Part 7
*Commoner-grub*, _subs._ (Winchester).—A dinner formerly given by COMMONERS (_q.v._) to College after cricket matches.
*Commoners-speaking*, _subs._ (Winchester).—The day on which the speakers, selected from among the INFERIORS (_q.v._), declaimed.
*Common Innings*, _subs._ (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—A form of cricket.
*Common-time*, _subs._ (Winchester).—The Short Half, and beginning of Long up to Easter time.
*Commons*, _subs._ (University).—Rations of bread, butter, and milk, supplied from the buttery. [When a number of men breakfast together, the student whose rooms are the rendezvous tells his scout the names of those _in_-college men who are coming to breakfast with him. The scout then collects their COMMONS, which thus forms the substratum of the entertainment. The other things are of course supplied by the giver of the breakfast, and are sent in by the confectioner. As to the knives and forks and crockery, the scout produces them from his common stock.]
1853. BRADLEY, _Verdant Green_, viii. Of course you’d like to take out an æger, sir; and I can bring you your COMMONS just the same.
*Compo*, _subs._ (King Edward’s, Birm.).—The championship competition in the gymnasium, or at fives; place-kicking.
*Compositions*, _subs._ (Stonyhurst).—Three days coming at the end of each quarter, during which the composition work of the various Forms is tested. According to the results is arranged the “Order of Compositions,” which is accepted as fixing a boy’s place in his Form for the ensuing quarter. There is a hill some distance from the College known as “Composition Hill,” so called because the Poets (_q.v._) went there for inspiration on composition days. The first and second boys according to the order of Compositions are known respectively as “Roman Imperator” and “Carthaginian Imperator.” The last Compositions of the year used to be known as the “Great Compositions.” By them the Form medals, &c., were decided.
*Compound-kish* (or *Hish*), _subs._ (Marlborough).—The rules of the Latin compound sentence.
*Compul*, _adj._ and _adv._ (Harrow).—That is, “compulsory.”
*Compulsory*, _subs._ (Charterhouse).—_See_ RUNABOUT.
*Con*, _subs._ 1. (Winchester).—A rap on the head with the knuckles, or with anything hard, such as a cricket ball. Also as _verb_: to rap with the knuckles. [The derivation formerly accepted at Winchester was κονδυλον = a knuckle, but the editors of the _Wykehamist_ suggest its origin in the North Country _con_, “to fillip,” with which the French _se cogner_ exactly corresponds.]
2. (general).—That is, “construe.” Hence TO GET A CONSTRUE = to get some one to translate a piece.
*Conduct*, _subs._ (Eton).—A chaplain.
1867. COLLINS, _The Public Schools_, p. 163. I was stopped on my entry into school by the “Minos.” The title of “CONDUCT,” by which the chaplains of Eton College are known, was for many years ludicrously misprinted by the successive editors of Horace Walpole’s Letters, who made him talk of “standing funking over against a conduit to be catechised.”
*Conduit*, _subs._ (Winchester).—(1) In College, a water-tap; (2) in Commoners, a lavatory.
*Continent*, _adv._ (Winchester).—Ill; on the sick-list: _cf._ ABROAD. [From _continens cameram vel lectum_.] Hence CONTINENT-ROOM = a sick-chamber.
1605. SHAKSPEARE, _Lear_, i. 2. I pray you have a CONTINENT forbearance; ... if you do stir abroad, go armed.
_c._ 1840. MANSFIELD, _School-Life at Winchester College_, p. 146. When a boy felt ill, or inclined to quit school for a period, he had to get leave CONTINENT, which was done by sending a boy in the morning first to get leave from his tutor, and then from the Head Master.
1878. ADAMS, _Wykehamica_, p. 224. We suggested the “CONTINENT room”; and on being required to say what was to become of the sick boys? replied, that it was notorious that there was never anything the matter with them!
