Univ. colloq. [Abbrev. of VIVA VOCE.] = VIVA VOCE sb.

1

1891.  Athenæum, 19 Dec., 825/2. The description of his vidâ will bring vivid recollections of similar tortures to many minds.

2

1897.  Westm. Gaz., 27 July, 1/3. If a man has done his paperwork either very well or very badly, the ‘viva’ is almost entirely formal.

3

  Hence Viva v. trans., to subject to a viva voce examination; also intr., to examine viva voce.

4

1893.  in J. B. Firth, Minstrelsy of Isis (1908). 190.

        To think that at last they’ll be done with, and clad in a decent degree,
We shall laugh at our Tutors and leave them to ‘viva’ themselves, and be free.

5

1907.  ‘Barbara Burke,’ Barbara Goes to Oxford, 32. Facing them … sat the youth who was being vivâed.

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