Freed, adv. (Stonyhurst).—Of an extra recreation: given for some special reason.
Fresh, adj. (University).—Said of an undergraduate in his first term.
1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, s.v.
1866. Trevelyan, Horace at Athens. When you and I were FRESH.
Fresher. See Freshman.
Freshers. The Freshers, subs. (Cambridge). That part of the Cam which lies between the Mill and Byron’s Pool. So called because it is frequented by FRESHMEN (q.v.).
Fresh-herring, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.).—A boy newly admitted to the school. Such a one is seized on his first or first few visits to the playground, and conveyed to a corner—a MONKEY DEN—where he is more or less forcibly SQUABBED (q.v.) against the wall by as many persecutors as can get at him. The incongruity of fresh-herrings in a monkey-den does not seem to be remarked. But twenty-five to thirty years ago FRESH-HERRINGS were hurled over the Precipice. This was a drop of some six or eight feet from the general level of the playground over a retaining wall to the bottom of an incline up which coal-stores, &c., could be brought into the playground. The new science and art rooms have covered the site, and MONKEY-DEN has superseded the terrors of this local Tarpeian Rock. The FRESH-HERRING is always told that he must bring beeswax and turpentine for the purpose of polishing his desk, and he not infrequently comes armed with this or some other form of furniture-polish, to the glee of the “stuffer-up.”
Freshman (or Fresher), subs. (University).—A University man during his first year. In Dublin University he is a JUNIOR FRESHMAN during his first year, and a SENIOR FRESHMAN the second year. At Oxford the title lasts for the first term. See Soph.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in Works, iii. 8. When he was but yet a FRESHMAN in Cambridge.
1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act iii. sc. 3. S. Alex. Then he’s a graduate. S. Davy. Say they trust him not. S. Alex. Then is he held a FRESHMAN and a sot.