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A Collection of College Words and Customs written by Benjamin Homer Hall

B >> Benjamin Homer Hall >> A Collection of College Words and Customs




2. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an essay upon a given
subject, written in view of a prize, and publicly recited in the
chapel of the college to which the writer belongs.


DECLAMATION BOARDS. At Bowdoin College, small establishments in
the rear of each building, for urinary purposes.


DEDUCTION. In some of the American colleges, one of the minor
punishments for non-conformity with laws and regulations is
deducting from the marks which a student receives for recitations
and other exercises, and by which his standing in the class is
determined.

Soften down the intense feeling with which he relates heroic
Rapid's _deductions_.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 267.

2. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an original proposition
in geometry.

"How much Euclid did you do? Fifteen?"

"No, fourteen; one of them was a _deduction_."--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 75.

With a mathematical tutor, the hour of tuition is a sort of
familiar examination, working out examples, _deductions_,
&c.--_Ibid._, pp. 18, 19.


DEGRADATION. In the older American colleges, it was formerly
customary to arrange the members of each class in an order
determined by the rank of the parent. "Degradation consisted in
placing a student on the list, in consequence of some offence,
below the level to which his father's condition would assign him;
and thus declared that he had disgraced his family."

In the Immediate Government Book, No. IV., of Harvard College,
date July 20th, 1776, is the following entry: "Voted, that
Trumbal, a Middle Bachelor, who was degraded to the bottom of his
class for his misdemeanors when an undergraduate, having presented
an humble confession of his faults, with a petition to be restored
to his place in the class in the Catalogue now printing, be
restored agreeable to his request." The Triennial Catalogue for
that year was the first in which the names of the students
appeared in an alphabetical order. The class of 1773 was the first
in which the change was made.

"The punishment of degradation," says President Woolsey, in his
Historical Discourse before the Graduates of Yale College, "laid
aside not very long before the beginning of the Revolutionary war,
was still more characteristic of the times. It was a method of
acting upon the aristocratic feelings of family; and we at this
day can hardly conceive to what extent the social distinctions
were then acknowledged and cherished. In the manuscript laws of
the infant College, we find the following regulation, which was
borrowed from an early ordinance of Harvard under President
Dunster. 'Every student shall be called by his surname, except he
be the son of a nobleman, or a knight's eldest son.' I know not
whether such a 'rara avis in terris' ever received the honors of
the College; but a kind of colonial, untitled aristocracy grew up,
composed of the families of chief magistrates, and of other
civilians and ministers. In the second year of college life,
precedency according to the aristocratic scale was determined, and
the arrangement of names on the class roll was in accordance. This
appears on our Triennial Catalogue until 1768, when the minds of
men began to be imbued with the notion of equality. Thus, for
instance, Gurdon Saltonstall, son of the Governor of that name,
and descendant of Sir Richard, the first emigrant of the family,
heads the class of 1725, and names of the same stock begin the
lists of 1752 and 1756. It must have been a pretty delicate matter
to decide precedence in a multitude of cases, as in that of the
sons of members of the Council or of ministers, to which class
many of the scholars belonged. The story used to circulate, as I
dare say many of the older graduates remember, that a shoemaker's
son, being questioned as to the quality of his father, replied,
that _he was upon the bench_, which gave him, of course, a high
place."--pp. 48, 49.

See under PLACE.


DEGRADE. At the English universities to go back a year.

"'_Degrading_,' or going back a year," says Bristed, "is not
allowed except in case of illness (proved by a doctor's
certificate). A man _degrading_ for any other reason cannot go out
afterwards in honors."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
98.

I could choose the year below without formally
_degrading_.--_Ibid._, p. 157.


DEGREE. A mark of distinction conferred on students, as a
testimony of their proficiency in arts and sciences; giving them a
kind of rank, and entitling them to certain privileges. This is
usually evidenced by a diploma. Degrees are conferred _pro
meritis_ on the alumni of a college; or they are honorary tokens
of respect, conferred on strangers of distinguished reputation.
The _first degree_ is that of _Bachelor of Arts_; the _second_,
that _of Master of Arts_. Honorary degrees are those of _Doctor of
Divinity_, _Doctor of Laws_, &c. Physicians, also, receive the
degree of _Doctor of Medicine_.--_Webster_.


DEGREE EXAMINATION. At the English universities, the final
university examination, which must be passed before the B.A.
degree is conferred.

