[ad. med.L. baccalaureātus, f. baccalaureus: see prec. and -ATE.]

1

  1.  The University degree of bachelor.

2

1625–49.  Sc. Acts Chas. I. (1814), V. 73 (Jam.). Degries of baccalawreatt, licentiat, and doctorat.

3

1702.  C. Mather, Magn. Chr., IV. Introd. (1852), 25. The degrees of a baccalaureate and a doctorate in divinity.

4

  2.  = BACHELOR. (By Longfellow used metri gratiâ, perh. with reference to laureate.)

5

1696.  in Phillips.

6

1868.  Longf., Dante’s Par., XXIV. 46. [He] as baccalaureate arms himself.

7

  3.  attrib. quasi-adj. in Baccalaureate-sermon: a farewell discourse delivered to a graduating class in some American colleges.

8

1864.  O. W. Holmes, Soundings fr. Atl., 72. A baccalaureate sermon of President Hopkins.

9

1884.  Nonconf., 10 July, 667/1. Baccalaureate sermons are now being preached by the most eminent clergymen.

10