A Collection of College Words and Customs. Benjamin Homer Hall
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CAMPUS. At the College of New Jersey, the college yard is denominated the Campus. Back Campus, the privies.
CANTAB. Abridged for CANTABRIGIAN.
It was transmitted to me by a respectable Cantab for insertion. —Hone's Every-day Book, Vol. I. p. 697.
Should all this be a mystery to our uncollegiate friends, or even to many matriculated Cantabs, we advise them not to attempt to unriddle it.—Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 39.
CANTABRIGIAN. A student or graduate of the University of Cambridge, Eng. Used also at Cambridge, Mass., of the students and inhabitants.
CANTABRIGICALLY. According to Cambridge.
To speak Cantabrigically.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 28.
CAP. The cap worn by students at the University of Cambridge, Eng., is described by Bristed in the following passage: "You must superadd the academical costume. This consists of a gown, varying in color and ornament according to the wearer's college and rank, but generally black, not unlike an ordinary clerical gown, and a square-topped cap, which fits close to the head like a truncated helmet, while the covered board which forms the crown measures about a foot diagonally across."—Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 4.
A similar cap is worn at Oxford and at some American colleges on particular occasions.
See OXFORD.
CAP. To uncover the head in reverence or civility.
The youth, ignorant who they were, had omitted to cap them.—Gent. Mag., Vol. XXIV. p. 567.
I could not help smiling, when, among the dignitaries whom I was bound to make obeisance to by capping whenever I met them, Mr. Jackson's catalogue included his all-important self in the number. —The Etonian, Vol. II. p. 217.
The obsequious attention of college servants, and the more unwilling "capping" of the undergraduates, to such a man are real luxuries.—Blackwood's Mag., Eng. ed., Vol. LVI. p. 572.
Used in the English universities.
CAPTAIN OF THE POLL. The first of the Polloi.
He had moreover been Captain (Head) of the Poll.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 96.
CAPUT SENATUS. Latin; literally, the head of the Senate. In Cambridge, Eng., a council of the University by which every grace must be approved, before it can be submitted to the senate. The Caput Senatus is formed of the vice-chancellor, a doctor in each of the faculties of divinity, law, and medicine, and one regent M.A., and one non-regent M.A. The vice-chancellor's five assistants are elected annually by the heads of houses and the doctors of the three faculties, out of fifteen persons nominated by the vice-chancellor and the proctors.—Webster. Cam. Cal. Lit. World, Vol. XII. p. 283.
See GRACE.
CARCER. Latin. In German schools and universities, a prison.—Adler's Germ, and Eng. Dict.
Wollten ihn drauf die Nürnberger Herren
Mir nichts, dir nichts ins Carcer sperren. Wallenstein's Lager.
And their Nur'mberg worships swore he should go
To jail for his pains—if he liked it, or no. Trans. Wallenstein's Camp, in Bohn's Stand. Lib., p. 155.
CASTLE END. At Cambridge, Eng., a noted resort for Cyprians.
CATHARINE PURITANS. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the members of St. Catharine's Hall are thus designated, from the implied derivation of the word Catharine from the Greek [Greek: katharos], pure.
CAUTION MONEY. In the English universities, a deposit in the hands of the tutor at entrance, by way of security.
With reference to Oxford, De Quincey says of caution money: "This is a small sum, properly enough demanded of every student, when matriculated, as a pledge for meeting any loss from unsettled arrears, such as his sudden death or his unannounced departure might else continually be inflicting upon his college. In most colleges it amounts to £25; in one only it was considerably less."—Life and Manners, p. 249.
In American colleges, a bond is usually given by a student upon entering college, in order to secure the payment of all his college dues.
CENSOR. In the University of Oxford, Eng., a college officer whose duties are similar to those of the Dean.
CEREVIS. From Latin cerevisia, beer. Among German students, a small, round, embroidered cap, otherwise called a beer-cap.
Better authorities … have lately noted in the solitary student that wends his way—cerevis on head, note-book in hand—to the professor's class-room, … a vast improvement on the Bursche of twenty years ago.—Lond. Quart. Rev., Am. ed., Vol. LXXIII. p. 59.
CHAMBER. The apartment of a student at a college or university. This word, although formerly used in American colleges, has been of late almost entirely supplanted by the word room, and it is for this reason that it is here noticed.
If any of them choose to provide themselves with breakfasts in their own chambers, they are allowed so to do, but not to breakfast in one another's chambers.—Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. II. p. 116.
Some ringleaders gave up their chambers.—Ibid., Vol. II. p. 116.
CHAMBER-MATE. One who inhabits the same room or chamber with another. Formerly used at our colleges. The word CHUM is now very generally used in its place; sometimes room-mate is substituted.
If any one shall refuse to find his proportion of furniture, wood, and candles, the President and Tutors shall charge such delinquent, in his quarter bills, his full proportion, which sum shall be paid to his chamber-mate.—Laws Harv. Coll., 1798, p. 35.
CHANCELLOR. The chancellor of a university is an officer who seals the diplomas, or letters of degree, &c. The Chancellor of Oxford is usually one of the prime nobility, elected by the students in convocation; and he holds the office for life. He is the chief magistrate in the government of the University. The Chancellor of Cambridge is also elected from among the prime nobility. The office is biennial, or tenable for such a length of time beyond two years as the tacit consent of the University may choose to allow.—Webster. Cam. Guide.
"The Chancellor," says the Oxford Guide, "is elected by convocation, and his office is for life; but he never, according to usage, is allowed to set foot in this University, excepting on the occasion of his installation, or when he is called upon to accompany any royal visitors."—Ed. 1847, p. xi.
At Cambridge, the office of Chancellor is, except on rare occasions, purely honorary, and the Chancellor himself seldom appears at Cambridge. He is elected by the Senate.
2. At Trinity College, Hartford, the Chancellor is the Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, and is also the Visitor of the College. He is ex officio the President of the Corporation.—Calendar Trin. Coll., 1850, pp. 6, 7.
CHAPEL. A house for public worship, erected separate from a church. In England, chapels in the universities are places of worship belonging to particular colleges. The chapels connected with the colleges in the United States are used for the same purpose. Religious exercises are usually held in them twice a day, morning and evening, besides the services on the Sabbath.
CHAPEL. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the attendance at daily religious services in the chapel of each college at morning and evening is thus denominated.
Some time ago, upon an endeavor to compel the students of one college to increase their number of "chapels," as the attendance is called, there was a violent outcry, and several squibs were written by various hands.—Westminster Rev., Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 235.