The Classical Tripos is generally spoken of as _the_ Tripos, the
Mathematical one as _the Degree Examination_.--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 170.


DELTA. A piece of land in Cambridge, which belongs to Harvard
College, where the students kick football, and play at cricket,
and other games. The shape of the land is that of the Greek
Delta, whence its name.

What was unmeetest of all, timid strangers as we were, it was
expected on the first Monday eventide after our arrival, that we
should assemble on a neighboring green, the _Delta_, since devoted
to the purposes of a gymnasium, there to engage in a furious
contest with those enemies, the Sophs, at kicking football and
shins.--_A Tour through College_, 1823-1827, p. 13.

Where are the royal cricket-matches of old, the great games of
football, when the obtaining of victory was a point of honor, and
crowds assembled on the _Delta_ to witness the all-absorbing
contest?--_Harvardiana_, Vol. I. p. 107.

I must have another pair of pantaloons soon, for I have burst the
knees of two, in kicking football on the _Delta_.--_Ibid._, Vol.
III. p. 77.

The _Delta_ can tell of the deeds we've done,
The fierce-fought fields we've lost and won,
The shins we've cracked,
And noses we've whacked,
The eyes we've blacked, and all in fun.
_Class Poem, 1849, Harv. Coll._

A plat at Bowdoin College, of this shape, and used for similar
purposes, is known by the same name.


DEMI, DEMY. The name of a scholar at Magdalene College, Oxford,
where there are thirty _demies_ or half-fellows, as it were, who,
like scholars in other colleges, succeed to
fellowships.--_Johnson_.


DEN. One of the buildings formerly attached to Harvard College,
which was taken down in the year 1846, was for more than a
half-century known by the name of the _Den_. It was occupied by
students during the greater part of that period, although it was
originally built for private use. In later years, from its
appearance, both externally and internally, it fully merited its
cognomen; but this is supposed to have originated from the
following incident, which occurred within its walls about the year
1770, the time when it was built. The north portion of the house
was occupied by Mr. Wiswal (to whom it belonged) and his family.
His wife, who was then ill, and, as it afterwards proved, fatally,
was attended by a woman who did not bear a very good character, to
whom Mr. Wiswal seemed to be more attentive than was consistent
with the character of a true and loving husband. About six weeks
after Mrs. Wiswal's death, Mr. Wiswal espoused the nurse, which,
circumstance gave great offence to the good people of Cambridge,
and was the cause of much scandal among the gossips. One Sunday,
not long after this second marriage, Mr. Wiswal having gone to
church, his wife, who did not accompany him, began an examination
of her predecessor's wardrobe and possessions, with the intention,
as was supposed, of appropriating to herself whatever had been
left by the former Mrs. Wiswal to her children. On his return from
church, Mr. Wiswal, missing his wife, after searching for some
time, found her at last in the kitchen, convulsively clutching the
dresser, her eyes staring wildly, she herself being unable to
speak. In this state of insensibility she remained until her
decease, which occurred shortly after. Although it was evident
that she had been seized with convulsions, and that these were the
cause of her death, the old women were careful to promulgate, and
their daughters to transmit the story, that the Devil had appeared
to her _in propria persona_, and shaken her in pieces, as a
punishment for her crimes. The building was purchased by Harvard
College in the year 1774.

In the Federal Orrery, March 26, 1795, is an article dated
_Wiswal-Den_, Cambridge, which title it also bore, from the name
of its former occupant.

In his address spoken at the Harvard Alumni Festival, July 22,
1852, Hon. Edward Everett, with reference to this mysterious
building as it appeared in the year 1807, said:--

"A little further to the north, and just at the corner of Church
Street (which was not then opened), stood what was dignified in
the annual College Catalogue--(which was printed on one side of a
sheet of paper, and was a novelty)--as 'the College House.' The
cellar is still visible. By the students, this edifice was
disrespectfully called 'Wiswal's Den,' or, for brevity, 'the Den.'
I lived in it in my Freshman year. Whence the name of 'Wiswal's
Den' I hardly dare say: there was something worse than 'old fogy'
about it. There was a dismal tradition that, at some former
period, it had been the scene of a murder. A brutal husband had
dragged his wife by the hair up and down the stairs, and then
killed her. On the anniversary of the murder,--and what day that
was no one knew,--there were sights and sounds,--flitting garments
daggled in blood, plaintive screams,--_stridor ferri tractaeque
catenae_,--enough to appall the stoutest Sophomore. But for
myself, I can truly say, that I got through my Freshman year
without having seen the ghost of Mr. Wiswal or his lamented lady.
I was not, however, sorry when the twelvemonth was up, and I was
transferred to that light, airy, well-ventilated room, No. 20
Hollis; being the inner room, ground floor, north entry of that
ancient and respectable edifice."--_To-Day_, Boston, Saturday,
July 31, 1852, p. 66.

