Station.On station,adv. phr.(Westminster).—The attendance, by juniors, on the games in the “Green” in Great Dean’s Yard, or, on a rainy day, in College.
1867.Collins,The Public Schools, p. 186. The juniors are expected to remainON STATIONin college for the short intervals after breakfast and after dinner, and at other times in the playgrounds (the “Green” in Dean’s Yard or Vincent Square, according to the time of year or the game that happens to be in season); except on decidedly wet days, whenSTATIONis always in college.
Statue(The),subs.(Stonyhurst).—A statue of the Virgin looked after by the boys. They have “Month of May” devotions, and write “May verses” in her honour.
Stay.To stay out,verb. phr.1. (Eton).—To stay out of school.Seequot.
1883.Brinsley-Richards,Seven Years at Eton. Sometimes Blazes had a lazy fit, and put himself on the sick-list for a day. This was calledSTAY OUT, for the reason that one had to stay in.
1866-72. “Mac,”Sketchy Memories of Eton. Many things at Eton were called by misnomers, in the construction of which thelucus a non lucendoprinciple came out very strong. Thus, when we stayed in, we said we wereSTAYING OUT; when “absence” was called, we had to bepresent; athirdof a year was called ahalf, &c. &c.
2. (Rugby).—To go on the sick-list.
Stedman promo,subs.(Charterhouse).—An unexpected (and probably undeserved) promotion. [Because announced in the lists printed by Mr. R. B. Stedman, the school bookseller at Godalming.]
-ster,inseparable suffix(Winchester).—The termination agent: as Brockster, Mugster, Thokester, Quilster, &c.
Stew,verb(Stonyhurst).—To study. WhenceStew-pot= a hard student.
St. George,subs.(Eton).—SeeFourth of June.
1891.Harry Fludyer, 120. Well, about the boat procession. It went off splendid. You know I’m in theSt. George, and Forker Major—a great heavy brute—is our captain, and Tipkins is steerer.
Sticking-up,subs.(Winchester).—Seequot.
c.1840.Mansfield,School-Life at Winchester(1866), 236.Sticking-up.—On the last three Fridays of each Half, a boy was selected by appointment of Commoner Præfects and Course-keeper, and placed on the top ofToys(q.v.) in their Hall, and was pelted withPontos(q.v.) by the rest. The followingPeals(q.v.) were chanted previously, one on each day: “Locks and Keys,” “Boots and Leathers,” and “Gomer Hats.”
Stick-ups,subs.(Harrow).—Stand-up, or high collars: as opposed to “turn-downs.” The rules as to collars are very intricate, and differ in various Houses. At CharterhouseSTICK-UPSare not permissible until the end of the first year.
Stinks,subs.(general).—Chemistry. Also as a nickname for a lecturer thereon.
Stizzle,verb(Tonbridge).—To cane.
Stodge,subs.(Charterhouse).—The inside of a roll; the crumb of new bread.
Verb(Tonbridge).—To hurt.
Stodger,subs.(Charterhouse and Tonbridge).—A penny bun.
Stone(The),subs.(Christ’s Hospital: obsolete).—The Steward’s table in Hall.To go to the stone= to go up for trial, judgment, and sentence for misconduct.
1844.Reminis. of Christ’s Hospital[The Blue, Aug. 1874]. With respect to misconduct out of school hours, the several monitors were the police, and the Steward the sole judge. When first appointed, the young monitors displayed excessive zeal in the discovery of delinquencies, and would call out with as much severity as it was possible to throw into the voice of a youth of fourteen, “Go toTHE STONE, you, sir!” “The stone” was the name given to the Steward’s table in the Hall, where offenders were tried, judgment delivered, and sentence carried out, immediately after meals. The mildest punishment consisted of caning on the open hand (ironically termed “cakes”), and next in severity was flogging with the birch (called “brushing”); and Fate, with a grim sense of humour which we failed to appreciate at the time, decreed that the head beadle in our time, who was appointed to administer the said brushings and cakes, should bear the appropriate name of Honey.
Stonyhurst-cricket(orFootball).SeeAppendix.
Stop.To stop out,verb. phr.(Harrow and Charterhouse).—To absent oneself from school: at Harrow, through indisposition.
