PREFACE (continued 4)

Native (pron. nahtive), subs. (The Leys).—Originally a “crib”: now of varied signification. To native a football = to be tricky with it; as adj. = clever: also Nativey.

Nescio. To sport a nescio (old University).—See quot.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. Nescio. He sports a nescio; he pretends not to understand anything. After the senate-house examination for degrees, the students proceed to the schools to be questioned by the proctor. According to custom immemorial the answers must be NESCIO. The following is a translated specimen: Q. What is your name? A. I do not know. Q. What is the name of this University? A. I do not know. Q. Who was your father? A. I do not know.

Nestor, subs. (Winchester).—An undersized boy.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 221. Nestor—Any boy who was past eighteen, or was old for his position in the school, or who was known to be much older than he looked.

New-bug, subs. (general).—A new boy.

New Guinea, subs. (Oxford: obsolete).—See quot.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. New Guinea. First possession of income.

News, subs. (The Leys).—One division of the “School House,” with three dormitories—“Upper News,” “Under News,” “Further News.” See Olds.

New Settlements, subs. (Oxford: obsolete).—See quot.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. New Settlements. Final reckonings.

Newy, subs. (Winchester).—The CAD (q.v.) paid to look after the canvas tent in Commoner (q.v.) field.

Nezzar, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—A young lady.

Nick, verb (Durham).—To pray.

Nicks, intj. (Manchester Grammar).—Cave! Look out! [Said also to be common in Manchester as a warning of the approach of the police.] See Appendix.

Niff, verb (Derby).—To smell.

Nig, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A dodge. Obsolete.

Nigshious, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Ingenious: e.g. “a NIGSHIOUS dodge.” Obsolete.

Nihil-ad-rem, adj. (Winchester).—Vague; unconscious. Ex. “He sported NIHIL-AD-REM ducks.”

Nine Steps. See Kittle-nine-steps.

Nipper, subs. (Loretto).—Originally a boy of the lowest Form: since there has been a preparatory House the term is applied to all the boys there.

Nipperkin, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A stone jug used for serving beer in College between meals. Tea has long been substituted for beer.

c. 1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Nipperkin. Half a pint of Wine, and but half a Quartern of Brandy, strong waters, &c.

1698-1700. Ward, Lond. Spy, II. (1706), i. 31. By that time we had sipp’d off our Nipperkin of my Grannums Aqua Mirabilis.

1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge.... Song, Quart-pot, pint-pot, NIPPERKEN, &c.

1785. GROSE, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1832. Noctes Ambrosianæ, Sept. William III., who only snoozed over a NIPPERKIN of Schiedam with a few Dutch favourites.

1882. J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Q. Anne, i. 197. [Beer] was of different qualities, from the “penny NIPPERKIN of Molassas Ale” to “a pint of Ale cost me five-pence.”

1883. Trollope, What I Remember. It was the duty of the bedmakers to carry every evening into each chamber a huge NIPPERKIN of beer.

Nob, subs. (Oxford: obsolete).—The Fellow of a College. [Probably the original application of the colloquial usage = a person of rank or position; from “nobility.” Cf. Mob, from mobile vulgus.]

1825. English Spy, i. 136. “We must find you some more tractable personage; some good-humoured NOB.”

Noggs, subs. (Harrow).—A hereditary name for Custos’ assistant. [From Dickens: the first owner’s name was Newman—hence Noggs.]

Nomenclature (Harrow).—See Upper School.

Non-attached (or Non-collegiate), adj. (Oxford).—Most of the students belong to a college or hall, but in 1868 what was at first known as the “NON-ATTACHED,” and is now designated the “NON-COLLEGIATE” system, was established. The system, a revival of one that prevailed in ancient times, is under the control of a body termed the Delegacy, the chief officer being named the Censor. Efficient provision is made for tuition, but its members live in their own lodgings in the city, and are thus able to suit their own pockets. Supervision is retained over the lodging-houses in a sanitary and other points of view, from the fact that they have to be licensed by the University authorities.

Non-licet, adj. and adv. (Winchester).—Illegal; unbefitting a Wykehamist. Ex. “Don’t sport NON-LICET notions.”

Nonsense, subs. (Eton).—A small division of the Third Form. Now abolished.

Northwick (The), subs. (Harrow).—The Northwick rifle: given by Lord Northwick for the best aggregate of seven shoots during the season.

Noter, subs. (Harrow).—A note-book.

Notion, subs. (Winchester).—A word, phrase, or usage peculiar to Winchester College.

Novi, subs. (Tonbridge).—A new boy.

Nurse, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A matron.

c. 1800. “Christ’s Hospital Seventy-five Years Ago” (Blue, Nov., 1875). The NURSES were permitted to flog and punish the boys as they thought proper, and some of the NURSES were cruel women. One poor fellow in my ward was labouring under a bodily infirmity. The brute of a nurse used constantly to flog him with nettles, fresh-gathered from time to time for the purpose, declaring they had the virtue of strengthening his bodily frame, &c.! [See Appendix.]

Nursery (The), subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A gallery at one end of Big School, in which the lowest two classes are taught.

Oak, subs. (University).—An outer door. To sport one’s oak = to be “not at home,” indicated by closing the outer door.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1840. The Collegian’s Guide, 119. In college each set of rooms is provided with an OAK or outer door, with a spring lock, of which the master has one key, and the servant another.

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, iv. This is the HOAK, this ’ere outer door is, sir, which the gentlemen sports, that is to say, shuts, sir, when they’re a-readin’. Ibid., viii. Mr. Verdant Green had, for the first time, SPORTED HIS OAK.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, vii. One evening he found himself as usual at Hardy’s door about eight o’clock. The OAK was open, but he got no answer when he knocked at the inner door.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 55. He tried to keep them out, but they broke in his OAK, stripped him, tied him up in his table-cloth, and left him on the grass plot where the porter found him.

Ob, subs. (Winchester).—A contraction of obit.

Obeum (The), subs. (Cambridge).—A water-closet building at King’s College. [Attributed by the undergraduates to the energy of O[scar] B[rowning].]

Off-bat, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—“Point”: at cricket.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 222. Off bat, the station of one of the field in a cricket match, called by the outer world “Point.”

Officer, subs. (Winchester).—A College Præfect when in office: as the Præfect of Hall, Chapel, School, or Library.

-oi, inseparable suffix (Tonbridge).—Indicative of complaisant disdain: e.g. TO DO THE BLEED-OI (see Bleed) = to swagger; to appear to be distinguishing oneself.

Oiler, subs. (University).—A cad.

Oips, subs. (Haileybury).—Boys who are not good enough for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or Below Bigside Elevens play in the Oips. [An abbreviation of Hoi polloi.]

Old Cars, subs. (Charterhouse).—Old Carthusians: regarded as a vulgarism.

Old Pig (The).—See Pig.

Old Schools, The (Harrow).—The original school building erected by John Lyon, together with the “Old Speech-room,” which, however, is of much later date.

Olds, subs. (The Leys).—A division of the “School House,” three dormitories—“Upper Olds,” “Under Olds,” and “Under Under.” See News.

On, adv. and intj. (Winchester: obsolete).—The word to start given by the Præfect of Hall when the School went in procession to Hills, Cathedral, &c. Also as in quot. See Appendix.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 222. When any person or thing of importance was known to be likely to meet the boys when on Hills, the word was passed that he, she, or it was ON—e.g. Ridsworth ON, snobs ON, badger ON, &c.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, xxiii.

On-and-Off, subs. (Tonbridge).—Lemonade.

1894. Tonbridgian, No. 330, 919. The scene is one of the wildest disorder. The writhing mass, in their efforts to obtain the desired article, tread on each other’s toes, spill the “OFF AND ON” down one another’s garments, and knock each other about with their elbows.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 444. “On and off” signifies home lemonade, and is so called because of the tap from which it flows.

Ones, subs. (Harrow).—A competition at football, one player a side: organised by Mr. Bowen. The play is for five minutes, the ground measures 40 yards by 30 yards, and the Bases (q.v.) 8 feet.

Oppidan, subs. (Eton).—A boy who boards in the town, as distinguished from a King’s Scholar.

1865. Etoniana, 31. The Latin-English term OPPIDAN was applied to these independent scholars at least as early as Fuller’s days. Speaking of the College, he says, “There be many OPPIDANES there maintained at the cost of their friends.”

1899. Public School Mag., Nov., p. 367. If there is any need for a test match between college and the OPPIDANS, we should suggest that they should play the winning house in the House match, and hope to beat it.

Optime, subs. (Cambridge).—The name given to the second class in the first portion of the public examination for honours, called the Mathematical Tripos, those placed in the first class being known as Wranglers (q.v.), and those in the third class as Junior Optimes.

Oration Quarter, subs. (Charterhouse).—See Long Quarter.

Oratorio, subs. (Sherborne).—The large choir, as distinguished from the chapel choir.

Order, subs. (general).—Written permission from a tutor to make purchases: as from tailor, &c. See Name.

Orders, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—A Head-master’s promise to add a day or two to the holidays: sometimes obtained, so tradition says, by barricading Big School against him.

Ostiar, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—The Præfect on duty at the Big School door: seventeenth century.

Ostiarius, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—See quots.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester, 223. Ostiarius, an office held by the Præfects in succession. The duties were, to keep order in school, collect the Vulguses, and prevent the boys from shirking out. It is also the official title for the Second Master.

1865. Etoniana, 133. A peculiarity in the arrangements at Eton is, that the school is practically divided into two. The division seems to have been in force from the very earliest times—the three lower forms having been then, as now, under the charge of the OSTIARIUS, or, as he is now called, the lower master, who has the appointment of his own provost-assistants, and is practically independent of the head-master, and subject only to the control of the provost.

1866. Wykehamist, No. 1, Oct. We know of nothing more which calls for notice, except the revival by Dr. Moberly of the OSTIARIUS—an office which had been discontinued for many years, but was revived by the Head-master on account of the great increase in the number of the school.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, xxiii. 429. Ostiarius, the Præfect in charge of school.

Othello. See Round.

Outer, subs. (Durham).—A cad; a “bounder.”

Out-houses (Charterhouse).—All the boarding-houses except Sanderites, Verites, and Gownboys. The names of the eight OUT-HOUSES are Girdlestonites, Lockites, Weekites, Hodgsonites, Bodeites, Daviesites, Pageites, and Robinites (the last a contraction of Robinsonites). Except Bodeites, each house bears the name of its first master. One house, Uskites—from a supposed similarity of the surroundings to the valley of the Usk—disappeared in 1878.

Out-match, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A match played against a visiting team.

Over-school, subs. (Rugby).—A kind of common sitting-room in the “new” building of 1755. The boys’ boxes were kept there, and Ash-planting (q.v.) inflicted. The present school-house hall was built on the site.

Overtoys-box. See Toys.

Ovid (Harrow).—See Upper School.

Owl, subs. (Cambridge: obsolete).—A member of Sidney Sussex College.

Packing-up, intj. (Winchester).—See Peals.

Pad, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—Writing-paper: e.g. “a sheet of PAD”; “lend me some PAD.” [The paper for exercises is generally in the form of writing-pads, from which a sheet may be separated as wanted.]