1881. _Felstedian_, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” I remember that I have to get “LEAVE CONTINENT” for one of the fellows, _i.e._ he wants to be “æger for the day” (“continent,” of course = “keeping indoors,” being confined to “sick house” or the infirmary). I have to ask leave from the senior præfect in chambers, the præfect of hall, the second master, and the head-master, whom I waylay going to chapel.
*Cool* (or *Cool-kick*), _subs._ (Eton).—A kick at football with no one near. Also as _verb_ = to kick hard.
*Copus*, _subs._ (University).—A wine or beer cup: commonly imposed as a fine upon those who talked Latin in Hall, or committed other breaches of etiquette. [Dr. Johnson derives it from _episcopus_, and if this be correct it is doubtless the same as BISHOP.]
*Copy*, _subs._ (Harrow).—An asterisk: _e.g._ as placed on the broadsheet against the name of any boy who comes out top of his division in any subject; three COPIES secure a prize in Speech-room. _See_ Appendix.
*Corn* (The), _subs._ (Oxford).—Cornmarket Street.
*Corner*, _intj._ (The Leys).—Look out! Clear the way! [Originally shouted as a warning by boys cycling about the buildings on approaching a corner.]
*Corner-monitor*, _subs._ (Harrow).—The monitor in turn at BILL (_q.v._) to keep line and preserve order generally.
*Corps-board*, _subs._ (Harrow).—The Rifle Corps notice-board.
*Cosh*, _subs._ (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A caning. Also as _verb_ = to cane. A rarer word is TANK (_q.v._).
*Cots*, _subs._ (Christ’s Hospital).—_See_ quot. [A corruption of “cotton.”]
1810. CHARLES LAMB, _Recollections of Christ’s Hospital_ [1835], p. 24. The COTS, or superior Shoe Strings of the Monitors.
*Coup*, _verb._ 1. (Durham).—To upset: in frequent use on the river. [North dia. COUP = to empty or overset.]
2. (Stonyhurst).—At BANDY (_q.v._), to lift the ball from the ground by means of the crook of the stick.
*Course*, _subs._ (Winchester).—Duty: in _rota_. IN COURSE = on duty. [COURSE-KEEPER (obsolete) = a Commoner who drew up a table of fagging duties.—WRENCH.]
_c._ 1840. MANSFIELD, _School-Life at Winchester_, 206. COURSE-KEEPER, an office in the patronage of the Commoner Præfects, the duties of which were principally connected with the organisation of the fagging department. He was required to have been three years in the school, to be of reasonable bodily strength, and in Middle Part. His privileges were numerous, the principal being that he was allowed to fag. When he ascended into Senior Part his duties ceased, but his privileges remained; he was then called EX-COURSE-KEEPER.
*Court, The* (Stonyhurst).—The quadrangle behind the College Towers; now more commonly called the Quadrangle. [“Quadrangle” was one of the names which puzzled the Claimant in the famous Tichborne Trial. _Cf._ _Times_ reports; also _Stonyhurst Magazine_, vol. i. p. 294, and vol. ii. p. 317.]
*Courts*, _subs._ (Sherborne).—The school quadrangles: the earliest known use of the term is at the end of the sixteenth century.
*Cowshed*, _subs._ (Christ’s Hospital). _See_ Appendix.
_c._ 1890. _More Gleanings from_ THE BLUE, 84. Time was when it was looked upon as a sacred duty on the first Sunday of each term to introduce Hertford boys to those three stones in the Ditch which represent the toffee man, to show them his six little children, his brush and comb, his windmill, and whatsoever else belonging to him the imaginative youth can discern in the bare stones under the COWSHED, as it is called. Those “sermons in stones” belonged essentially to Sunday.
*Cow-shooter*, _subs._ (Winchester: obsolete).—A “deer-stalker” hat: worn by Præfects and CANDLE-KEEPERS (_q.v._).
*Coxy*, _adj._ (general).—Stuck up; conceited; impudent. [COXY = conceited (Warwickshire).—HALLIWELL.]
