A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 12

To say, "It's all a gum," or "a regular _chaw_" is the same thing.

--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 117.

CHAW. To use up.

Yesterday a Junior cracked a joke on me, when all standing round shouted in great glee, "Chawed! Freshman chawed! Ha! ha! ha!" "No I a'n't _chawed_," said I, "I'm as whole as ever." But I didn't understand, when a fellow is _used up_, he is said to be _chawed_; if very much used up, he is said to be _essentially chawed_.--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 117.

The verb _to chaw up_ is used with nearly the same meaning in some of the Western States.

Miss Patience said she was gratified to hear Mr. Cash was a musician; she admired people who had a musical taste. Whereupon Cash fell into a chair, as he afterwards observed, _chawed up_.--_Thorpe's Backwoods_, p. 28.

CHIP DAY. At Williams College a day near the beginning of spring is thus designated, and is explained in the following pa.s.sage.

"They give us, near the close of the second term, what is called '_chip day_,' when we put the grounds in order, and remove the ruins caused by a winter's siege on the woodpiles."--_Sketches of Williams College_, 1847, p. 79.

Another writer refers to the day, in a newspaper paragraph.

"'_Chip day_,' at the close of the spring term, is still observed in the old-fas.h.i.+oned way. Parties of students go off to the hills, and return with brush, and branches of evergreen, with which the chips, which have acc.u.mulated during the winter, are brushed together, and afterwards burnt."--_Boston Daily Evening Traveller_, July 12, 1854.

About college there had been, in early spring, the customary cleaning up of "_chip day_."--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p.

186.

CHOPPING AT THE TREE. At University College in the University of Oxford, "a curious and ancient custom, called '_chopping at the tree_,' still prevails. On Easter Sunday, every member, as he leaves the hall after dinner, chops with a cleaver at a small tree dressed up for the occasion with evergreens and flowers, and placed on a turf close to the b.u.t.tery. The cook stands by for his accustomed largess."--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. 144, note.

Ch.o.r.e. In the German universities, a club or society of the students is thus designated.

Duels between members of different _ch.o.r.es_ were once frequent;--sometimes one man was obliged to fight the members of a whole _ch.o.r.e_ in succession.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 5.

CHRISTIAN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member of Christ's College.

CHUM. Armenian, _chomm_, or _chommein_, or _ham_, to dwell, stay, or lodge; French, _chomer_, to rest; Saxon, _ham_, home. A chamber-fellow; one who lodges or resides in the same room.--_Webster_.

This word is used at the universities and colleges, both in England and the United States.

A young student laid a wager with his _chum_, that the Dean was at that instant smoking his pipe.--_Philip's Life and Poems_, p. 13.

But his _chum_ Had wielded, in his just defence, A bowl of vast circ.u.mference.--_Rebelliad_, p. 17.

Every set of chambers was possessed by two co-occupants; they had generally the same bedroom, and a common study; and they were called _chums_.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 251.

I am again your pet.i.tioner in behalf of that great _chum_ of literature, Samuel Johnson.--_Smollett, in Boswell_.

In this last instance, the word _chum_ is used either with the more extended meaning of companion, friend, or, as the sovereign prince of Tartary is called the _Cham_ or _Khan_, so Johnson is called the _chum_ (cham) or prince of literature.

CHUM. To occupy a chamber with another.

CHUMMING. Occupying a room with another.

Such is one of the evils of _chumming_.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. I. p.

324.

CHUMs.h.i.+P. The state of occupying a room in company with another; chumming.

In the seventeenth century, in Milton's time, for example, (about 1624,) and for more than sixty years after that era, the practice of _chums.h.i.+p_ prevailed.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 251.

CIVILIAN. A student of the civil law at the university.--_Graves.

Webster_.

CLARIAN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member of Clare Hall.

CLa.s.s. A number of students in a college or school, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies. In colleges, the students entering or becoming members the same year, and pursuing the same studies.--_Webster_.

