Part 15
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._).