Many years ago there emigrated to this University, from the wilds
of New Hampshire, an odd genius, by the name of Jedediah Croak,
who took up his abode as a student in the old _Den_.--_Harvard
Register_, 1827-28, _A Legend of the Den_, pp. 82-86.


DEPOSITION. During the first half of the seventeenth century, in
the majority of the German universities, Catholic as well as
Protestant, the matriculation of a student was preceded by a
ceremony called the _deposition_. See _Howitt's Student Life in
Germany_, Am. ed., pp. 119-121.


DESCENDAS. Latin; literally, _you may descend_. At the University
of Cambridge, Eng., when a student who has been appointed to
declaim in chapel fails in eloquence, memory, or taste, his
harangue is usually cut short "by a testy _descendas_."--_Grad. ad
Cantab._


DETERMINING. In the University of Oxford, a Bachelor is entitled
to his degree of M.A. twelve terms after the regular time for
taking his first degree, having previously gone through the
ceremony of _determining_, which exercise consists in reading two
dissertations in Latin prose, or one in prose and a copy of Latin
verses. As this takes place in Lent, it is commonly called
_determining in Lent_.--_Oxf. Guide_.


DETUR. Latin; literally, _let it be given_.

In 1657, the Hon. Edward Hopkins, dying, left, among other
donations to Harvard College, one "to be applied to the purchase
of books for presents to meritorious undergraduates." The
distribution of these books is made, at the commencement of each
academic year, to students of the Sophomore Class who have made
meritorious progress in their studies during their Freshman year;
also, as far as the state of the funds admits, to those members of
the Junior Class who entered as Sophomores, and have made
meritorious progress in their studies during the Sophomore year,
and to such Juniors as, having failed to receive a _detur_ at the
commencement of the Sophomore year, have, during that year, made
decided improvement in scholarship.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam.,
Mass._, 1848, p. 18.

"From the first word in the short Latin label," Peirce says,
"which is signed by the President, and attached to the inside of
the cover, a book presented from this fund is familiarly called a
_Detur_."--_Hist. Harv. Univ._, p. 103.

Now for my books; first Bunyan's Pilgrim,
(As he with thankful pleasure will grin,)
Tho' dogleaved, torn, in bad type set in,
'T will do quite well for classmate B----,
And thus with complaisance to treat her,
'T will answer for another _Detur_.
_The Will of Charles Prentiss_.

Be not, then, painfully anxious about the Greek particles, and sit
not up all night lest you should miss prayers, only that you may
have a "_Detur_," and be chosen into the Phi Beta Kappa among the
first eight. Get a "_Detur_" by all means, and the square medal
with its cabalistic signs, the sooner the better; but do not
"stoop and lie in wait" for them.--_A Letter to a Young Man who
has just entered College_, 1849, p. 36.

Or yet,--though 't were incredible,
--say hast obtained a _detur_!
_Poem before Iadma_, 1850.


DIG. To study hard; to spend much time in studying.

Another, in his study chair,
_Digs_ up Greek roots with learned care,--
Unpalatable eating.--_Harv. Reg._, 1827-28, p. 247.

Here the sunken eye and sallow countenance bespoke the man who
_dug_ sixteen hours "per diem."--_Ibid._, p. 303.

Some have gone to lounge away an hour in the libraries,--some to
ditto in the grove,--some to _dig_ upon the afternoon
lesson.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 77.


DIG. A diligent student; one who learns his lessons by hard and
long-continued exertion.

A clever soul is one, I say,
Who wears a laughing face all day,
Who never misses declamation,
Nor cuts a stupid recitation,
And yet is no elaborate _dig_,
Nor for rank systems cares a fig.
_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 283.

I could see, in the long vista of the past, the many honest _digs_
who had in this room consumed the midnight oil.--_Collegian_, p.
231.

And, truly, the picture of a college "_dig_" taking a walk--no, I
say not so, for he never "takes a walk," but "walking for
exercise"--justifies the contemptuous estimate.--_A Letter to a
Young Man who has just entered College_, 1849, p. 14.