Pageites (Charterhouse).—See Out-houses.

Palmer, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—A sly fellow.

Pancake. Tossing the pancake, verb. phr. (Westminster).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 171. The old Shrove-Tuesday custom of TOSSING THE PANCAKE, though now peculiar to Westminster, is said to have been also formerly in use at Eton. The ceremony as at present performed is this. The cook, preceded by the verger, enters the large school, in full official costume, with the hot cake in the pan. He tosses it—or tries to toss it, for it is no easy feat—over the iron bar, which has been already mentioned as having once held a curtain screening off the upper school from the lower. If he succeeds he claims a fee of two guineas. There is a scramble among the boys, who stand on the other side of the bar, for the PANCAKE, and if any boy can secure it whole, which seldom happens, he carries it up to the dean, who presents him with a sovereign. They also claim a right to “book” the performer (i.e. hurl a shower of books at him) if he fails more than once. This right was liberally exercised in 1865, when the wrath of the school had culminated owing to repeated failures in that and the previous year. The exasperated cook replied to the attack with his only available missile—the frying-pan—and a serious row was the consequence. The battle is celebrated in a clever mock-heroic poem, in Greek Homeric verse, attributed to a high Westminster authority.

Pandie, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A stroke from the leather strap known as the TAWSE (q.v.), used in Scotland instead of the cane; a PAUMIE (q.v.). [From the order given in Latin, Pande manum. See Redgauntlet.]

Pantile, subs. (general).—A flat cake covered with jam.

Panupetaston, subs. (University: obsolete).—A loose overcoat with wide sleeves.

Paradise, subs. 1. (Oxford).—A grove of trees outside St. John’s College.

2. (Rugby).—A room in the old school (built in 1755) on the site of which the school-house hall now stands. [From its pleasant look-out.]

Part. See Books.

Party Roll, subs. (Winchester).—A list of boys going home together. See Peals.

Passy, adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Severe: of a master. [That is, “passionate.”—Blanch.] See Appendix.

1844. Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital [The Blue, Aug. 1874]. Rightly or wrongly, it was the general opinion in our time that punishment in school depended less upon the correctness with which the lessons were said, than upon the temper of the particular master. Frequently and anxiously the question was asked, “Is he PASSY this morning?” and the arrival of a new master created immense excitement. Our first queries were invariably of his manners and temper—matters of far more importance to us than any question as to his ability.

Patrol, subs. (Dulwich).—Keeping order in Form rooms between morning and afternoon school: a duty of school Præfects.

Paul’s-pigeons, subs. (common).—The scholars of St. Paul’s School.

Pawmie, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—A stroke on the hand from the leather strap known as the TAWSE (q.v.), used in Scotland instead of the cane: also PANDIE (q.v.). [Paum = palm of the hand.]

Pavvy, The (Harrow).—The pavilion on the cricket-ground.

Pax, subs. (Winchester).—A chum; an intimate friend. [Cf. Scots pack = intimate, familiar.]

1891. Wrench, Word-Book, 30. Possibly the plural of “pack,” which word has an extended use in reference to friendship ... as adj., subs., and verb. This seems a more likely origin than the PAX of the Church.

Intj. An injunction to desist or to silence—“Be quiet!” “Hands off!” Also HAVE PAX! [Almost the pure Latin use of the word.]

P. D., subs. (Dulwich).—Punishment drill: in Junior School.

Peal, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A custom in Commoners of singing out comments on Præfects at the beginning of CLOISTER-TIME (q.v.). Also cheers given on the last three Sundays of the Half for articles of dress, &c., connected with going home, such as “Gomer Hats,” “Party Rolls,” &c.... “The ringing of Chapel bells is also divided into PEALS.” [Halliwell.—Peals = a noise or uproar. Cf. Mid. Eng. apel = an old term in hunting music, consisting of three long moots.]

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

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 22. The scholars at this time were expected to rise at the sound of “first PEAL” at five o’clock, and were recommended to say privately a short Latin selection from the Psalms as soon as they were dressed. Ibid. They then swept out their chambers and made their beds (consisting in those days of nothing better than bundles of straw with a coverlet), and SECOND PEAL at half-past five summoned them to chapel.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” At 6.30, I had to get back to call everybody again; and again at 6.40 (five minutes to second PEAL); at 6.45 (“second PEAL”) when the chapel bell started and kept on till seven. When the bell stops I wait at the door and call out “præfect of chapel going in”—i.e. the præfect of the week who calls names; then “præfect of chapel in” when he reaches the door.

1900. St. James’s Gazette, Mar. 15, “Arnoldiana.”—He [Matthew Arnold] was the victim of public expression of disapproval—in connection, Mr. Arnold thinks, with the lively ceremony known as CLOISTER PEALINGS, when he was placed at the end of the great school, and, amid howls and jeers, pelted with a rain of “pontos” for some time. [Cloister pealings is here incorrectly used: see Sticking-up.]

Pec, subs. (Eton: obsolete).—Money. [Lat. pecunia.]

Pempe, subs. (Winchester).—An imaginary object in search of which a new-comer is sent: the equivalent of “pigeon’s milk,” or the “squad-umbrella.” [From πεμπε μω̂ρον προτερον = “Send the fool farther.”]

Penance-table, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A table in the refectory at which a boy is condemned to sit alone for bad behaviour during meals. Tradition says, with some authority, that the present PENANCE-TABLE is the one on which Cromwell slept when he spent a night at Stonyhurst. It is hence also called “Cromwell’s Table.”

Penance-walk, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A path in the playground where malefactors are condemned to tramp in silence during recreation time. The form of the order given is: “Take an hour’s PENANCE,” or “Go on PENANCE.”

Pensioner, subs. (Cambridge).—One who pays a “pensio” or rent for rooms in College. At Oxford a COMMONER (q.v.).

1780. Mansel [Whibley, Cap and Gown]. A Cambridge Commencement’s the time When gentlemen come for degrees And with wild-looking cousins and wives Through a smart mob of PENSIONERS squeeze.

Pepper, verb (University).—To mark the accents of a Greek exercise.

Pepper-box, subs. (Eton).—See Appendix.

Percher, subs. (Winchester).—A Latin cross marked horizontally against the name of an absentee.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 225. Percher—A mark (────┼──) put after a boy’s name on a Roll, which showed that he had been absent from Chapel or Hills without leave; or that he had not done his Verse or Prose Task, or Vulgus. It was also often put by a Master in the margin of gags, or a Verse or Prose Task, to indicate gross errors.

Pets, subs. (Charterhouse).—A set (says Tod) of young ruffians in Under Long Room whom the editor of The Verite Chronicle (see Verite) was constrained from self-interest to place on the free list. Only eight numbers appeared.

Petties, subs. (Harrow).—According to the Founder’s regulations, the lowest class—“which have not learned their accidence, or entered into the English rules of grammar.”

Phædras (Harrow).—See Upper School.

Phil, subs. (Harrow).—The Philathletic Club. It consists of members of the school elected for merit in athletics, the first ten monitors being ex officio.

Philosophers, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The body of students above the ordinary forms. Also Phils.

Pi, adj. (Winchester).—Virtuous; sanctimonious. Ex. “His pitch-up are very PI.” See Appendix.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Pi.... Abbreviation of “pious.” Ex. “He’s very PI now, he mugs all day. He PI-jawed me for thoking.”

Pie-match, subs. (Rugby).—A match arranged between teams in one house, or in one form, followed by a supper, subscribed for by the players, or provided by the masters.

Pig. See Hog.

The old pig, subs. phr. (Rugby).—See quot.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, vii. “The OLD PIG came by.” “The what?” said the doctor. “The Oxford coach, sir,” explained Hall. “Hah! yes, the Regulator,” said the doctor.

Pigeon-hole, subs. (Winchester).—A small study.

Piggin, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quot.

1798. “Christ’s Hospital Three Quarters of a Century Ago” [Chelmsford Chronicle (1875), Ap. 16]. Beer we had certainly served out in wooden vessels of an extraordinary shape, called PIGGINS; about six of them for four boys to drink out of, but such beer! The PIGGINS were seldom replenished, for we could not drink it.

Pig-market (The), subs. (Oxford).—A corridor leading to the Divinity School: properly the Proscholium. [Said to have been so used in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII.]

1837. Ingram, Memorials of Oxford.... The schools built by Abbot Hokenorton being inadequate to the increasing wants of the University, they applied to the Abbot of Reading for stone to rebuild them; and in the year 1532 it appears that considerable sums of money were expended on them; but they went to decay in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. and during the whole reign of Edward VI. The change of religion having occasioned a suspension of the usual exercises and scholastic acts in the University, in the year 1540 only two of these schools were used by determiners, and within two years after none at all. The whole area between these schools and the divinity school was subsequently converted into a garden and PIG-MARKET; and the schools themselves, being completely abandoned by the masters and scholars, were used by glovers and laundresses.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. Our hero proceeded with his father along the High Street, and turned round by St. Mary’s, and so up Cat Street to the Schools, where they made their way to the classic PIG-MARKET, to wait the arrival of the Vice-Chancellor.

Pill, verb (University).—To talk twaddle or platitudes.

Pin, verb (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—To enjoy: e.g. “I PINNED my innings”; “this is a PINNING book.”

1887. Stonyhurst Mag., iii. 89. A downright enjoyable PINNABLE game.

To pin a lozen, verb. phr. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—To break a window. [Lozen = a pane of glass.]

Pinch. To pinch in, verb. phr. (Harrow).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 315. Dr. Butler ... abolished, amongst other old customs, certain rites and ceremonies which were used in celebrating a boy’s remove from one form to the other in the lower part of the school. No such promotion was considered complete, so far as the boys were concerned, until the new member had been duly “PINCHED IN”—remaining a certain fixed time in the play-room, during which all the fraternity exercised a right of pinching him, limited only by the tenderness of their dispositions or the strength of their fingers. There were generally some adepts in this torture, who knew, and taught others, the tenderest places and the most artistic mode of taking hold, and who carried this evil knowledge with them from form to form, to be practised on a succession of victims. The rites of initiation were completed by tossing in a blanket in the dormitory, and a certain number of bumps against the ceiling were required to make the ceremony valid.

Pintle, subs. (Lancing).—(1) A form of cricket played with a bat narrowed at both sides, a soft ball, and a stone wicket in a pit. Also (2) = the bat used in the game. Hence PINTLE-SLINGER = a fast bowler.

Pitch-up, subs. (Winchester).—One’s home circle; a group; a crowd; a set of chums. Hence TO PITCH UP WITH = to associate with.

Place, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A room: generic: as study-PLACE, shoe-PLACE, tailor’s PLACE, washing-PLACE, Dick’s PLACE, stranger’s PLACE ( = parlour).

1891. John Gerard, S.J., Stonyhurst College. This evidently comes from St. Omers, in which district, we are told, the word is still employed in the same promiscuous way.