In the University of Oxford, _cla.s.s_ is the division of the candidates who are examined for their degrees according to their rate of merit. Those who are ent.i.tled to this distinction are denominated _Cla.s.smen_, answering to the _optimes_ and _wranglers_ in the University of Cambridge.--_Crabb's Tech. Dict._

See an interesting account of "reading for a first cla.s.s," in the Collegian's Guide, Chap. XII.

CLa.s.s. To place in ranks or divisions students that are pursuing the same studies; to form into a cla.s.s or cla.s.ses.--_Webster_.

CLa.s.s BOOK. Within the last thirty or forty years, a custom has arisen at Harvard College of no small importance in an historical point of view, but which is princ.i.p.ally deserving of notice from the many pleasing a.s.sociations to which its observance cannot fail to give rise. Every graduating cla.s.s procures a beautiful and substantial folio of many hundred pages, called the _Cla.s.s Book_, and lettered with the year of the graduation of the cla.s.s. In this a certain number of pages is allotted to each individual of the cla.s.s, in which he inscribes a brief autobiography, paying particular attention to names and dates. The book is then deposited in the hands of the _Cla.s.s Secretary_, whose duty it is to keep a faithful record of the marriage, birth of children, and death of each of his cla.s.smates, together with their various places of residence, and the offices and honors to which each may have attained. This information is communicated to him by letter by his cla.s.smates, and he is in consequence prepared to answer any inquiries relative to any member of the cla.s.s. At his death, the book pa.s.ses into the hands of one of the _Cla.s.s Committee_, and at their death, into those of some surviving member of the cla.s.s; and when the cla.s.s has at length become extinct, it is deposited on the shelves of the College Library.

The Cla.s.s Book also contains a full list of all persons who have at any time been members of the cla.s.s, together with such information as can be gathered in reference to them; and an account of the prizes, deturs, parts at Exhibitions and Commencement, degrees, etc., of all its members. Into it are also copied the Cla.s.s Oration, Poem, and Ode, and the Secretary's report of the cla.s.s meeting, at which the officers were elected.

It is also intended to contain the records of all future cla.s.s meetings, and the accounts of the Cla.s.s Secretary, who is _ex officio_ Cla.s.s Treasurer and Chairman of the Cla.s.s Committee. By virtue of his office of Cla.s.s Treasurer, he procures the _Cradle_ for the successful candidate, and keeps in his possession the Cla.s.s Fund, which is sometimes raised to defray the accruing expenses of the Cla.s.s in future times.

In the Harvardiana, Vol. IV., is an extract from the Cla.s.s Book of 1838, which is very curious and unique. To this is appended the following note:--"It may be necessary to inform many of our readers, that the _Cla.s.s Book_ is a large volume, in which autobiographical sketches of the members of each graduating cla.s.s are recorded, and which is left in the hands of the Cla.s.s Secretary."

CLa.s.s CANE. At Union College, as a mark of distinction, a _cla.s.s cane_ was for a time carried by the members of the Junior Cla.s.s.

The Juniors, although on the whole a clever set of fellows, lean perhaps with too nonchalant an air on their _cla.s.s canes_.--_Soph.o.m.ore Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.

They will refer to their _cla.s.s cane_, that mark of decrepitude and imbecility, for old men use canes.--_Ibid._

CLa.s.s CAP. At Hamilton College, it is customary for the Soph.o.m.ores to appear in a _cla.s.s cap_ on the Junior Exhibition day, which is worn generally during part of the third term.

In American colleges, students frequently endeavor to adopt distinctive dresses, but the attempt is usually followed by failure. One of these attempts is pleasantly alluded to in the Williams Monthly Miscellany. "In a late number, the ambition for whiskers was made the subject of a remark. The ambition of college has since taken a somewhat different turn. We allude to the cla.s.s caps, which have been introduced in one or two of the cla.s.ses. The Freshmen were the first to appear in this species of uniform, a few days since at evening prayers; the cap which they have adopted is quite tasteful. The Soph.o.m.ores, not to be outdone, have voted to adopt the tarpaulin, having, no doubt, become proficients in navigation, as lucidly explained in one of their text-books. The Juniors we understand, will follow suit soon. We hardly know what is left for the Seniors, unless it be to go bare-headed."--1845, p. 464.