Stopping-up, subs. (Stonyhurst).—An extra time of study allowed to elder boys when the rest have gone to bed:e.g.“I am going toSTOPPING-UPto-night.”
Strangers’ Place,subs.(Stonyhurst: obsolete).—The guest-rooms. When a boy had friends staying in the College he was said to be “in theSTRANGERS’ PLACE.”Cf.Place.
Straw,subs.1. (Harrow).—A straw hat worn by the whole school all the year round, except on Sundays and at games. TheELEVEN STRAW= a speckled black-and-white straw hat worn by the Cricket Eleven.
2. (Rugby).—For two years after his first term (during which a silk hat or “topper” wasde rigueur) a boy wears a black-and-white speckled straw hat with a black ribbon. Each House has its own distinctive ribbon. At the end of his third year a boy could “take” his “white straw,” but he was not expected to do this unless he were aSwell(q.v.).
AlsoseeClean Straw.
Strawer,subs.(general).—A straw hat.
Stretch,subs.(University).—A walk.
Strive,verb(Christ’s Hospital).—To write with care:seeScrub.E.g.“Copy this!” “Shall ISTRIVE, Sir, or ‘scrub’ it down?”
Stub,verb(Felsted).—To kick a football about.
1888.Felstedian, Dec., p. 98. Now these hollow globes [footballs] flying through the air, collide with their sandals, and this colliding they callSTUBBING.Ibid.(Nov. 1896, 153). Boys are fined forSTUBBINGon a forty higher than their own.
1895.Felstedian, June, p. 104. Among plausible etymologies it is attempted to deriveSTUBfrom “the sound made by a stubbed football.” ... But the wordSTUBdeserves to be rescued from its fate. I had always imagined it to be an East Anglian word for “kick,” but it is, to the best of my belief, obsolete in England.... A contributor toNotes and Queries, writing on a totally different subject, quoted the following words from a speech by an American judge: “As a barefooted boy ISTUBBEDmy chapped toes over a rough New England farm.” [Stubis commonly dialectical, in the sense of “to grub.”]
Stuckling,subs.(Winchester).—A kind of flat pastry made of the current year’s apples and dried currants.
1847.Halliwell,Archaic Words, s.v.Stuckling. An apple pasty, thin, somewhat half circular in shape, and not made in a dish.
1883.Trollope,What I Remember....Stucklingwas a kind of flat pastry made of chopped apples and currants. And the speciality of it was that the apples must be that year’s apples. They used to be sent up from Devonshire or Cornwall, and sometimes were with difficulty obtained.
1891.Wrench,Winchester Word-Book, s.v.Stuckling. A pudding at Election dinner, made of meat, apple, and carraway.
Study-place,subs.(Stonyhurst).—A study.Cf.Place.
Stuggy,adj.(general).—Thick-set. [Stuggy(Devon) = thick, stout.]
Stumper,subs.(Tonbridge).—Small cricket played with a stump.
Stumps,subs.(Harrow).—Cricket played with a stump and a soft ball.
Styx,subs.(The Leys).—A urinal.Cf.Hades.
Sub-minister,subs.(Stonyhurst).—The superior responsible for the health of the house.SeeMinister.
Substance,subs.(Westminster).—SeeShadow.
Suck,subs.(University).—A parasite; a toady.
Suction,subs.(Winchester).—Sweetmeats.
Sudden-death,subs.(University).—A crumpet.
Sum,intj.(Winchester).—The response at names-calling;ADSUM(q.v.).
Summer Quarter,subs.(Charterhouse).—SeeLong Quarter.
Superann,subs.(Charterhouse).—Superannuate.
Superannuate,subs.(Winchester).—Seequot.
c.1840.Mansfield,School-Life at Winchester(1866), 237.Superannuate.—A boy who was obliged to leave at Election, owing to his being past eighteen years of age.Founders(q.v.) were notSUPERANNUATEtill they were twenty-five.
Surly Hall(Eton).—A public-house on the right bank of the Thames, some three and a half miles from Windsor.SeeFourth of June.
Sur-master,subs.(Manchester Grammar: obsolete).—The second master; the “Usher.” [There is now no second in command.]
Sus,subs.(Winchester: obsolete).—The remains of a Præfect’s tea: a fag’s perquisite.
c.1840.Mansfield,School-Life at Winchester(1866), 237.Sus.—The Juniors’ tea: generally drunk out of a pint cup when in bed.