To run for a place, verb. phr. (Winchester).—See quot.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” My next duty is what is called “running for a PLACE.” There are (or were) six cricket pitches on “turf,” and any præfect has a right to one of these all day (a bad arrangement, which I hope is altered now, as fellows with no idea of cricket could thus keep much better players off all day) provided he can get a stick with his name on, stuck in the ground by his fag—the half-dozen out of the fifteen or twenty fags running, who get their præfect’s sticks stuck in first, claiming the place for him. It was the same sort of thing, as if the door from the “underground” was opened about 6.30, and some twenty fellows rushed out early in the morning to try and get pitches.

Plain-ruled, subs. (Harrow).—The paper usually used for exercises, sixteen lines to a page.

Planks (The), subs. (Rugby).—See quot.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, viii. The river Avon at Rugby is ... a capital river for bathing, as it has many nice small pools and several good reaches for swimming, all within about a mile of one another, and at an easy twenty minutes’ walk from the School. This mile of water is rented, or used to be rented, for bathing purposes by the Trustees of the School, for the boys. The footpath to Brownsover crosses the river by THE PLANKS, a curious old single-plank bridge running for fifty or sixty yards into the flat meadows on each side of the river—for in the winter there are frequent floods. Above THE PLANKS were the bathing-places for the smaller boys; Sleath’s, the first bathing-place, where all new boys had to begin, until they had proved to the bathing men (three steady individuals, who were paid to attend daily through the summer to prevent accidents) that they could swim pretty decently, when they were allowed to go on to Anstey’s, about one hundred and fifty yards below. Here there was a hole about six feet deep and twelve feet across, over which the puffing urchins struggled to the opposite side, and thought no small beer of themselves for having been out of their depths. Below THE PLANKS came larger and deeper holes, the first of which was Wratislaw’s, and the last Swift’s, a famous hole, ten or twelve feet deep in parts, and thirty yards across, from which there was a fine swimming reach right down to the Mill. Swift’s was reserved for the sixth and fifth forms, and had a spring-board and two sets of steps; the others had one set of steps each, and were used indifferently by all the lower boys, though each house addicted itself more to one hole than to another. The School-house at this time affected Wratislaw’s hole, and Tom and East, who had learnt to swim like fishes, were to be found there as regular as the clock through the summer, always twice, and often three times a day.

Plant, subs. (Winchester).—A blow with a football. Also as verb.

Play, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete—otherwise general).—A holiday, half or whole.

1865. Etoniana, 115. Eton versification was very good indeed ... exercises ... from their excellence, were laid before the provost, by a time-honoured custom, as a claim for the weekly half-holiday called “PLAY”—a ceremony which some other public schools have borrowed.

To beg a play (Westminster).—See Early Play and Westminster Play.

Playing-fields, subs. (Eton).—There are seven separate grounds—Upper Club, Lower Club, Upper Sixpenny, Sixpenny, Jordan, Mesopotamia, and the new ground in “Agars Plough.”

1890. Great Public Schools, 59. Every one knows the Playing-fields. They are the crowning glory, the eye of Eton ... they are always beautiful.

Pleb, subs. (Westminster).—A tradesman’s son.

Pledge, verb (Winchester).—To give away: e.g. “PLEDGE me” = “after you”; “PLEDGE you” = “give, pass, or lend me;” “I’ll PLEDGE it you when I’ve done with it.”

1882. Skeat [Wrench]. Skeat says it comes from a Latin præbium, connected with præbere, in which case PLEDGE simply means “give.”

Plodge, verb (Durham).—To paddle.

Plough (or Pluck), verb (common).—To reject: as in an examination.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Pluck.... Signifies to deny a degree to a candidate at one of the universities, on account of insufficiency. The three first books of Euclid, and as far as Quadratic Equations in Algebra, will save a man from being PLUCKED. These unfortunate fellows are designated by many opprobrious appellations, such as the Twelve Apostles, the Legion of Honour, Wise Men of the East, &c.

1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, x. He went to college and he got PLUCKED, as I think they call it.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iii. Verdant read up most desperately for his matriculation, associating that initiatory examination with the most dismal visions of PLUCKING, and other college tortures. Ibid., xi. Note. When the degrees are conferred, the name of each person is read out before he is presented to the Vice-Chancellor. The proctor then walks once up and down the room, so that any person who objects to the degree being granted may signify the same by pulling or PLUCKING the proctor’s robes. This has been occasionally done by tradesmen, in order to obtain payment of their “little bills,” but such a proceeding is very rare, and the proctor’s promenade is usually undisturbed.

1855. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 258. If a man is PLUCKED—that is, does not get marks enough to pass—his chance of a Fellowship is done for.

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, Prol. Gooseberry pie ... adds to my chance of being PLOUGHED for SMALLS.

1886. Stubbs, Mediæval and Mod. Hist., 386. I trust that I have never PLUCKED a candidate ... without giving him every opportunity of setting himself right.

1895. Pocock, Rules of the Game, i. I knew one of that lot at Corpus; in fact, we were crammed by the same tutor for “smalls,” and both got PLOUGHED.

Pluck. See Plough.

Plug, subs. (common).—A translation; a CRIB (q.v.).

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green.... Getting up his subjects by the aid of those royal roads to knowledge, variously known as cribs, crams, PLUGS, abstracts, analyses, or epitomes.

Poacher, subs. (Stonyhurst).—At football a player stationed near an enemy’s goals to trouble his SECOND-GUARDERS (q.v.). They are not allowed to go within the “Second-guarder’s” or POACHING line.

Pœna, subs. (general).—An imposition.

Poet, subs. (Stonyhurst).—See Poetry.

Poetry, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The Fifth Form. [From the former chief study of the Form: originally The Humanities. Cf. Regulæ Professoris Humanitatis in the Ratio Studiorum Societatis Jesu.]

Poet’s-walk, subs. (Eton).—A river-walk in the playing-fields. Poet’s-walk = the tea those playing in Upper Club have on half-holidays by the river.

Pog, subs. (Felsted).—The face. See Appendix.

1895. Felstedian, April, p. 44. We won the game by one goal, three rouges—points to its origin. “Pog” may have meant a “melancholy” face originally, and in time come to denote any Felstedian’s visage, grave or gay.

1897. Felstedian, May, p. 87. I ... prayed that he wasn’t going to drag in “Cheese” or “POG,” or any similar atrocities.

Pojam, subs. (Harrow).—A poem: set as an exercise.

Poker, subs. (Oxford).—A BEDEL (q.v.) carrying a silver mace before the Vice-Chancellor.

1841. Rime of the New-Made Baccalere. Around, around, all, all around, On seats with velvet lined, Sat Heads of Houses in a row, And Deans and College Dons below, With a POKER or two behind.

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, vii. A sort of young procession—the Vice-Chancellor, with his and Yeoman-bedels. The silver maces carried by the latter gentlemen, made them by far the most showy part of the procession.... Ibid. Tom is the bell that you hear at nine each night; the Vice has to see that he is in proper condition, and, as you have seen, goes out with his POKERS for that purpose.

1865. Cornhill Mag., Feb., 225. The heads of houses and university officers attend [St. Mary’s, Oxford] in their robes, and form a stately procession to and from the church. The Vice-Chancellor is escorted by his mace-bearers, familiarly called POKERS, to and from his residence.

Poll, subs. (Cambridge).—The ordinary examination for the B.A. degree, as distinguished from the “Honours” examination. Also a student who takes the “Pass” degree without “Honours.” Hence POLL-DEGREE and POLL-MAN. To go out in the poll = to take an ordinary degree.

1855. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 62. Several declared that they would GO OUT IN THE POLL.

1884. Jas. Payn, in Cornhill, April, 370. I took my degree, however—a first-class POLL; which my good folks at home believed to be an honourable distinction.

1889. Academy, Mar. 2. It is related of some Cambridge POLL-MAN that he was once so ill-advised as to desert a private tutor.

Verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To maltreat; to make impure. [That is, “pollute.”]

Ponto, subs. (general).—New bread kneaded into a ball.

1900. St. James’s Gazette, Mar. 15, “Arnoldiana.” He [Matthew Arnold] was placed at the end of the great school, and, amid howls and jeers, pelted with a rain of PONTOS for some time. The PONTO, though a soft missile, being but the inside of a new roll, was probably sufficient in quantity.

Pony, subs. (general).—A translation; a CRIB (q.v.)—any adventitious aid to study. Also as verb.

1832. Tour through College, 30. Their lexicons, PONIES, and textbooks were strewed round their lamps on the table.

1856. Hall, College Words, s.v. Pony. So called, it may be, from the fleetness and ease with which a skilful rider is enabled to pass over places which to a common plodder may present obstacles.

Poon, verb (Winchester).—To prop up a piece of furniture with a wedge under the leg.—Wrench.

Pop, subs. (Eton).—A club at Eton. Chiefly confined to Oppidans (q.v.), though Collegers (q.v.) are sometimes elected.

1865. Etoniana, 207. “The Eton Society,” for reading and debates, has had a longer and more successful existence than the magazines. It is better known by its sobriquet of “POP,” supposed to be a contraction of Popina, the rooms where it was held for many years having been over a cookshop or confectioner’s. It was first instituted in 1811, when Charles Fox Townshend (who was the elder brother of the late Marquess, and died young) was the first president, and it has gone on ever since with considerable popularity and success. The preparation of the speeches leads to a certain amount of historical reading for the purpose; but the chief attraction of “POP” lies in its being a sort of social club, where papers and reviews are taken in; and, as the numbers are strictly limited (originally twenty-two, since increased to twenty-eight), to be elected into the society gives a boy a certain degree of prestige in the school. In summer the debates are almost nominal, out-door attractions being too strong; but in winter they sometimes last for several hours, and are kept up with great spirit. The members are almost exclusively oppidans, this being one of the points where the jealousy between them and the collegers comes out very distinctly. A few of the latter are admitted, but only when they have some special claim to popularity.

Portionist. See Postmaster.

Poser, subs. (Winchester and Eton).—An examiner: formerly a bishop’s examining chaplain—at Eton for King’s College, and at Winchester for New College Scholarships and Exhibitions. Also APPOSER, OPPOSER, and OPPOSITOR. [Posen = to examine.—Prompt. Parv., 144.]

1574. Queen Elizabeth, Endorsement on Recommendation of Candidates for College Election, May 8. To our trustie and welbeloved the wardens of the new Colledges in Oxford and nere Winchester and other of them and to the OPPOSITORS and others having interest in the election of Scollers.

1603. Bacon, Discourse [1887]. Let his questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for a POSER.

1662. Fuller, Worthies, Norfolk, ii. 462. The University [Cambridge] ... appointed Doctor Cranmer ... to be POSER-GENERAL of all Candidates in Divinity.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 61. The election-day, both for Winchester and New College, is on the Tuesday next after the 7th of July (St. Thomas Beckett), when the warden of New College, Oxford, with two of his fellows, called the POSERS (or at one time supervisors), arrive at the college, where they are received with a Latin oration “ad portas” by the senior scholar.

Post, subs. (University).—See quot.

1855. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 74. Fifty marks will prevent one from being POSTED, but there are always two or three too stupid as well as idle to save their POST. These drones are POSTED separately, as “not worthy to be classed,” and privately slanged afterwards by the master and seniors. Should a man be POSTED twice in succession, he is generally recommended to try the air of some small college, or devote his energies to some other walk of life.