1856. HUGHES, _Tom Brown’s School-days_, p. 202. He’s the COXIEST young blackguard in the house—I always told you so. _Ibid._, p. 214. “Confoundedly COXY those young rascals will get if we don’t mind,” was the general feeling.
1882. F. ANSTEY, _Vice Versâ_, ch. iv. “Now then, young Bultitude, you used to be a decent fellow enough last term, though you were COXY. So, before we go any further—what do you mean by this sort of thing?”
*Coy*, _adv._ (Sherborne).—Shy.
*Crackle* (or *Crackling*), _subs._ (University).—The velvet bars on the gowns of the JOHNIAN “HOGS” (_q.v._). [From a resemblance to the scored rind on roast pork.] The covered bridge between one of the courts and the grounds of John’s is called the Isthmus of Suez (Latin _sus_, a swine).
1885. CUTHBERT BEDE, in _Notes and Queries_, 6 S., xi. 414. The word CRACKLE refers to the velvet bars on the students’ gowns.
*Cram*, _subs._ (general).—An adventitious aid to study; a translation; a crib. As _verb_ = to study at high pressure. Hence, CRAMMER = a COACH (_q.v._); a GRINDER (_q.v._); and CRAMMING = studying hard.
1803. _Gradus ad Cantab._, s.v.
1812. Miss EDGEWORTH, _Patronage_, ch. iii. Put him into the hands of a clever grinder or CRAMMER, and they would soon cram the necessary portion of Latin and Greek into him.
1825. HONE, _Every-Day Book_, Feb. 22. Shutting my room door ... and CRAMMING Euc.
1841. _Punch_, vol. i. p. 201, col. 1. Aspirants to honours in law, physic, or divinity, each know the value of private CRAMMING.
1844. _Puck_, p. 13. Though for Great Go and for Small, I teach Paley, CRAM and all.
1853. BRADLEY (“C. Bede”), _Verdant Green_, pt. II. p. 68. The infatuated Mr. Bouncer madly persisted ... in going into the school clad in his examination coat, and padded over with a host of CRAMS.
1863. CHARLES READE, _Hard Cash_, i. p. 16. “All this term I have been (‘training’ scratched out and another word put in: c—r oh, I know) CRAMMING.” “CRAMMING, love?” “Yes, that is Oxfordish for studying.”
1869. SPENCER, _Study of Sociology_, ch. xv. 574 (9th ed.). And here, by higher culture, I do not mean mere language-learning, and an extension of the detestable CRAMMING system at present in use.
1872. BESANT AND RICE, _My Little Girl_. The writer of one crushing article CRAMMED for it, like Mr. Pott’s young man.
1872. _Evening Standard_, Aug. 16. “The Competition Wallah.” The CRAMMER follows in the wake of competitive examinations as surely as does the shadow the body.
1872. _Daily News_, Dec. 20. Competitive examinations for the public service defeated in a great measure the object of their promoters, which was to place rich and poor on an equality, because success was made to depend very largely on successful CRAMMING, which meant a high-priced CRAMMER.
*Crib*, _subs._ (general).—A surreptitious aid to study. Also as _verb_.
1841. _Punch_, i. 177. CRIBBING his answers from a tiny manual ... which he hides under his blotting-paper. _Ibid._, 185. He has with a prudent forethought stuffed his CRIBS inside his double-breasted waistcoat.
1855. THACKERAY, _Newcomes_, ch. xxii. I wish I had read Greek a little more at school, ... when we return I think I shall try and read it with CRIBS.
1856. T. HUGHES, _Tom Brown’s School-days_, pt. II. ch. vi. Tom, I want you to give up using vulgus books and CRIBS. _Ibid._, ii. 3. Two highly moral lines ... which he CRIBBED entire from one of his books.
1889. _Globe_, 12th Oct., p. 1, col. 4. Always, it seems likely, there will be men “going up” for examinations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily “Heathen Pass-ee” like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had CRIBS up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.
