silent star,
On the page of some future _Triennial_.
_Class Poem, Harv. Coll._, 1849, p. 4.
TRIMESTER. Latin _trimestris_; _tres_, three, and _mensis_, month.
In the German universities, a term or period of three
months.--_Webster_.
TRINITARIAN. The popular name of a member of Trinity College in
the University of Cambridge, Eng.
TRIPOS, _pl._ TRIPOSES. At Cambridge, Eng., any university
examination for honors, of questionists or men who have just taken
their B.A. The university scholarship examinations are not called
_triposes_.--_Bristed_.
The Classical Tripos is generally spoken of as _the Tripos_, the
Mathematical one as the Degree Examination.--_Ibid._, p. 170.