Verb. 1. (University).—To reject: as in an examination; to PLUCK (q.v.); TO PLOUGH (q.v.).

2. (Eton).—To put down for doing badly in COLLECTIONS (q.v.), the penalty being either a holiday-PŒNA (q.v.), or a SWISHING (q.v.).

3. (University).—To put up a man’s name as not having paid for food supplied by the College: supplies are then stopped until the account is settled.

Postmaster, subs. (Oxford).—An Exhibitioner of Merton College. Also PORTIONIST (q.v.).

1853. Bradley (“Cuthbert Bede”), Verdant Green, vii. Each college does its own postal department; and at Merton there are fourteen POSTMASTERS, for they get no end of letters there. “Oh, yes! I remember Mr. Larkyns ... telling us that the son of one of his old friends had been a POSTMASTER of Merton; but I fancied that he had said it had something to do with a scholarship.” “Ah, you see, it’s a long while since the governor was here, and his memory fails him,” remarked Mr. Charles Larkyns, very unfilially.

1886. Oxford Guide [S. J. & C.]. The POSTMASTERS anciently performed the duties of choristers, and their payment for this duty was six shillings and fourpence per annum.

Post-mortem, subs. (Cambridge).—The examination after failure.

1844. Puck, 13. And now tho’ I’ve passed the POST-MORTEM at last.

Post-past, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—Dessert: at St. Omers.

1882. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 112. The dessert called POST-PAST was always the best sort of apples or pears, and biscuits, or else walnuts.

Post te, phr. (Charterhouse).—The most useful (says Tod) of all the old Charterhouse expressions. For example, POST TE MATH. EX. = “Will you have the kindness to permit me to glance over your mathematical exercise?” Or one can give a POST TE of anything; e.g. to give a friend a POST TE of a book is to give him the right of its perusal when you have done with it. The word is also used in a subtle and sarcastic sense; e.g. POST TE hat or POST TE chum signifies disapproval of the hat or friend of which or whom the remark was made.

Pot, subs. (Winchester).—A canal lock. Whence POT-CAD = a workman at the saw-mills; POT-GATES = lock-gates; POT-HOUSER = a jump into the canal from the roof of a house called POT-HOUSE.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 226. POT—A canal lock; the one just under Hills was generally meant when the word was used.

Pot-house (The), subs. (Cambridge).—St. Peter’s College: formerly Peterhouse.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 85. He asked me what it was.... I hadn’t a notion, so I made a shot and said “POT-HOUSE.” He said, “I suppose you mean St. Peter’s College.”

Potted-fug, subs. (Rugby).—Potted-meat.

Præfect. See Prefect.

Præpositor, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—A School Præfect (q.v.): seventeenth century.

Præpostor, subs. (Rugby).—A Præfect (q.v.).

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, v. The master mounted into the high desk by the door, and one of the PRÆPOSTORS of the week stood by him on the steps, the other three marching up and down the middle of the school with their canes, calling out “Silence, silence!”... Then the PRÆPOSTOR who stands by the master calls out the names, beginning with the sixth form; and as he calls, each boy answers “here” to his name, and walks out.

Prayer-book (Harrow).—See Upper School.

Precipice. See Fresh-herring.

Prefect, subs. (general).—A superior or senior member of a school superintending in or out of school hours according to office and school: as in studies, preparation, games, &c. See quots., Præpositor, Præpostor, &c.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 226. Præfects—The eighteen Senior boys in College, and the twelve senior in Commoners. The ten senior of those in College were said to be in “Full power,” and took the office of Bible-Clerk in rotation; they all had the power of fagging the Juniors, but those not in full power were supposed not to have the right of fagging on the School side of Seventh Chamber Passage; practically, however, they always did. One of the Senior PRÆFECTS was called PRÆFECT of Hall, and was responsible in a great measure for the conduct of the boys out of school. His duties and privileges were numerous. There was also a “PRÆFECT of Tub,” who was supposed to see that the dinner was properly distributed; a “PRÆFECT of School,” who had the care of that building; and two “PRÆFECTS of Chapel,” who during alternate weeks called names in Chapel. There were fees attached to all these offices; and all the PRÆFECTS had a certain number of boys allotted to them as Pupils, each of whom paid one guinea each half.

1881. Felstedian, Nov., p. 75. Here let me observe that only the PRÆFECTS have separate basins to wash in; the juniors use the two stone conduits.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Præfects.... The number of Præfects was eighteen in College, three to each Chamber ... in Commoners first eight, with four senior-inferiors, who were like Præfects in half-power, and later twelve.... The word Præpostor was also used concurrently, it would appear, till the last century, when it disappeared, except in the formula demanding a remedy, in which it survives. What the relations of the two words were to each other it is not easy to determine.... Præpostor occurs in the College Register, and is still used in asking for Remedies. Both seem, therefore, to be official words. At Eton Præpostor survives, though they are stated to have begun with officers bearing other titles. They have also retained major, minor, minimus, which we have discarded for senior, secundus, junior. The “Præfect of Tub”—“qui nomen ducit ab olla”—who presided over meals, and whose perquisites are said to have been most lucrative—amounting to the value of £80 per annum—and the “Præfect of Cloisters” are obsolete offices.

1900. MS. Notes (Rev. A. Goodier, Stonyhurst). Præfects ... These are four in number.

Prep, subs. 1. (Dulwich).—Evening preparation. Cf. Banco, Toy-time, &c.

2. (Felsted).—A place of preparation.

1890. Felstedian, Feb., p. 2. Johnson ma happened to be in PREP in good time, so he managed to get in a moment’s conversation with Jones.

Preparatory, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The preparatory Form at Hodder: originally Abecedarii.

Pricking Æger. See Æger.

Private-business, subs. (Eton).—Extra work with the tutor.

Privee, subs. (Charterhouse).—A private conversation. See Boule.

Privs, subs. (Harrow).—Special privileges in the House: granted to either Sixth Form or Three-yearers (q.v.). These take different forms in different houses. To FIND (q.v.) and to TOLLY-UP are PRIVS: so is the right to wear a coat that is not regulation school dress after LOCK-UP (q.v.).

Pro, subs. (Oxford).—A proproctor, or second in command in the proctorial police. The two proctors appoint a certain number of proproctors each.

1823. Hints for Oxford, 10. They (Freshmen) cap the PRO’S too in the street, speak to people without being introduced, and are guilty of a thousand gaucheries.

1869. W. Bradwood, The O.V.H., x. The proctor (more strictly a PRO) backed out of the room with wholesale apologies.

Proctorized, adj. and adv. (University).—Stopped by a proctor and told to call on him.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, i. 12. So gets PROCTORIZED in his old age.

1885. Punch, May 16, p. 233. Proctorised again last night! Coming home from jolly wine-party at John’s.

Progger, subs. (University).—A proctor.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” But a Proctor, or—by the common practice—“PROGGER,” soon teaches the unwary that the wisest course is to wear it at the stated times, however objectionable it may be.

Progging, subs. (University).—See Proctorized.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” A “PROGGING” may form part of another article. At present I have passed all due bounds.

Proggins, subs. (University).—A proctor.

Promo, subs. (Charterhouse).—Promotion.

Prompter, subs. (Merchant Taylors’).—A member of the Second Form.

Proof, subs. (Oxford).—The best ale at Magdalen College.

Pros, subs. (Cambridge).—A W.C.

Prose, subs. (Winchester).—A lecture. Also as verb.

Prose-task, subs. (Winchester).—A piece of Latin prose composition, which all the boys had to do once a week.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Provincial’s-day. See Day.

Pruff, adj. (Winchester).—Sturdy; insensible to pain.

1610. Shakspeare, Cor., i. 4. Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight With hearts more PROOF than shields.

1881. Pascoe, Public Schools.... But deprive a Wykehamist of words in constant use, such as “quill,” meaning to curry favour with; PRUFF, signifying sturdy, or proof against pain; “spree,” upstart, impudent; “cud,” pretty, and many more, and his vocabulary becomes limited.

Public-supping, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quots.

1870. The Blue, Mar. It is, we believe, certain that T.R.H. the Prince and Princess Teck will grace one of the Lent PUBLIC SUPPERS with their distinguished presence.

1900. Daily Telegraph, Mar. 16, “London Day by Day.” That quaint and historic old custom known as the “public supping” of the children was celebrated last evening at Christ’s Hospital, Newgate Street, in the presence of the Lord Mayor, Alderman Vaughan Morgan (treasurer of the school), and other civic and educational dignitaries.

1900. Pall Mall Gazette, 20th Mar., 3. 2, “A Lenten Supper.” Attention is directed to this festival this year for two reasons—one, that it is a very ancient custom; the other, that this is nearly the last year in which it will be held; for it is clear that when the school has changed its site, its dress, and certain of its officers and masters, it will not care to carry on this quaint old ceremony. And indeed, were the Hospital to hold such revelry at Horsham there would be few to come as guests, if the name of guest can be assigned to one who plays a part so passive as that of seeing other people eat.... The scene of the supping is the Great Hall.... Six hundred boys and more appear as nothing; they are all seated.... At each table sits a matron, according to their wards (of which there are fifteen), and attached to each ward is a matron, who used to be called nurse. Beside the tables are the monitors, responsible for order—biggish boys—not “Grecians,” for Grecians do not appear at the Lent suppers, except to read or pray or sing, having already eaten in their wards. The first performance, probably, is to light the candles on the tables; each ward has four candles, and all are lighted at almost the same moment. The hall is lighted from the roof by gas, so the candlesticks are little more than ornaments. They are of oak, old, and well-weighted at the base, and can count their age by centuries.... Their quaintness is concealed by artificial flowers, which the boys pay for and the matrons arrange, the result more suggestive of suburban bonnets than antiquity and quaintness. Ask a boy Why? he will probably reply that “it always has been done.” Change has come; it used to be held on Sundays during Lent instead of Thursday as to-day, and up to absolutely recent years there were six suppers instead of four. These festivals interfere somewhat with school work, and those who are officially compelled to attend find sameness, even in a public supper, in the course of thirty years or so. As the clock strikes seven there is a rap, the boys stand up, the organ bursts into “God save the Queen,” and up the hall marches the Lord Mayor, preceded by the chief beadle of the Hospital, clad in gorgeous raiment and a mace suggestive of a fish-slice. Behind comes the treasurer of the Hospital, another alderman, and various governors, each bearing a green stick to mark his office. These sit in reserved seats at the far end of the hall, the Lord Mayor in the chair, while on his right hand by the wall are masters and on his left some “officers.” The ceremony—a strange mixture of a religious service, a meal, and a feudal relic—begun with the reading of a passage from the Sermon on the Mount by a Grecian standing in a pulpit, whence he proceeded to read special prayers written for the school by Bishop Compton, ending with the Lord’s Prayer, after which a hymn and “grace” and then the supper, during which the Lord Mayor, with a select few, made the grand tour of the hall. Such a supper was soon over, and it was not long before the boys had gathered up the plates and bowls and cloths and knives, and then came grace and an anthem well sung by a well-trained choir. This was followed by the feudal feature in the evening: the whole school, with the exception of the Grecians, “bows round,” i.e. the boys walk up two and two, marshalled by two beadles, who stand near, and drawing near the chair, then bow the head in reverence to an Authority. Most boys have a “trade,” and in this procession each one carries a symbol of that “trade.” The matron’s special boy carries a bonnet-candle in each hand, the knife-boy carries his knife-basket, and the cloth-boy takes his cloth neatly rolled beneath his wing, while, last of all, the bread-boy hoists the tall bread-basket shoulder-high and “bows round” with it, never failing to raise a laugh as well as a basket. When all have bowed, the boy-marshalling beadles bow also, and the revels are ended. It is believed that the original purpose of these suppers was to rouse interest in the outside public and possibly raise money from their pockets; at all events, collection boxes used to be placed about the hall on those occasions.

