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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 cover

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

Chapter 11: I
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About This Book

The book assembles a historical glossary of words, phrases, and turns of expression used in English public schools and some universities, combining definitions, etymologies, and illustrative quotations; it covers both colloquial slang and formal institutional terminology, applies a historical-comparative method to trace survivals and innovations, documents customs and usages tied to specific schools, and appends more recent material supplied by correspondents, with the stated aim of explaining meaning and origin for students, scholars, and former schoolmen.

Ick. See Ack.

Iliad, subs. (Charterhouse).—The regular penalty for late attendance at chapel and other minor offences.

Imperator, subs. (Stonyhurst).—A name given to the two first boys in each class.

Impo, subs. (Charterhouse).—An imposition.

Impositor, subs. (Sherborne: obsolete).—A school Præfect: sixteenth century.

Inferior, subs. (Winchester).—Any member of the school not a Præfect (q.v.).

c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life, p. 28. The Præfect of Hall ... was looked upon by the INFERIORS with something more than a becoming awe and reverence.

Inform, verb (Charterhouse).—To sneak; to show up.

Infra-dig, adj. (Winchester).—Scornful; proud: e.g. “He sported INFRA-DIG duck,” or “I am INFRA-DIG to it.”

Island, The (Rugby).—A mound or “tumulus” in the Close.

1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 372. They [the school volunteer corps] had not only parades, but sham fights—if a fight could be called a sham from which the combatants retired with broken heads and bloody noses—attacking and defending the Doctor’s farmyard on the little ISLAND between what were then the two Closes.

Isthmus-of-Suez, subs. (Cambridge).—The bridge at St. John’s College, Cambridge, leading from the grounds to one of the Courts, familiarly known as the “Bridge of Sighs.” Also The Bridge of Grunts. [From its slight similarity to the Venetian example. Sues = swine, in punning reference to the Johnian Hogs (q.v.).] See Crackle and Hog.

1857. Punch, June 20. A resident Fellowe he was, I wis, He had no cure of Soules; And across ye BRIDGE OF SUES he’d come From playinge ye game of bowles.

1885. Cuthbert Bede, in N. and Q., 6 S., xi. 414. Another word is Sues, for swine. This is applied to the bridge leading from the old courts to the new, familiarly known as the BRIDGE OF SIGHS from its slight similarity to the Venetian example, but also known as the ISTHMUS OF SUEZ. This word Suez was then transformed to Suez, swine, to adapt it to its Johnian frequenters.