A man must not be ashamed to be called a grub in college, if he would shine in the world.—Sketches of Williams College, p. 76.
Some there are who, though never known to read or study, are ever ready to debate,—not "grubs" or "reading men," only "wordy men."—Williams Quarterly, Vol. II. p. 246.
GRUB. To study hard; to be what is denominated a grub, or hard student. "The primary sense," says Dr. Webster, "is probably to rub, to rake, scrape, or scratch, as wild animals dig by scratching."
I can grub out a lesson in Latin or mathematics as well as the best of them.—Amherst Indicator, Vol. I. p. 223.
GUARDING. "The custom of guarding Freshmen," says a correspondent from Dartmouth College, "is comparatively a late one. Persons masked would go into another's room at night, and oblige him to do anything they commanded him, as to get under his bed, sit with his feet in a pail of water," &c.
GULF. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., one who obtains the degree of B.A., but has not his name inserted in the Calendar, is said to be in the gulf.
He now begins to … be anxious about … that classical acquaintance who is in danger of the gulf.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 95.
Some ten or fifteen men just on the line, not bad enough to be plucked or good enough to be placed, are put into the "gulf," as it is popularly called (the Examiners' phrase is "Degrees allowed"), and have their degrees given them, but are not printed in the Calendar.—Ibid., p. 205.
GULFING. In the University of Cambridge, England, "those candidates for B.A. who, but for sickness or some other sufficient cause, might have obtained an honor, have their degree given them without examination, and thus avoid having their names inserted in the lists. This is called Gulfing." A degree taken in this manner is called "an Ægrotat Degree."—Alma Mater, Vol. II. pp. 60, 105.
I discovered that my name was nowhere to be found,—that I was Gulfed.—Ibid., Vol. II. p. 97.