[ad. med.L. baccalaureātus, f. baccalaureus: see prec. and -ATE.]
1. The University degree of bachelor.
162549. Sc. Acts Chas. I. (1814), V. 73 (Jam.). Degries of baccalawreatt, licentiat, and doctorat.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., IV. Introd. (1852), 25. The degrees of a baccalaureate and a doctorate in divinity.
2. = BACHELOR. (By Longfellow used metri gratiâ, perh. with reference to laureate.)
1696. in Phillips.
1868. Longf., Dantes Par., XXIV. 46. [He] as baccalaureate arms himself.
3. attrib. quasi-adj. in Baccalaureate-sermon: a farewell discourse delivered to a graduating class in some American colleges.
1864. O. W. Holmes, Soundings fr. Atl., 72. A baccalaureate sermon of President Hopkins.
1884. Nonconf., 10 July, 667/1. Baccalaureate sermons are now being preached by the most eminent clergymen.