The Public School Word-book / A conribution to to a historical glossary of words phrases and turns of expression obsolete and in current use peculiar to our great public schools together with some that have been or are modish at the universities

by John Stephen Farmer

1647. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. He ... may now travel to Rome with a MORTAR on’s head.

1857. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. II. ch. iii. “I don’t mind this ’ere MORTAR-BOARD, sir,” remarked the professor of the noble art of self-defence, as he pointed to the academical cap which surmounted his head.

1864. Fun, 21st May, p. 96. Anon I saw a gentle youth (no “sub fusc” undergrad.). “Toga virilis” he had none, no MORTAR-BOARD he had.

1881. Pascoe, Every-day Life, 147. On admission ... a boy provides himself with a MORTAR or college-cap.

1898. Stonyhurst Mag., Dec., p. 149, “Life at Oxford.” The wearing of a cap and gown is another novelty for freshmen. At first one is apt to feel very foolish under a “MORTAR-BOARD” and in the folds of the academic gown, particularly in the miserable garb assigned to commoners (i.e. undergraduates without scholarships).

Mouse-digger, subs. (Winchester).—See quot.

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, 150. Plying the MOUSE-DIGGER (a kind of diminutive pick-axe) in search of mice.

Mud-student, subs. (general).—A student at the Agricultural College, Cirencester.

1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., ii. 198. A young friend of mine ... a MUD-STUDENT.

Muff, verb (Eton).—To fail in an examination; TO BE SPUN (q.v.) or PLUCKED (q.v.); TO SKIP A COG (q.v.).