Puddex. See Dex.

Puke, verb (Winchester).—To vomit. [A survival.]

Puker, subs. (Shrewsbury).—A good-for-nothing.

Pulling-out, subs. (Charterhouse: obsolete).—Pulling-out took place on Good Fridays. A line was marked from a corner of green to cloisters. On one side of this line stood the first and second forms, i.e. the Uppers, on the other side of it the Unders. The Unders had the right of calling on any unpopular Upper to run the gauntlet between two rows of Unders from cloister doors to a point near the chapel. They armed themselves with implements of all kinds, such as sticks, or stones fastened into stockings, with which to inflict punishment upon the Uppers. The latter naturally resisted; hence there were fierce fights and dangerous rushes. During the PULLING-OUT of 1824, a little fellow called Howard, a younger son of the Earl of Suffolk, was entangled in one of these rushes, dragged along the ground for some distance, with a mass of boys upon him, and received injuries from which he died soon after. This was the end of PULLING-OUT, but the custom was as old as the school.—Mozley. Also Calling-out.

Pulpiteers, subs. (Winchester).—See quot.

1891. Wrench, Word-Book, s.v. Pulpiteers. An arrangement during Cloister-time of Sixth Book and Senior Part V. going up to books together.... Middle and Junior Part taken together were called Cloisters.

Pun, subs. (Harrow).—Punishment. Also as verb. Hence PUN-PAPER = specially ruled paper for PUNS and impositions.

To pun out, verb. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—To inform against. Ex. “I’ll PUN OUT”; “I’ll PUN you OUT.” Exclusively a London term: at Hertford the word is simply TO PUN, or TO PUN OF.

Punny, subs. (Manchester Grammar).—Punishment School or Drill: also known as P.S. and P.D.: both cause detention for three-quarters of an hour after school.

Punt, verb (Rugby).—To kick the ball (at football) before it touches the ground.

Punt-about, subs. (Rugby).—The practice-ball: at football. Also a practice game.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, I. v. He hadn’t long to wonder, however, for next minute East cried out, “Hurra! here’s the PUNT-ABOUT,—come along and try your hand at a kick.” The PUNT-ABOUT is the practice-ball, which is just brought out and kicked about anyhow from one boy to another before callings-over and dinner, and at other odd times.

Puny, subs. (old Oxford).—A Freshman: also a student at the Inns of Court.

15 [?]. Christmas Prince at St. John’s College, i. Others to make sporte withall, of this last sorte were they whom they call freshmenn, PUNIES of the first yeare.

15 [?]. Ulysses upon Ajax, B. 8. A very worme of wit, a PUNEY of Oxford, shall make you more hatefull than Battalus the hungrye fidler.

1593. Nashe, Christ’s Teares [Works (Grosart), iv. 228]. Sharing halfe with the Baudes their Hostesses, and laughing at the PUNIES they have lurched [robbed].

1634. Marston, in Lectores, &c. [Nares]. Shall each odd PUISNE of the lawyer’s inne, Each barmy-froth, that last day did beginne, To read his little, or his nere a whit.

c. 1640 [Shirley], Captain Underwit [Bullen, Old Plays, ii. 340]. Preach to the PUISNES of the Inne sobrietie. [Puisne (i.e. PUNY) was the term applied to students at the Inns of Court; also to Freshmen at Oxford.—Bullen.]

1847. Halliwell, Arch. and Prov. Words, s.v. Punies. Freshmen at Oxford were called PUNIES for the first year.

Pupe, subs. (Harrow).—A pupil-room. [Room = class or form: each tutor is assigned a Room, for the members of which he is generally responsible, and for whom he signs orders.]

Puseum (The), subs. (Oxford).—The Pusey House in St. Giles’s Street.

Put. To be put on, verb. phr. (Dulwich).—To be told to construe.

Pux, verb (Royal High School, Edin.).—To punish with the tawse: e.g. “Did you get PUXED?”

Quad (or Quod), subs. (general).—A quadrangle.

1840. Collegian’s Guide, 144. His mother ... had been seen crossing the QUAD in tears.

1884. Daily News, Oct. 14, p. 5, col. 1. His undignified nickname is carved in the turf of the college QUAD.

Verb (Rugby).—To promenade round Cloisters at calling over before a football-match.

Quarter (The), subs. (Charterhouse).—The quarter bell.

Quarter-marks, subs. (Harrow).—The aggregate of marks for work during the term, as opposed to marks gained in Trials (q.v.).

Quarter of Paper, subs. phr. (Winchester).—A quarter of a sheet of foolscap, on which the Prose and Verse Tasks were always written.—Mansfield (c. 1840). Cf. Vessel. Also used at Westminster.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 165. Besides this, he had to carry with him into school a portfolio containing a sufficiency of QUARTERNS of paper. All or any of these articles he was supposed to supply, upon requisition, to any boy of the “upper election.”

Quill, verb (Winchester).—To curry favour; to flatter: see Quilster. Hence (latterly) TO BE QUILLED = to be pleased. Cf. Quiller = a parasite.

Quiller, subs. (Winchester).—A parasite.

Quilster, subs. (Winchester).—A toady; a lickspittle.

Quod, subs. (Felsted).—See D. (Appendix).

Rabbiter, subs. (Winchester).—A blow, delivered by the side of the hand, on the back of the neck: as in killing a rabbit.

Rabbit-Skin, subs. (University).—The academical hood. Hence TO GET ONE’S RABBIT-SKIN = to obtain the B.A. degree. [Because trimmed with rabbit fur. Also CAT’S-SKIN.]

Rack, subs. (Winchester).—A DISPAR (q.v.), or portion consisting of a joint (or chop) from a neck or loin of mutton. [Rack (Halliwell) = the neck of mutton or pork; also (Johnson) = a neck of mutton cut for the table.]

1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 4. Lu. And me thought there came in a leg of mutton. Dro. What, all grosse meat? a RACKE had beene dainty.

1706. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v. Rack.... Probably from hracca, Saxon, the back of the head.

... May, Accomplished Cook, 57. Then again, put in the crag end of the RACK OF MUTTON to make the broth good. Ibid., p. 25. Take two joynts of mutton, RACK and loin.

Rag, subs. (University).—1. An undergraduate’s gown.

1899. Answers, 14th Jan., 1. 1. This matter of the RAG is hedged about with many unwritten laws. One who has mastered these will never go to breakfast in another man’s rooms in cap and gown.... Nor will he wear the RAG in the theatre, which is strictly barred.

2. A jollification.

1900. Daily Mail, 10th Mar., 2. 4. There was keen excitement at Cambridge yesterday when the magistrates proceeded to deal with the last two prosecutions of students arising out of the notorious RAG in celebration of the relief of Ladysmith.

Ragged-soph. See Soph.

Ramrod (or Raymonder), subs. (Winchester).—A ball bowled all along the ground.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Range, verb (The Leys).—To play football in the small walled playground.

Rattle, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The hour of rising: e.g. “I got up at the RATTLE.” [From the instrument by which the boys are called.]

Rawcliffe’s, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An old tuck-shop: recently obsolete.

Rawk. See Rorke.

Reader, subs. (Winchester).—See quot.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1886), 228. Reader—An office in the gift of every Præfect in Senior Fardel (q.v.), which excused the recipient from watching out at Cricket. His business was to read out aloud the translation of any book his Master was cramming for Election examination.

Reading-shelf, subs. (Winchester).—A shelf with a drawer fixed inside the head of a boy’s bed, on which to place a candle for nocturnal studies.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Recker, The (Harrow).—The town recreation-ground: here are held the school sports.

Rector. 1. See Regent.

2. (Stonyhurst).—The Head-master. See Day.

Regent, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.: obsolete).—An assistant master: the Head-master was called “Maister” or “Principal Maister”; now “Rector.”

Remedy, subs. (Winchester).—A holiday. See Work, quot. 1891.

1484. Chapter Register of Southwell Minster. Nota generaliter. Ministri Ecclesiæ non vacant scolæ grammaticali. Magister grammaticalis non attendit debitis horis doctrinæ suorum scolarium in scola; et quam pluries indiscrete dat REMEDIUM suis scolaribus diebus ferialibus, quod quasi ad tempus nichil addiscunt, expendendo bona suorum parentum frustra et inaniter; et non locuntur latinum in scola sed anglicum.

d. 1519. Dean Colet, Statutes of St. Paul’s School. I will also that they shall have no REMEDYES. Yf the Maister granteth any REMEDYES he shall forfeit 40s., totiens quotiens, excepte the Kyng, or an Archbishopp, or a Bishop present in his own person in the Scole desire it.

1530. Thomas Magnus, Endowment Deed, Newark Grammar School. Thomas Magnus ordeyneth ... that the said maisters shall not be myche inclyned nor gyven to graunt REMEDY for Recreacyon or Dispoorte to their scolers unless it be ones in a wooke upon the Thuysday or Thursday, or that further REMEDY be requyred by any honorable or worshipfull Person or Personage, &c. &c.

1593. Rites Durham Cathedral Monastic Church [Surtees Society]. There was ... a garding and a bowling allie ... for the Novices sumetymes to recreate themselves when they had REMEDY of there master.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 49. In the short half we had at least one “REMEDY,” and a half day every week, and in summer two always; they were on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These “REMEDIES” were a kind of mitigated whole holidays. We were supposed to go into school for an hour or two in the morning and afternoon; but as no Master was present, it didn’t come to much. This was called “Books Chambers.” Remedies were not a matter of right, but were always specially applied for by Præfect of Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The custom was for him to waylay the Doctor on his way to morning chapel, and make the request, when, if granted, a gold ring was handed to the applicant, on which was engraved, “commendant rarior usus.” This ring was worn by the Præfect of Hall for the rest of the day, and returned by him to the Doctor at the beginning of middle school on the day following.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Remedy. A holiday in the half, with Books-chambers or Toy-time. Originally there was always one, and generally two REMEDIES in the week. Later every Tuesday in Easter-time and Cloister-time was a REMEDY, the Thursday’s REMEDY being often granted. Now Thursdays in Cloister-time only are REMEDIES proper in middle-school hours; there are on these days Morning-lines, and the afternoon is a half-holiday. Ascension-Day and the Queen’s Accession are holidays: all red-letter Saints’-days are Leave-out-days. Remedium seems to have been the original word for holiday: translated REMEDY.... The tradition of REMEDIES being granted by great persons survives in the custom of the Judges on Circuit demanding a Half-REMEDY.

