A Collection of College Words and Customs | Page 2

buried between the dusty shelves of the second-hand collection of
some rusty old bibliopole. By reason of this extreme caution, the volume has been out of
print for the last four years.
In the present edition, the contents of the work have been carefully revised, and new
articles, filling about two hundred pages, have been interspersed throughout the volume,
arranged under appropriate titles. Numerous additions have been made to the collection
of technicalities peculiar to the English universities, and the best authorities have been
consulted in the preparation of this department. An index has also been added, containing
a list of the American colleges referred to in the text in connection with particular words
or customs.
The Editor is aware that many of the words here inserted are wanting in that refinement
of sound and derivation which their use in classical localities might seem to imply, and
that some of the customs here noticed and described are "More honored in the breach
than the observance." These facts are not, however, sufficient to outweigh his conviction
that there is nothing in language or manners too insignificant for the attention of those
who are desirous of studying the diversified developments of the character of man. For
this reason, and for the gratification of his own taste and the tastes of many who were
pleased at the inceptive step taken in the first edition, the present volume has been
prepared and is now given to the public.
TROY, N.Y., February 2, 1856.

A COLLECTION OF COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS.

A.

A.B. An abbreviation for Artium Baccalaureus, Bachelor of Arts. The first degree taken
by students at a college or university. It is usually written B.A., q.v.
ABSIT. Latin; literally, let him be absent; leave of absence from commons, given to a
student in the English universities.--Gradus ad Cantab.
ACADEMIAN. A member of an academy; a student in a university or college.
ACADEMIC. A student in a college or university.
A young academic coming into the country immediately after this great competition,
&c.--Forby's Vocabulary, under Pin-basket.
A young academic shall dwell upon a journal that treats of trade, and be lavish in the
praise of the author; while persons skilled in those subjects hear the tattle with
contempt.--Watts's Improvement of the Mind.
ACADEMICALS. In the English universities, the dress peculiar to the students and
officers.
I must insist on your going to your College and putting on your academicals.--The
Etonian, Vol. II. p. 382.
The Proctor makes a claim of 6s. 8d. on every undergraduate whom he finds inermem, or
without his academicals.--Gradus ad Cantab., p. 8.
If you say you are going for a walk, or if it appears likely, from the time and place, you
are allowed to pass, otherwise you may be sent back to college to put on your
academicals.--Collegian's Guide, p. 177.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. At Harvard College, every student admitted upon examination,
after giving a bond for the payment of all college dues, according to the established laws
and customs, is required to sign the following acknowledgment, as it is called:--"I
acknowledge that, having been admitted to the University at Cambridge, I am subject to
its laws." Thereupon he receives from the President a copy of the laws which he has
promised to obey.--Laws Univ. of Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 13.
ACT. In English universities, a thesis maintained in public by a candidate for a degree, or
to show the proficiency of a student.--Webster.
The student proposes certain questions to the presiding officer of the schools, who then
nominates other students to oppose him. The discussion is syllogistical and in Latin and
terminates by the presiding officer questioning the respondent, or person who is said to
keep the act, and his opponents, and dismissing them with some remarks upon their
respective merits.--Brande.
The effect of practice in such matters may be illustrated by the habit of conversing in
Latin, which German students do much more readily than English, simply because the

former practise it, and hold public disputes in Latin, while the latter have long left off
"keeping Acts," as the old public discussions required of candidates for a degree used to
be called.--Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 184.
The word was formerly used in Harvard College. In the "Orders of the Overseers," May
6th, 1650, is the following: "Such that expect to proceed Masters of Arts [are ordered] to
exhibit their synopsis of acts required by the laws of the College."--Quincy's Hist. Harv.
Univ., Vol. I. p. 518.
Nine Bachelors commenced at Cambridge; they were young men of good hope, and
performed their acts so as to give good proof of their proficiency in the tongues and
arts.--Winthrop's Journal, by Mr. Savage, Vol. I. p. 87.
The students of the first classis that have