*Crick, The* (Rugby). _See_ quot.
1890. _Great Public Schools_, 182. THE CRICK is the most celebrated of all school runs. Everybody, I fancy, in the running world has heard of it. On a day at the end of the Christmas term—generally on the first Thursday in December—you may see all the School assembled at the “Quad gates.”... THE CRICK is only run once a year. Its course is along roads and footpaths to Crick village, and then back by Hillmorton, the finish being a length of about a third of a mile along the Hillmorton Road. It is a race pure and simple; and is in this respect a race against time.... The length of the race is supposed to be about eleven or twelve miles, and the time in which it is run is generally between an hour and twenty minutes and an hour and a half.
*Cricket-bill*, _subs._ (Harrow).—A “call-over” on the cricket-ground. All fall into line, down which a master goes noting the number of those absent as stated by the SHEPHERDS (_q.v._).
*Cricket-Quarter*, _subs._ (Charterhouse).—_See_ LONG QUARTER.
*Croc*, _subs._ (Cheltenham).—A ladies’ school when walking out.
*Crocketts*, _subs._ (Winchester).—A kind of bastard cricket, sometimes called “small CROCKETTS.” A stump was used and a fives ball, with a bat of plain deal about two inches broad, or a broomstick. TO GET CROCKETTS = to fail to score; to get a “duck’s egg.” _Cf._ BOOKS.
_c._ 1840. MANSFIELD, _School-Life at Winchester College_, p. 122. The more noisily disposed would indulge in ... playing Hicockolorum, or CROCKETTS.
*Cropple*, _verb_ (Winchester).—To pluck; to plough—UP TO Books. [_Wykehamicé_ for _cripple_.]
*Cross.* TO BE CROSSED, _verb. phr._—For not paying term bills to the bursar (treasurer), or for cutting chapels, or lectures, or other offences, an undergrad. can be CROSSED at the buttery, or kitchen, or both, _i.e._ a CROSS is put against his name by the Don, who wishes to see him, or to punish him.
1853. BRADLEY (“Cuthbert Bede”), _Verdant Green_, pt. II. ch. x. Sir!—You will translate all your lectures; have your name CROSSED on the buttery and kitchen books; and be confined to chapel, hall, and college.
*Crow*, _subs._ (Stonyhurst).—A master. [From the black gown with “wings.”]
*Crown* (Charterhouse).—The school tuck-shop.
1900. TOD, _Charterhouse_, 96. At Old Charterhouse the word CROWN, with a sort of coronet above it, was painted in large white letters on a wall near the racket courts. The story is that the Crown Inn once stood just outside this wall.... When the inn was pulled down, Lord Ellenborough, then a boy in the school, painted a crown on a wall near the place where the inn had stood. Years after, on his return from India, being touched to find his boyish work still in existence, he expressed a hope that it might never be allowed to vanish; so it has been painted again from time to time, and Merchant Taylors’ still keep it fresh. This “CROWN” was not near the tuck-shop, which was a grimy cellar under the old school, with the face of a disused clock for a signboard, and the superscription, “NO TICK HERE.” But it was thought fit that the memory of this old word should be kept up somehow and somewhere at the new school, so a large theatrical-looking crown was suspended, like a tavern sign, outside the school tuck-shop in the pavilion. In this way the name and memory of this bit of antiquity are preserved.
*Crow Wood* (Stonyhurst).—A wood in the Park.
1884. _Stonyhurst Mag._, June, p. 294. The churn was in the latter days [1834] turned by a wheel worked by water supplied from the CROW WOOD.
*Crug*, _subs._ 1. (Christ’s Hospital).—At Hertford, a crust; in the London school, crust and crumb alike.
1820. LAMB, _Elia_ (_Christ’s Hospital_) [_Works_ (1852), 322]. He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter of a penny loaf—our CRUG.