Remi, subs. 1. (Westminster).—A holiday. Cf. Remedy.

2. (Winchester).—Remission (q.v.).

Remission (or Remi), subs. (Winchester).—See quot.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 229. Remission—When owing to a Saint’s day having fallen on the day previous to that on which a Verse or Prose Task, or Vulgus, was due, the boys were excused from doing it, there was said to be REMISSION from it.

Rep, subs. 1. (Harrow and King Edward’s, Birm.).—A repetition.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi, 65. It’s not in Selections from British Poetry which we have to get up for REP.

2. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—The REPRESENTATIVE elected by the Class to serve on the Committee of the School Club.

Repeal Garden, subs. (Stonyhurst).—One of the Higher Line Gardens. [Used for Irish declamation at the beginning of the century.] Obsolete.

Responsions. See Smalls.

Resurrection, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A sort of eat-all feast, consisting of a meeting to discuss the remnants of an Academy Do (q.v.) held on the previous day.

Rhetoric, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The Sixth Form. [From the chief work once studied in the form. Cf. Regulæ Professoris Rhetoricæ in the Ratio Studiorum Societatis Jesu.]

Rhetoric Good-day, subs. phr. (Stonyhurst).—See Good-day.

Rhetorician, subs. (Stonyhurst).—See Rhetoric.

Rigger, subs. (Durham).—A racing-boat.

Rinder, subs. (The Leys and Queen’s).—An outsider.

Riot Act, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A body of school rules, read over and commented upon by the Head Master on the first Wednesday afternoon in term before the whole school.

Ripping, subs. (Eton).—A ceremony incidental to the departure of a Senior Colleger for King’s College, Cambridge: when he has got King’s (q.v.) his gown has to be stitched up that it may be RIPPED afterwards by the Provost or his deputy.

Robinites (Charterhouse).—See Out-houses.

Rock, subs. 1. (Derby).—The school bread. See Wash.

2. (Winchester).—A medium-sized stone.

Rod-maker, subs. (Winchester).—The man who made the rods used in Bibling (q.v.).

Rogging, subs. (Stonyhurst).—Brook-fishing.

Roke, verb (Winchester).—To stir: as a fire, a liquid, &c.

1375. Percival [Halliwell]. Were they wighte, were they woke, Alle that he tille stroke He made their bodies to ROKE.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. Yet in our ashen cold is fyr i-REKE.

1847. Halliwell, Arch. Words, s.v. Roke.... To shake; to roll ... to stir liquids.

Roker, subs. (Winchester).—A ruler; a stick; a poker. See Roke. Flat-roker = a flat ruler.

Roll, subs. (Winchester).—A list of names.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 230. The ROLL par excellence is the list of the boys who have passed their examination for New College, and of those who are to come in to Winchester. There is also a ROLL printed every November, which contains the name of every one connected with the School, from the Warden to the Choristers. The lists from which the Præfects of Hall and Chapel called names; the papers on which the names of the absentees on such occasions were written; the papers on which were written the “Standing up”; the lists of the boys who had leave out on a Saints’ day; the papers put on the Master’s desk when boys wished to go out of school; those handed to the Master at the close of School by the Bible-Clerk or Ostiarius with the names of the delinquents, and many other similar papers, were all called ROLLS.

To have a roll on, verb. phr. (Shrewsbury).—See quot.

1877. Pascoe, Every-day Life, &c. Anything approaching swagger is severely rebuked; there is no more objectionable quality than that understood by the expression “He’s got such a horrid ROLL ON.”

To roll in, verb. phr. (Harrow: obs.).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 316. Another ancient barbarism survived even long after Butler’s accession. There were in the head-master’s house two public rooms for the use of his boarders—the hall and the play-room. The latter was open to all, but the hall was regarded as a sort of club-room, which no boy was allowed to enter, except at dinner and supper time, until he had become a member by being ROLLED-IN. Any one who desired the privilege of admission (and none below the upper fifth were eligible), gave in his name to the head-boy some days beforehand, in order that due preparations might be made for the inauguration. Immediately a certain number of rolls (finds they were called—etymology unknown) were ordered at the baker’s, and rebaked every morning until they were pretty nearly as hard as pebbles. At nine o’clock on the morning fixed for the ROLLING-IN, the members of the hall ranged themselves on the long table which ran along one side of the room, each with his pile of these rolls before him, and a fag to pick them up. The candidate knelt, facing them, on a form close against the opposite wall, with his head resting on his hands, so as to guard the face, while they held, as well as they could, a plate on the top of the head by way of helmet. Thus protected, the head itself formed a mark for the very peculiar missiles which were ready to be aimed. When all was ready, a time-keeper, watch in hand, gave the word—“Now!” when fast and furiously—and very spitefully, if the boy was unpopular—the rolls were showered upon the devoted head for the space of one minute, neither more nor less. Such protection as the plate gave was soon lost by its being broken to pieces. It was, as may be imagined, a very severe ordeal, the bruises being very painful for weeks afterwards.

Roller, subs. (Oxford).—A roll-call.

Room, subs. (Stonyhurst).—In Stonyhurst nomenclature, ROOM as a place-name is modern. See Duchess’ Rooms, Duke’s Room, Place, &c.

Roosh, verb (Harrow).—To rush about.

Roost, verb (Derby).—To kick hard: at football. [? Root.]

Root-about, subs. (The Leys).—Promiscuous football practice. Also as verb.

Ropes, subs. (general).—A half-back at football.

Rorke (or Rawk), subs. (Tonbridge).—A navvy. [? Latin raucus. Cf. Rorker.]

Rorker, subs. (Derby).—A street boy; a cad. [? Latin raucus. Cf. Rorke.]

Rosh (or Roush), verb (Royal Military Academy).—To bustle; to horseplay. Hence STOP ROUSHING! = an injunction to silence.

Rotten. See Appendix.

Rotter, subs. (Tonbridge).—A boy who shirks his fair share: at games, &c.; a fainéant.

Rouge, subs. (Eton).—A point in the Eton game of football: 3 ROUGES = 1 goal. Cf. Scrouge.

Verb (Felsted).—To “rag”; to “scrag.” See subs.

1895. Felstedian, April, pp. 43-4. “Vic” ... entirely baffles me, and so does the expression TO ROUGE; but the fact that it occurs in the early numbers of the Felstedian—“we won the game by one goal, three ROUGES”—points to its origin.

Round-Othello, subs. (The Leys). A Leysian tuck-shop delicacy.

Roush, subs. (Winchester).—1. A rush, or charge: as by a man, a beast, or by water.

Rowing-man, subs. (University).—A spreester; a loose fish. [“Row” as in “bough.”]

Rows, subs. (Winchester).—The fixed benches at each end of School: called respectively Senior, Middle, and Junior ROW.

Rowsterer, subs. (Derby).—A cad.

Ruck. To ruck along, verb. phr. (Oxford).—To walk quickly.

Rudiments, subs. (Stonyhurst).—The Third Form.

Rug, subs. (Rugby).—A Rugbeian.

1892. Evening Standard, 25th Nov. 4, 5. The controversy was started by the death of one who succumbed to his exertions. “An Old Medical Rug” describes the sufferings he endured.

Rugger, subs. (general).—Football: the Rugby game.

1896. Tonbridgian, No. 339, 1124. At St. John’s, Sells has developed into a good RUGGER half, Pinching is one of the best forwards, and also plays Socker for the College at times.

1897. Felstedian, Nov., p. 194. As regards RUGGER the ’Varsity team have been somewhat under-rated.

Run. To run Cloisters, verb. phr. (Winchester).—A boy was said to run Cloisters when he obtained his remove from Junior Part to Senior Part at the end of Cloister-time (a period of ten or twelve weeks at the end of Long Half).

Run. See Race.

Runabout, subs. (Charterhouse).—An irregular form of football: formerly called Compulsory.

Running-stone, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A stone set at a distance from the CRICKET-STONE (q.v.), to and from which a batsman ran when making a score. See Stonyhurst-cricket.

1885. Stonyhurst Mag., ii. 85. The distance from the Cricket-stone to the RUNNING-STONE to be twenty-seven yards.

Rusticate, verb (common).—To send away a student for a time from a College or University by way of punishment; to SHIP (q.v.). Hence RUSTICATION.

1714. Spectator, No. 596. After this I was deeply in love with a milliner, and at last with my bedmaker, upon which I was sent away, or, in the university phrase, RUSTICATED for ever.

1779. Johnson, Life of Milton, par. 12. It seems plain from his own verses to Diodati, that he had incurred RUSTICATION; a temporary dismission into the country, with perhaps the loss of a term.

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very near RUSTICATION [at Cambridge], merely for kicking up a row after a beakering party.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, lxxix. You have totally forgotten me, and the Dean informs me that you have never condescended a single line to him, which latter enquiry on my part nearly cost me a RUSTICATION.... Dear Cecil Cavendish, our gifted friend, slight of limb and soft of voice, has been RUSTICATED for immersing four bricklayers in that green receptacle of stagnant water and duckweed, yclept the “Haha.”

1841. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. viii. Non-university men sneer at RUSTICATION; they can’t see any particular punishment in having to absent yourself from your studies for a term or two.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, ch. xxx. Who, the landlord tells me, has just been RUSTICATED for insulting Dr. Doublechin.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iv. “The Master ... said as how Mr. Bouncer had better go down into the country for a year, for change of hair, and to visit his friends.” “Very kind indeed of Dr. Portman,” said our hero, who missed the moral of the story, and took the RUSTICATION for a kind forgiveness of injuries.

1885. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 29. Students who are liable at any moment to be RUSTICATED.

Saccer, subs. (Harrow).—The Sacrament. Cf. Soccer, Rugger, Brekker, Collecker, &c.

Salt, subs. (Eton).—The gratuity exacted at the now obsolete triennial festival of the Montem (q.v.).

1886. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. Salt-hill. At the Eton Montem the captain of the school used to collect money from the visitors on Montem day. Standing on a mound at Slough, he waved a flag, and persons appointed for the purpose collected the donations. The mound is still called SALT-HILL, and the money given was called SALT. The word salt is similar to the Latin sala’rium (salary), the pay given to Roman soldiers and civil officers.

1890. Speaker, 22nd Feb., 210. 2. In lively but worldly fashion we go to Eton, with its buried Montem, its “SALT! your majesty, SALT!” its gin-twirley, and its jumping through paper fires in Long-Chamber.

Salt-bearer, subs. (Eton).—See Montem.

Samson, subs. (Durham: obsolete).—A baked jam pudding.

Sanderites (Charterhouse).—The head-master’s house. [Dr. Sanders was head-master 1832-53.]

Sands, subs. (Winchester).—The pavement on the north side of Chapel in Chamber Court.

Sandwich-boat. See Bumping-race.

Sap, subs. (common).—A hard worker; a diligent student.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. ii. When I once attempted to read Pope’s poems out of school hours, I was laughed at, and called a SAP.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, 117. After several fruitless attempts to shake my determination, they pronounced me an incorrigible SAP, and leaving me to my own devices, proceeded to try their powers upon Oaklands.

