Meanwhile large tufts and strips of paper had been twisted into the hair of the Branders, as those are called who have been already one term at the University, and then at a given signal were set on fire, and the Branders rode round the table on chairs, amid roars of laughter.—Longfellow's Hyperion, p. 114.
See BRAND-FOX, BURNT FOX.
BRAND-FOX. A student in a German university "becomes a Brand-fuchs, or fox with a brand, after the foxes of Samson," in his second half-year.—Howitt.
BRICK. A gay, wild, thoughtless fellow, but not so hard as the word itself might seem to imply.
He is a queer fellow,—not so bad as he seems,—his own enemy, but a regular brick.—Collegian's Guide, p. 143.
He will come himself (public tutor or private), like a brick as he is, and consume his share of the generous potables.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 78.
See LIKE A BRICK.
BRICK MILL. At the University of Vermont, the students speak of the college as the Brick Mill, or the Old Brick Mill.
BUCK. At Princeton College, anything which is in an intensive degree good, excellent, pleasant, or agreeable, is called buck.
BULL. At Dartmouth College, to recite badly; to make a poor recitation. From the substantive bull, a blunder or contradiction, or from the use of the word as a prefix, signifying large, lubberly, blundering.