Part 17

_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.