1856. Whyte-Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xvii. At school, if he makes an effort at distinction in school-hours, he is stigmatised by his comrades as a SAP.

1888. Goschen, Speech at Aberdeen, Jan. 31. Remember the many epithets applied to those who, not content with doing their work, commit the heinous offence of being absorbed in it ... schools and colleges ... have invented for this purpose, with that peculiar felicity which attaches to schoolboy nomenclature, phrases, semi-classical, or wholly vernacular, such as a “SAP,” a “smug,” a “swot,” a “bloke,” a “mugster.”

Verb. To read or study hard; to sweat.

1848. C. Kingsley, Yeast, i. Sapping and studying still.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, Bk. I. ch. xii. He understands that he was sent to school to learn his lessons, and he learns them. You call that SAPPING—I call it doing his duty.

1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, ch. xii. “At it again!” exclaimed Dr. May. “Carry it away, Ethel; I will have no Latin or Greek touched these holidays.” “You know,” said Norman, “if I don’t SAP, I shall have no chance of keeping up!”

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 46. I ... haven’t to go SAPPING round to get it when I want my own tea.

Sappy, adj. (Durham).—Severe: of a caning.

Sark, verb (Sherborne).—To sulk.

Saturday-nighter, subs. (Harrow).—An exercise set for Saturday night: usually an essay, map, or poem.

Scadger, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A scamp; a rascal. Now a general colloquialism.

Scaff, subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A selfish fellow. [The adjectival forms are SCALY and SCABBY, whence may be the derivation.] Obsolete: see Scouse.

Scaldings, intj. (Winchester).—A general injunction to be gone; “Be off!”

Scan and Prove (Harrow).—See Upper School.

Scheme, subs. (Winchester).—An alarum worked by a candle. See quot.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scheme.... The candle on reaching a measured point ignites paper, which by burning a string releases a weight: this falls on the head of the boy to be waked.

Schitt, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A goal: at football. See Gowner.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Schitt.... This was the word in general use till 1860, when it was superseded by “goal.” In early Winchester football there seems to have been three methods of scoring—a goal, a gowner, a SCHITT, worth respectively 3, 2, and 1. The last behind stood between two gowns, which made a goal. The ball passing over his head or between his legs scored three, over the gowns two, over the rest of “worms” one. When the whole of “worms” was made to count equally, every goal was a SCHITT.

Schol, subs. (Harrow).—(1) A scholar; and (2) a scholarship.

School-stock, subs. (Harrow).—The old books kept by the school.

School-twelve, subs. (Harrow).—The twelve who take a leading part at the concert.

Scob (or Scobb), subs. (Winchester).—See quots.

1620. Account [to J. Hutton at his entrance into the College]. For a SCOBB to hold his books, 3s. 6d.

1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, xlii. Parker’s SCOB was 220. Scob was box in Winchester slang.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scob.... An oak box with a double lid, set at the angles of the squares of wooden benches in school. It is used as desk and book-case.... Probably the word has been transferred from the bench itself, and comes from Fr. Escabeau. Lat. Scabellum.

Sconce, verb. 1. (University: once common).—To fine; to deduct by way of fine; to discontinue. Also as subs. Whence TO BUILD A SCONCE = to run up a score (as at an alehouse, or of fines).

1632. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. sc. 2. College! I have had a head in most of the butteries of Cambridge, and it has been SCONCED to purpose.

c. 1640. [Shirley] Captain Underwit [Bullen, Old Plays, ii. 323]. Tho. I can teach you to build a SCONCE, sir.

1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Sconce. To build a large SCONCE, to run deep upon tick or trust.

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, i. p. 9 (2nd ed.). No, no, my dear, I understand more manners than to leave my friends to go to church—no, tho’ they SCONCE me a fortnight’s commons, I’ll not do it.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Sconce (v.) ... also a cant word for running up a score at an alehouse or tavern.

1760. Johnston, Chrysal, ch. xxviii. [Cooke’s ed., N.D.]. These youths have been playing a small game, cribbing from the till, and building SCONCES, and such like tricks that there was no taking hold of.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays, viii. He ran into debt with everybody that would trust him, and none could build a SCONCE better than he.

1768. Foote, Devil upon Two Sticks, ii. 1. She paid my bill the next day without SCONCING off sixpence.

1821. The Etonian, ii. 391. Was SCONCED in a quart of ale for quoting Latin, a passage from Juvenal; murmured, and the fine was doubled.

1823. Bee, Slang Dict., s.v. Sconce ... To discontinue: as SCONCE his diet = give less victuals. Sconce the reckoning = to go no further in debt, but bolt.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words, s.v. Sconce.... “To SCONCE, to eat more than another, Winton; to SCONCE, to impose a pecuniary mulct, Oxon.,” Kennett, MS. To SCONCE at Oxford, was to put a person’s name in the College buttery books by way of fine.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Sconce. The Dons fined or SCONCED for small offences; e.g. five shillings for wearing a coloured coat in hall at dinner-time. Among undergrads, a pun, or an oath, or an indecent remark, was SCONCED by the head of the table. If the offender could, however, floor the tankard of beer which he was SCONCED, he could retort on his SCONCER to the extent of twice the amount he was SCONCED in.

1883. H. T. Ellacombe [Notes and Queries, 6 S., viii. 326]. Men were SCONCED if accidentally they appeared in hall undressed. I think the SCONCE was a quantity of beer to the scouts. The SCONCE-table was hung up in the buttery.

1899. Answers, 14th Jan., i. 1. The average freshman is not very long at Oxford before he is acquainted with the mysteries of SCONCING. A SCONCE is a fine of a quart of ale, in which the unlucky fresher is mulcted for various offences in Hall.

1899. Public School Mag., Dec., p. 476. Opponents who get in each other’s way and “SCONCE” the “kicks.”

2. (Winchester).—To hinder; to get in the way: as of a kick at football, a catch at cricket, &c.: e.g. “If you had not SCONCED, I should have made a flyer!”

Scourge, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—To flog. Whence SCOURGING = a flogging of three strokes. See Scrubbing and Tund.

1883. Trollope, What I Remember.... The words “flog” or “flogging,” it is to be observed, were never heard among us, in the mouth either of the masters or the boys. We were SCOURGED.

Scout, subs. (Oxford).—A College servant: combining the duties of valet, waiter, messenger, &c.

1750. The Student, i. 55. My SCOUT indeed is a very learned fellow.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iii. Infatuated Mr. Green! If you could have foreseen that those spoons and forks would have soon passed—by a mysterious system of loss which undergraduate powers can never fathom—into the property of Mr. Robert Filcher, the excellent, though occasionally erratic, SCOUT of your beloved son ... you would have been content to have let your son and heir represent the ancestral wealth by any sham that would equally well have served his purpose!

1884. Julian Sturgis in Longmans’ Mag., v. 65. The old don went back to his chair, and ... thrust the bits into the waste-paper basket, as his “SCOUT” came in with a note.

Scrape out, verb (Winchester).—When a Præfect wished to go out of School, he SCRAPED with his foot till he got a nod from the Master.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Scrub, verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To write fast: e.g. “SCRUB it down.” Also as subs. = handwriting. [Lat. scribere.] See Strive.

Scrubbing, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—A flogging: four strokes at SCRUBBING-FORMS. See Scourge.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 109. The ordinary punishment consisted of four cuts, and was called “A SCRUBBING.” The individual who was to be punished was told “to order his name,” which he did by going to the Ostiarius, and requesting him to do so; that officer accordingly, at the end of school time, would take his name to the Master, who would then call it out, and the victim had to kneel down at Senior row, while two Juniors laid bare the regulation space of his back. The first time a boy’s name was ordered, the punishment was remitted on his pleading “Primum tempus.” For a more serious breach of duty, a flogging of six cuts (a “Bibler”) was administered, in which case the culprit had to “order his name to the Bible-Clerk,” and that individual, with the help of Ostiarius, performed the office of Jack Ketch. If a boy was detected in a lie, or any very disgraceful proceeding—a rare occurrence, I am happy to say—he had to stand up in the centre of Junior row during the whole of the school time, immediately preceding the infliction of the flogging; this pillory process was called a “Bibler under the nail.” I have also heard, that for a very heinous offence, a boy might be punished in Sixth Chamber, in which case the number of stripes was not limited; but I never knew an instance of this.

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

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scrubbing.... According to T. A. Trollope, the word in use in his day was SCOURGING: this, however, he describes as of three strokes: he does not mention “bibling.” He was in College 1820-28.

Scrutiny, subs. (Winchester: obsolete).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 62. The Oxford visitors, on their arrival, proceed at once to “Election Chamber” to hear any complaints which the boys may have to prefer. This is called the SCRUTINY, the seven senior prefects, and the seven juniors in chambers (one from each chamber), are separately questioned; but complaints are seldom made. Next morning the examination for election of scholars to New College begins—no longer in the renowned “Election Chamber” itself, but in the long “Warden Gallery,” as more convenient for the purpose; all prefects who are of standing to leave the school are examined with any other who choose.

1891. Wrench, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. Scrutiny. An examination of the seven Seniors and seven Juniors in College, on the subject of their personal comfort, &c., in College. There were two SCRUTINEES in the year; one conducted by the Warden of New College and Posers in Election Week, the other by the Wardens and Fellows of Winchester in Sealing Week.

Scud, subs. (Rugby).—A runner.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, v. “I say,” said East, as he got his wind, looking with much increased respect at Tom, “you ain’t a bad SCUD, not by no means. Well, I’m as warm as a toast now.”

Scull, subs. (University).—The head (or master) of a College.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Scull. The head, or master of a college: nearly obsolete; the gallery, however, in St. Mary’s (the Oxford University church), where the “Heads of Houses” sit in solemn state, is still nicknamed the “Golgotha” by the undergraduates.

Scull-race, subs. (University).—A University Examination.

Scuttle, verb (Christ’s Hospital, Hertford).—To cry out under oppression with a view to attracting the notice of one in authority. Hence SCUTTLE-CAT = one who SCUTTLES. Obsolete.

Second-bounce, subs. (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A kind of handball once very popular.

Second-bowler, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A wicket-keeper. See Stonyhurst-cricket.

Second-Elevens, subs. (Harrow).—(1) A match, at football, for practice: between two Houses, not as a House-match (q.v.). Also (2) a match, at cricket, between any Eleven from two Houses, save Caps (q.v.) and those in a regular game. Also Seconders.

Second-examen, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A punishment for great carelessness in study during a term: e.g. I’ve got SECOND-EXAM.

Second-guarder. See Guarder.

Second-peal. See Peal.

Semi-bejan, subs. (Aberdeen).—A student in the second class.

Semper, adj. (Winchester).—Always: e.g. I have got SEMPER leave-out. See Appendix.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 233. A very common prefix; e.g. a boy was said to be SEMPER Continent, Tardy, or Ex Trumps if he was often at Sick-house, or late for Chapel, or habitually went up to Books without having looked at his lessons. An official who was always present at the College meetings went by the name of Semper Testis.