2. A BLUE (_q.v._); especially an “old boy.”
1877. BLANCH, _Blue-Coat Boys_, p. 80. All CRUGS will well remember, &c.
*Cruganaler*, _subs._ (Christ’s Hospital).—A biscuit given on St. Matthew’s Day. [Orthography dubious. Blanch inclines to the following derivation: “The biscuit had once something to do with those nights when bread and beer, with cheese, were substituted for bread-and-butter and milk. Thence the term ‘crug and aler.’ The only argument against this is the fact that the liquid was never dignified with the name of ale, but was invariably called ‘the swipes.’ By another derivation = ‘hard as nails.’ It is then spelt CRUGGYNAILER.”] Obsolete.
*Cruggy*, _adj._ (Christ’s Hospital).—Hungry. [From CRUG (_q.v._).]
*Crump*, _subs._ (Winchester).—A hard hit; a fall. Also as _verb_.
*Cud*, _adj._ 1. (Winchester).—Pretty; handsome. [A suggested derivation is from κυδος; another is the A.S. _cuð_, the Scots _couthie_, and whence _cuðle_, to cuddle (a derivative of _cuð_), the meaning formerly given to a verbal usage of CUD at Winchester.]
2. (Christ’s Hospital).—Severe. Whence CUDDY = hard: difficult; said of a lesson. Also _Hertfordicé_ for PASSY (_q.v._). [There is a common hard biscuit called a “cuddy-biscuit” which doubtless has this derivation.] Obsolete.
*Culminate*, _verb_ (University: obsolete).—To mount a coach-box.
1803. _Gradus ad Cantabrigiam_, s.v.
*Cup-fag*, _subs._ (Charterhouse).—A boy whose duty it is to place the challenge cups, should his House have any, in their cases each morning, and remove them to a safe place every night. He has also to keep them clean, and for neglect of any of these duties he is fined. He receives a quarterly payment for his services, and is exempt from other forms of fagging.
*Curtain.* ABOVE THE CURTAIN, _phr._ (Westminster).—_See_ quot.
1867. COLLINS, _The Public Schools_, p. 108. A curtain formerly was drawn across the school, dividing the upper forms from the lower. One day a boy was so unlucky as to tear it; and Busby’s known severity left no doubt of the punishment that would follow. The offender was in despair, when a generous schoolfellow volunteered to take the blame upon himself and suffered in his friend’s stead accordingly.... In three year’s time he was sufficiently advanced to be admitted by Busby ABOVE THE CURTAIN—that is, into the fourth class, the lowest in the upper school. Of this class, however, he says the head-master “took little or no care,” but as he rose into the higher forms he found the teaching more satisfactory.
*Cuse*, _subs._ (Winchester).—A book in which a record is kept of the “marks” in each division; a CLASSICUS PAPER (_q.v._): also used for the weekly order.
*Custos*, _subs._ (Harrow).—The official who looks after all arrangements in the way of stationery, &c., keeps the keys, cuts names on the House-boards, &c.
Also _see_ ADMONISHING-MONEY.
*Cut*, _verb_ (general).—To avoid; to absent oneself from: _e.g._ TO CUT LECTURE, TO CUT CHAPEL, TO CUT HALL, TO CUT GATES. _See_ Appendix.
TO CUT INTO, _verb. phr._ (Winchester).—Originally to hit one with a “ground ash.” The office was exercised by Bible-clerks upon a man kicking up a row when up to Books. Now generally used in the sense of to correct in a less formal manner than TUNDING (_q.v._).
TO CUT IN A BOOK, _verb. phr._ (Winchester).—_See_ quot.
_c._ 1840. MANSFIELD, _School-Life at Winchester_ (1866). CUT IN A BOOK.—A method of drawing lots. A certain letter was fixed on (_e.g._ the first in the second line on the left page), each boy then turned over a leaf, and whoever turned over the leaf in which the corresponding letter was nearest to A, won.
*Cuts*, _subs._ (general).—Flannel trousers; SHORTS (_q.v._).
