phr. (sb. and a.)
1. sb. phr. The class next below the second; esp. of railway carriages; also in an examination list; hence, a place in the third class in an examination.
1845. Bradshaw’s Railway Guide, Aug., 5. Fares between London and Brighton … by … third class, 5s.
Mod. Mr. A. got a third class in History.
2. attrib. or adj. Of or belonging to the class next below the second.
1839. Bradshaw’s Railway Time Table, 19 Oct. Children under seven years of age … for Second Class Carriages [charged] Third Class price.
1840. Bradshaw’s Railway Comp. Third class passengers are conveyed by the 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Down Trains.
1852. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour (1893), 76. The introduction of railways, whose worst third-class accommodation is far better than the old coaches’ best.
1859. All Year Round, No. 30. 78. The third-class carriages, as a rule, were the mere seatless and unsheltered cattle-trucks that still linger on the road from London to Greenwich.
1871. M. Collins, Marq. & Merch., III. iv. 127. The train was third class.
1886. C. E. Pascoe, London of To-day, xix. (ed. 3), 186. The economical traveller will find many a worse resting-place than its third-class carriages provide.
1891. Cent. Dict., Third-class matter, in the postal system of the United States, printed matter other than newspapers or periodicals, sent through the mails by the publishers.
3. quasi-adv. By a third-class conveyance.
1864. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 24. Natives almost invariably travel third-class.
