c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 85. Each end and præfect’s mess had their beer served up in a large white jug, or BOB. The vessel used for the same purpose in Commoners’ was called a “Joram.”
1888. T. A. Trollope, What I Remember. Only those “Juniors” attended whose office it was to bring away the portions of bread and cheese and BOBS of beer for consumption in the afternoon.
See Dry-bob; Wet-bob.
Bod, subs. (Oxford).—The Bodleian Library; also Bodley.
Bodeites (Charterhouse).—See Out-houses.
Bodleian, The (Oxford).—A famous library, popularly known as the Bodley, founded by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1445-80. Despoiled in 1550 and again in 1556, it was restored and added to in 1598 by Sir Thomas Bodley. It now contains some 600,000 volumes, and is especially rich in manuscripts (some 30,000 volumes) and other literary treasures. James Russell Lowell, the distinguished American, says of this famous library: “Directly we enter, we are struck by the stillness and solemnity that reign around, helped by the dim light, the windows with painted glass, the ponderous shelves, the illuminated missals, the graduates or attendants conversing in low whispers or moving quietly about. For reading purposes the library is as free and as good as the library of the British Museum; with the advantages that you may be seated in front of a window commanding a beautiful garden prospect, that your arm-chair is not disturbed, that books are allowed to accumulate around you, and that you are not obliged to return them to the care of the custodian on leaving the library. The visitor will not fail to notice the portraits in the upper library, and especially to cast a grateful look at the fine portrait of Bodley. He will see the exercise-books used by Edward VI. and Elizabeth when children, and, close by, the autographs of distinguished visitors.”
Boiler, subs. (Winchester).—A plain coffee-pot used for heating water—fourpenny and sixpenny boilers, not from their price, but from the quantity of milk they held. το παν BOILERS = large tin saucepan-like vessels in which water for a BIDDY (q.v.) was heated.
Bolly, subs. (Marlborough).—Pudding.
Bom, subs. (The Leys).—A servant; a waiter. [A waiter was once dubbed “a vile abomination”; whence the contractions “vile bom” and “BOM.”]
Bond Street (Stonyhurst).—A walk along one side of the playground. Once obsolete but now restored, being applied to another walk.