He is just the character to enjoy the treadmill, which perhaps
might be a useful appendage to a college, not as a punishment, but
as a recreation for "_digs_."--_Ibid._, p. 14.

Resolves that he will be, in spite of toil or of fatigue,
That humbug of all humbugs, the staid, inveterate "_dig_."
_Poem before Iadma of Harv. Coll._, 1850.

There goes the _dig_, just look!
How like a parson he eyes his book!
_The Jobsiad_, in _Lit. World_, Oct. 11, 1851.

The fact that I am thus getting the character of a man of no
talent, and a mere "_dig_," does, I confess, weigh down my
spirits.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 224.

By this 't is that we get ahead of the _Dig_,
'T is not we that prevail, but the wine that we swig.
_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 252.


DIGGING. The act of studying hard; diligent application.

I find my eyes in doleful case,
By _digging_ until midnight.--_Harv. Reg._, p. 312.

I've had an easy time in College, and enjoyed well the "otium cum
dignitate,"--the learned leisure of a scholar's life,--always
despised _digging_, you know.--_Ibid._, p. 194.

How often after his day of _digging_, when he comes to lay his
weary head to rest, he finds the cruel sheets giving him no
admittance.--_Ibid._, p. 377.

Hopes to hit the mark
By _digging_ nightly into matters dark.
_Class Poem, Harv. Coll._, 1835.

He "makes up" for past "_digging_."
_Iadma Poem, Harv. Coll._, 1850.


DIGNITY. At Bowdoin College, "_Dignity_," says a correspondent,
"is the name applied to the regular holidays, varying from one
half-day per week, during the Freshman year, up to four in the
Senior."


DIKED. At the University of Virginia, one who is dressed with more
than ordinary elegance is said to be _diked out_. Probably
corrupted from the word _decked_, or the nearly obsolete
_dighted_.


DIPLOMA. Greek, [Greek: diploma], from [Greek: diploo], to
_double_ or fold. Anciently, a letter or other composition written
on paper or parchment, and folded; afterward, any letter, literary
monument, or public document. A letter or writing conferring some
power, authority, privilege, or honor. Diplomas are given to
graduates of colleges on their receiving the usual degrees; to
clergymen who are licensed to exercise the ministerial functions;
to physicians who are licensed to practise their profession; and
to agents who are authorized to transact business for their
principals. A diploma, then, is a writing or instrument, usually
under seal, and signed by the proper person or officer, conferring
merely honor, as in the case of graduates, or authority, as in the
case of physicians, agents, &c.--_Webster_.


DISCIPLINE. The punishments which are at present generally adopted
in American colleges are warning, admonition, the letter home,
suspension, rustication, and expulsion. Formerly they were more
numerous, and their execution was attended with great solemnity.
"The discipline of the College," says President Quincy, in his
History of Harvard University, "was enforced and sanctioned by
daily visits of the tutors to the chambers of the students, fines,
admonitions, confession in the hall, publicly asking pardon,
degradation to the bottom of the class, striking the name from the
College list, and expulsion, according to the nature and
aggravation of the offence."--Vol. I. p. 442.

Of Yale College, President Woolsey in his Historical Discourse
says: "The old system of discipline may be described in general as
consisting of a series of minor punishments for various petty
offences, while the more extreme measure of separating a student
from College seems not to have been usually adopted until long
forbearance had been found fruitless, even in cases which would
now be visited in all American colleges with speedy dismission.
The chief of these punishments named in the laws are imposition of
school exercises,--of which we find little notice after the first
foundation of the College, but which we believe yet exists in the
colleges of England;[20] deprivation of the privilege of sending
Freshmen upon errands, or extension of the period during which
this servitude should be required beyond the end of the Freshman
year; fines either specified, of which there are a very great
number in the earlier laws, or arbitrarily imposed by the
officers; admonition and degradation. For the offence of
mischievously ringing the bell, which was very common whilst the
bell was in an exposed situation over an entry of a college
building, students were sometimes required to act as the butler's
waiters in ringing the bell for a certain time."--pp. 46, 47.

See under titles ADMONITION, CONFESSION, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT,
DEGRADATION, FINES, LETTER HOME, SUSPENSION, &c.


DISCOMMUNE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., to prohibit an
undergraduate from dealing with any tradesman or inhabitant of the
town who has violated the University privileges or regulations.
The right to exercise this power is vested in the Vice-Chancellor.