Send. To send down, verb. phr. (University).—To expel; to rusticate. See Go down.

1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 89. Next day they were hauled and SENT DOWN.

1891. Felstedian, April, p. 32. They SENT him down for two terms for smashing a shop window.

To send up, verb. phr. (Harrow).—(1) To send up to the head-master for some offence. Also (2) of an exercise sent up to the head-master as “very good.”

Senior. See Junior.

Senior Hall (Shrewsbury).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 246. The boarders reside chiefly either in the head-master’s house, or SENIOR HALL, as it is called, or in a house adjoining rented by him, and called the “Junior Hall.” The second-master also has a “Hall,” which will accommodate about twenty. But the buildings are old, in many cases badly adapted for their present use, and have either been purchased, built, or rented from time to time by the head-master as the numbers of the school required.

Senior Part, subs. (Winchester).—See Books.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 233. Senior Part, the Fifth—The part next below the Præfects, generally called SENIOR PART.

1900. St. James’s Gazette, Mar. 15, “Arnoldiana.” One day they were both invited to breakfast by the Head, in the company of a “stupid boy” from SENIOR PART.

Senior Soph. See Soph.

Servant, subs. (Eton).—See Montem.

Servitor, subs. (old).—See Sizer.

Seventh-chamber, subs. (Winchester).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 23. The schoolroom was still SEVENTH-CHAMBER—Magna illa domus, as the founder’s directions call it—though, as some of the commoners must have been taught together with the scholars, it is difficult to understand how so many could have found room there without great confusion.

Shack, subs. (Felsted).—A share. Whence TO GO SHACK = to give a share.

Shadow, subs. (Westminster).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 187. When a boy is first placed in the school he is attached to another boy in the same form something in the relation of an apprentice. The new boy is called the “SHADOW,” the other, the “Substance.” For the first week the SHADOW follows the Substance everywhere, takes his place next to him in class, accompanies him as he rises or falls, and is exempt from any responsibility for his own mistakes in or out of school. During this interval of indulgence, his patron is expected to initiate him in all the work of the school, to see that he is provided with the necessary books and other appliances, and, in short, to teach him by degrees to enter upon a substantial and responsible existence of his own.

She, subs. (Charterhouse).—A plum-pudding. Cf. He.

Sheep, subs. (Aberdeen).—A second classman or undergraduate.

1865. Macdonald, Alec Forbes, ii. 5. At length a certain semi (second-classman, or more popularly SHEEP) stood up to give his opinion on some subject in dispute.

Sheepskin, subs. (University).—The diploma received on taking a degree. [Because inscribed on parchment.] Hence a person who has taken a degree.

Shell, subs. (originally Westminster).—See quot.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, 178. At the end of this room [the school-room] there is a kind of semicircular apse, in which the SHELL form were formerly taught, and the shape of which is said to have given rise to this name, since adopted at several other public schools.

Shepherd, subs. (Harrow).—Every sixth boy in Cricket-bill (q.v.): he answers for the five below him being present.

Shield (The), subs. (Harrow).—The Ashburton Shield: shot for at Bisley by Public School Eights.

Shig, subs. (Winchester).—A shilling.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Shimmy, subs. (Felsted: obsolete).—A shirt.

Shin, verb (Eton).—To kick on the shins.

1864. Eton School-days, xiii. He could not go out of his tutor’s if there happened to be any one in the yard without some one throwing a stone at him, or hissing, or SHINNING him if he passed near enough.

Ship, verb. 1. (Sherborne).—To turn a boy out of bed with his mattress on top of him. Cf. Launch.

2. (general).—To RUSTICATE (q.v.).

Shirk, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An old building of some dimensions, containing a number of private rooms; erected for temporary use, but since found of too much service to be demolished.

1884. Stonyhurst Mag., i. 277. Gothic architecture of all descriptions, including Elizabethan, was trampled out by the Renaissance (revived Greek), of which SHIRK is a very bad specimen (where it tries to be ornamental, as in its triangular pediment and the pilasters beside the larger window).

Verb. 1. (Eton).—To hide when liable to be caught out of bounds. Obsolete.

2. (Winchester).—See Hills.

Shirkster, subs. (Winchester).—One who shirks.

To shirk in, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To walk into water when bathing.

To shirk out, verb. phr. (Winchester).—To go out contrary to rules.

Shirt-sleevie, subs. (Loretto).—A dance; on winter Saturday evenings, and sometimes in the open air at the end of summer term. [The costume is rational de rigeur: a flannel shirt open at neck and flannel trousers—no coat or waistcoat may be worn.]

Shootabout, subs. (Charterhouse).—An irregular form of football.

Shooter, subs. (Harrow).—A black morning coat: as distinguished from the tail-coat worn by the Fifth and Sixth Forms.

Shorts, subs. (general).—Flannel trousers; CUTS (q.v.).

Shot, intj. (Royal High School, Edin.).—A cry of warning at the approach of a master.

Out by shot, phr. (Stonyhurst).—At football when the ball before going out hits one of the opposite side to the one who last kicked. See Force.

Shuffle, verb (Winchester).—To pretend; to feign: as “to SHUFFLE asleep.” Hence SHUFFLER.

Shy, subs. (Eton).—A point at the Wall (q.v.) game.

Siberia, subs. (Felsted).—A section of the house containing many private rooms. [From its supposed temperature in winter.]

1889. Felstedian, July, 65. There lieth here a district which hath the name SIBERIA: and also its people are called not Siberians, but SIBERIA.

Sick-house, subs. (Winchester).—The College sanatorium, which stands in Sick-house meads. See also Box-house and Box-buildings.

Silver-fork, subs. (Winchester).—A wooden skewer used as a chop-stick when forks were scarce.—Mansfield (c. 1840).

Silver-pence, subs. (Westminster).—Small money rewards—which were the pride of Westminsters in Cowper’s day—are still continued. The coins are furnished to the school by the Queen’s almoner in their unmilled state, prior to their issue as currency. Some are given by the head-master every week, and are valued quite as much as more substantial prizes. Silver money is also furnished by the college steward to the guests at the Elections dinners, that they may be prepared to reward the epigrams; but this is the ordinary coin of the realm.

Sim, subs. (Cambridge).—A Simeonite, or member of the Evangelical section of the Church of England. The modern equivalent is Pi-man (q.v.). [From the Rev. Charles Simeon (1759-1836), fifty-four years Vicar of Holy Trinity, Cambridge.]

1826. Todd, The Sizar’s Table [Whibley, Cap and Gown, 109]. Some carnally given to women and wine, Some apostles of Simeon, all pure and divine.

1853. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 39. While passing for a terribly hard reading-man, and a SIM of the straightest kind with the empty bottles.

Simon, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.: obsolete).—A cane. [Acts ix. 43.]

Sines, subs. (Winchester).—Bread. A SINES = a small loaf.

Single, subs. (Harrow).—A room for exclusive use: thus DOUBLE (q.v.).

Sink, subs. (The Leys).—(1) A heavy feed; a “stodge.” Also (2) one who indulges therein; a glutton.

Sitter, subs. (Oxford and Harrow).—A sitting-room.

Six, subs. (Oxford).—A W.C.

Six-and-Six, subs. (Winchester).—Football: six a side. Cf. Twenty-Two and Twenty-Two. See Appendix.

Sixes, subs. (The Leys).—Football teams for competition—six a side. See Kid, and Appendix.

Six of ..., phr. (Harrow).—An order to the value of sixpence. Thus SIX OF SAUSAGES WITH (archaic) = sixpennyworth of sausages with potatoes.

Sixpenny, subs. (Eton).—A large field for football and cricket. See Playing-fields.

1864. Eton School-days, vi. I tell you plainly, if you are not in SIXPENNY after twelve, I will do my best to give you a hiding wherever I meet you.

Six-raps, subs. (Stonyhurst: recently obsolete).—A game consisting chiefly in rapping balls across the playground to be caught by others.

1887. Stonyhurst Mag., iii. 18, “Stonyhurst in the Fifties.” Six raps, it may be remarked, was in those days played with a miniature Stonyhurst-cricket (q.v.) ball.

Size, subs. (Cambridge).—An allowance of bread, &c., for a particular price; but see quots. Whence SIZINGS.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Works, ii. 68]. The Maister Butler of Pembrooke Hall, a farre better Scholler than thy selfe, (in my iudgement) and one that sheweth more discretion and gouernment in setting vp a SISE of Bread, than thou in all thy whole booke.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, ii. 4. To bandy hasty words, to scant my SIZES.

1614. Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit at Several Weapons, ii. To be so strict A niggard to your commons, that you’re fain To SIZE your belly out with shoulder fees, With kidnies, rumps, &c.

1620. Minsheu, Dict., s.v. Size. A farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter S.

1632. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. 2. College! I have had a head in most of the butteries of Cambridge, and it has been sconced to purpose. I know what belongs to SIZING, and have answered to my cue in my days.

1656. BLOUNT, Glossographia, ... Size.—A farthing’s worth of bread or drink which scholars at Cambridge had at the buttery.

1773. Hawkins, Origin of the Drama, iii. 271. You are still at Cambridge with your SIZE cue.

1795. Gent. Mag., p. 21. In general, a SIZE is a small plateful of any eatable; and at dinner, TO SIZE is to order for yourself any little luxury that may chance to tempt you, in addition to the general fare, for which you are expected to pay the cook at the end of the term.

1823. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Size. To feed with SIZES, or small scraps.

1853. Bristed, Five Years, 20. Go through a regular second course instead of the SIZINGS.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.

Verb (Cambridge).—To order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in College hall. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate per SIZE, or portion, to the college cook. Whence, to pay one’s share of the expense: as at a supper-party. Sizing-party = a number of students who contribute each his own part towards a supper, &c.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Size ... If a man asks you to sup he treats you: if TO SIZE, you pay for what you eat, liquors only being provided by the inviter.

1853. Bristed, Eng. Univ., 19. Soup, pastry, and cheese can be SIZED FOR.

Sizer (or Sizar), subs. (Cambridge).—A poor scholar. They were elected annually; paid rent for rooms and other fees on a lower scale than ordinary students; and got their dinners including sizings (see Size, subs. and verb) from what was left at the Upper or Fellows’ table, free, or nearly so. They were equivalent to the BATTLERS (q.v.) or SERVITORS (q.v.) of Oxford.

1574. [R. W. Church, Spenser (1888), ch. i. p. 9.] On the 20th of May, he was admitted SIZAR, or serving clerk at Pembroke Hall.

1670. J. Eachard, Contempt of the Clergy [Arber’s Garner, vol. vii. p. 257]. They took therefore, heretofore, a very good method to prevent SIZARS overheating their brains. Bed-making, chamber-sweeping, and water-fetching were doubtless great preservatives against too much vain philosophy.

1779. Johnson, Life of Milton, Par. 7. He was ... removed in the beginning of his sixteenth year to Christ’s College in Cambridge, where he entered a SIZAR, Feb. 12, 1624.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Oxford in the Long Vacation). In moods of humility I can be a SIZAR, or a Servitor. When the peacock vein rises, I strut a Gentleman Commoner.