*Dab*, _subs._ (Harrow).—The entrance examination: held at the beginning of term.
To be a DAB = to be skilled at anything. Hence, the two entrance examinations, one at the end of term, and the other at the very beginning of the next, are the SKEW (_q.v._) and the DAB respectively. The DAB offers no second chance; hence a bad candidate tries the “skew” first.
*Dame*, _subs._ (Eton).—A mathematical or other master (except a classical) who keeps a boarding-house for boys in College. Also (obsolete) at Harrow. _See_ Appendix, and quot. 1867.
1786-1805. TOOKE, _Parley_, 390, s.v. BATTEL. A term used at Eton for the small portion of food which in addition to the College allowance the Collegers receive from their DAMES.
1865. _Etoniana_, 133. Formerly these [boarding] houses were almost entirely kept by “DAMES” or “Dominies”—the latter being the old style when there was a male head of the establishment, though now the term “DAMES” applies to all without reference to sex. Tutors and assistant-masters used to live in most of these houses, but had no charge over the boys. Only the lower master and some of the senior assistant-masters kept houses of their own. There are now twenty boarding-houses kept by masters, and ten by “DAMES”—of whom four only are ladies.
1866-72. “MAC,” _Sketchy Memories of Eton_ (1885). I am thankful to say that I did not attend the show. But I happened to see the World conducted back to his DAME’S, and the spectacle was gruesome. The punishment inflicted had been very considerable, and I do not think the World appeared in public for quite a fortnight.
1867. COLLINS, _The Public Schools_ [Harrow], p. 293. All these [sixteen boarding-houses other than the head-master’s] are kept by assistant-masters, and form one considerable source of their income. No DAMES’ boarding-houses are now sanctioned; and for the good order of his establishment each master is responsible.
1890. _Great Public Schools_, 16. Until recently some of the boarding-houses were kept by assistant-masters, the remainder by “dominies” or “DAMES,” who took no part in the work of education, and had little or no disciplinary jurisdiction. The boys, therefore, who boarded in DAMES’ houses had as their tutors assistant-masters residing elsewhere. Now, although there remains only one female DAME, the teachers of mathematics, science, and French are for some purposes accounted DAMES.
*Damnation-corner*, _subs._ (Eton).—_See_ quot., and DAMNATION-HILL (Appendix).
1866-72. “MAC,” _Sketchy Memories of Eton_ (1885). Meanwhile, “regardless of our doom, we little victims played,” or rather watched the play; we little knew what cruel fate awaited us, or that the present head-master of Eton and the Rev. F. W. Cornish lay in ambush for our outcoming behind that very sharp turn in the High Street, which, on account of its acute angle, and the consequent danger of being nailed in shirking in old days, was somewhat flippantly termed DAMNATION-CORNER.
*Dancing Gallery, The* (Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The old name of the Picta Gallery.
1884. _Stonyhurst Mag._, i. 290. The gallery now known as “Our Lady’s Gallery,” which in former times was designated THE DANCING GALLERY. It is by competent judges pronounced to be one of the finest bits of “Baronial Gothic” architecture in England, but the door is quite a solecism, for it is of a much later design.
*Dark Walk, The* (Stonyhurst).—A long avenue of tall yew trees in the garden. Tradition says the last of the Shireburns was poisoned by eating some of the berries from these trees. _Cf._ _Stonyhurst Mag._, ii. 179; iv. 703.
1885. _Stonyhurst Mag._, i. 179. The DARK WALK formerly extended a considerable way nearer the house than now, and when the Jesuits came it was found necessary to encroach upon the gardens to make room for the playgrounds, and a certain part of the DARK WALK was taken in.
*Darker* (Harrow).—The photographic “dark-room”: formerly under the Science Schools.
*Dark-lanthorn* (Harrow).—_See_ JACK-O’-LANTERN.
*Date-card*, _subs._ (Haileybury).—_See_ quot.