Any tradesman who allows a student to run in debt with him to an
amount exceeding $25, without informing his college tutor, or to
incur any debt for wine or spirituous liquors without giving
notice of it to the same functionary during the current quarter,
or who shall take any promissory note from a student without his
tutor's knowledge, is liable to be _discommuned_.--_Lit. World_,
Vol. XII. p. 283.

In the following extracts, this word appears under a different
orthography.

There is always a great demand for the rooms in college. Those at
lodging-houses are not so good, while the rules are equally
strict, the owners being solemnly bound to report all their
lodgers who stay out at night, under pain of being
"_discommonsed_," a species of college
excommunication.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 81.

Any tradesman bringing a suit against an Undergraduate shall be
"_discommonsed_"; i.e. all the Undergraduates are forbidden to
deal with him.--_Ibid._, p. 83.

This word is allied to the law term "discommon," to deprive of the
privileges of a place.


DISMISS. To separate from college, for an indefinite or limited
time.


DISMISSION. In college government, dismission is the separation of
a student from a college, for an indefinite or for a limited time,
at the discretion of the Faculty. It is required of the dismissed
student, on applying for readmittance to his own or any other
class, to furnish satisfactory testimonials of good conduct during
his separation, and to appear, on examination, to be well
qualified for such readmission.--_College Laws_.

In England, a student, although precluded from returning to the
university whence he has been dismissed, is not hindered from
taking a degree at some other university.


DISPENSATION. In universities and colleges, the granting of a
license, or the license itself, to do what is forbidden by law, or
to omit something which is commanded. Also, an exemption from
attending a college exercise.

The business of the first of these houses, or the oligarchal
portion of the constitution [the House of Congregation], is
chiefly to grant degrees, and pass graces and
_dispensations_.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. xi.

All the students who are under twenty-one years of age may be
excused from attending the private Hebrew lectures of the
Professor, upon their producing to the President a certificate
from their parents or guardians, desiring a _dispensation_.--_Laws
Harv. Coll._, 1798, p. 12.


DISPERSE. A favorite word with tutors and proctors; used when
speaking to a number of students unlawfully collected. This
technical use of the word is burlesqued in the following passages.

Minerva conveys the Freshman to his room, where his cries make
such a disturbance, that a proctor enters and commands the
blue-eyed goddess "_to disperse_." This order she reluctantly
obeys.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. IV. p. 23.

And often grouping on the chains, he hums his own sweet verse,
Till Tutor ----, coming up, commands him to _disperse_.
_Poem before Y.H. Harv. Coll._, 1849.


DISPUTATION. An exercise in colleges, in which parties reason in
opposition to each other, on some question proposed.--_Webster_.

Disputations were formerly, in American colleges, a part of the
exercises on Commencement and Exhibition days.


DISPUTE. To contend in argument; to reason or argue in opposition.
--_Webster_.

The two Senior classes shall _dispute_ once or twice a week before
the President, a Professor, or the Tutor.--_Laws Yale Coll._,
1837, p. 15.


DIVINITY. A member of a theological school is often familiarly
called a _Divinity_, abbreviated for a Divinity student.

One of the young _Divinities_ passed
Straight through the College yard.
_Childe Harvard_, p. 40.


DIVISION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., each of the three
terms is divided into two parts. _Division_ is the time when this
partition is made.

After "_division_" in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, a student,
who can assign a good plea for absence to the college authorities,
may go down and take holiday for the rest of the time.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 63.


DOCTOR. One who has passed all the degrees of a faculty, and is
empowered to practise and teach it; as, a _doctor_ in divinity, in
physic, in law; or, according to modern usage, a person who has
received the highest degree in a faculty. The degree of _doctor_
is conferred by universities and colleges, as an honorary mark of
literary distinction. It is also conferred on physicians as a
professional degree.--_Webster_.


DOCTORATE. The degree of a doctor.--_Webster_.

The first diploma for a doctorate in divinity given in America was
presented under the seal of Harvard College to Mr. Increase
Mather, the President of that institution, in the year
1692.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 68.


DODGE. A trick; an artifice or stratagem for the purpose of
deception. Used often with _come_; as, "_to come a dodge_ over
him."

No artful _dodge_ to leave my school could I just then prepare.
_Poem before Iadma, Harv. Coll._, 1850.

Agreed; but I have another _dodge_ as good as yours.--_Collegian's
Guide_, p. 240.

We may well admire the cleverness displayed by this would-be
Chatterton, in his attempt to sell the unwary with an Ossian
_dodge_.--_Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 191.