Swank,verb(general).—To work hard. [O.E.Swinke= to labour.] HenceSWANKER= a hard worker.SeeSwink.
...MS. Cott. Vespas,D.vii. f. 3. ISWANKin mi sighing stede, I sal wasche bi al nyghtes mi bede.Ibid., 46. ISWANKcriand, haase made. Chekes mine for pine I hade.
Swat.SeeSwot.
Sweat.SeeSwot.
Sweater,subs.(Winchester).—A servant.
Sweat-gallery,subs.(Winchester).—Fagging Juniors.
Swell,subs.1. (Eton and Harrow).Seequot.
18[?].T. R. Oliphant,Eton College.... It is very hard to define exactly what is meant by aSWELLat Eton; but it usually implies a boy who, brought into notice either by athletic prowess or scholarship, or high standing in the school, by this means becomes acquainted with the leading members of the school, and is found on acquaintance to develop considerable social qualities, which make him hand and glove with all the Eton magnates.
2. (Rugby).—The wordSWELL(says Mr.Lees Knowles) had an indefinite, but well understood, meaning in the school. A member of the school “twenty,” or “fifteen” as it is now, or a member of the eleven, was, for instance, aSWELL.
Verb(Winchester).—To bathe; to wash.
Swells,subs.(Winchester).—Sunday services; Saints’-days, &c. [When surplices were worn.]
Swift’s.SeePlanks.
Swill,verb(Shrewsbury).—To take a shower-bath; also (Winchester) to wash by throwing water over the body.
1881.Felstedian, Nov., p. 75, “A Day’s Fagging at Winchester.” Having taken out the washing-stool, I proceed to call the Senior Præfect; when he gets up I have toSWILLhim (i.e.pour a can of water over his back in his bath), and then rub him down with a towel.
Swinger,subs.(Charterhouse).—A box on the ears.Cf.Swinge= to lash, to beat. AlsoSWINGEasverb.
1579.Mariage of Witt and Wisdome.O, the passion of God! so I shalbeSWINGED; So, my bones shalbe bang’d! The poredge pot is stolne: what, Lob, I say, Come away, and be hangd!
1611.Cotgrave,Dict., s.v.Dober. To beat,SWINGE, lamme, bethwacke.
1637.Du Bartas[Nares]. Then oftenSWINDGING, with his sinnewy train, Somtimes his sides, somtimes the dusty plain.
[..?..]Havelok the Dane[Skeat, E.E.T.S. (1868), 214]. An ofte dede him soreSWINGE, And wit hondes smerte dinge; So that the blod ran of his fleys, That tendre was, and swithe neys.
Swink,verb(Winchester).—To sweat; to work hard. Also assubs.SeeSwank.
1579.Mariage of Witt and Wisdome.But now ISWINKEand sweate in vaine, My labour hath no end, And moping in my study still, My youthfull yeares I spend.
1590.Spenser,Faërie Queene.... Honour, estate, and all this worlde’s good, For which menSWINCKEand sweat incessantly.
1891.Wrench,Winchester Word-Book, s.v.Swink.... The former [to sweat] is the primary Wykehamical meaning:SWINKandsweathave therefore changed places.
Swipes,subs.1. (Stonyhurst).—The boy-servant who serves out beer at dinner.
2. (Harrow).—Supper.
To be swiped,verb. phr.(Harrow).—To be birched.
Swish,verb(Eton and Charterhouse).—To flog. HenceSWISHING= a beating.
c.1889.Illustrated London News.Flogging, or, as it is called at Eton,SWISHING, is to be abolished at that aristocratic seminary.
1891.Harry Fludyer, 47. He complained of us and Tipkins, and I gotSWISHEDthe other day.
Swot(SwatorSweat),subs.(general).—Lessons; work: specifically, mathematics at Royal Military Academy. Also a hard-working student.
1883.Pascoe,Everyday Life at Our Public Schools.... So much for work orSWOT, as the Harrovian, in common with other boys, somewhat inelegantly terms the more important part of instruction he receives at school.
Verb(general).—To work hard: as at lessons.
In a swot,phr.(Shrewsbury).—In a rage.
Syntax,subs.(Stonyhurst).—The upper Fourth Form.