University

sb. Forms: 6 vniuersite, 5 -versite, 5–6 -uersitee, 4–5 vnyuersite(e, 5–6 -uersyte(e; 5–7 vniuersitie (6 Sc. wni-), 6 -tye, vnyuersytye, -tie, 7 vniuersity, -versity, 6–7 universitie, 7– university. See also VARSITY, VERSITY. [a. AF. université, universeté, univercyté, OF. universitei, universiteit, université (13th c.; mod.F. université, = Pr. universitat, It. università, Sp. universidad, Pg. -idade; also in sense 1 MDu. universitet, MDu. and Du. universiteit, MG., MLG. universitête, MHG. universitêt, G. universität, Dan., Sw. universitet):—L. ūniversitāt-, ūniversitās, (1) the whole, entire number, universe, (2) in later and mediæval Latin (chiefly in legal use), a society, company, corporation, or community regarded collectively; f. L. ūniversus (see UNIVERSE).]

  I.  1. The whole body of teachers and scholars engaged, at a particular place, in giving and receiving instruction in the higher branches of learning; such persons associated together as a society or corporate body, with a definite organization and acknowledged powers and privileges (esp. that of conferring degrees), and forming an institution for the promotion of education in the higher or more important branches of learning; also, the colleges, buildings, etc., belonging to such a body.

  Sometimes, especially in former use, synonymous with college: see COLLEGE sb. 4 c.

c. 1300.  St. Edmund, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 438/256. So þat he bigan at Oxenford of diuinite, So noble alosed þer nas non in al þe vniuersite. Ibid., 439/278. He bigan so deope desputi of þe trinite, Þat gret wonder me hadde þurf al þe vniuersite.

c. 1384.  ? Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 157. Heþene mennus lawis and worldly clerkis statutis ben red in vnyuersitees.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 6769. At Parys … he had … The accorde of the vniuersite, And of the puple as semeth me.

c. 1425–.  [see COLLEGE sb. 4].

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 438. The house … that Robert of Staunton held of the vnyuersite of Oxenford.

1509.  Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 301. The studyentes of both the vnyuersytees.

1579.  W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, 40. They labour to put out the eyes of this land (the Vniuersityes I meane).

1644.  Milton, Educ., 3. This place should be at once both School and University.

1661.  Lamplugh, in Extr. St. Papers Friends, Ser. II. (1911), 126. University, Town and Country are far more active and vigilant then before.

1702.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), V. 145. A patent … for founding an university…, to be called king Williams university.

1725.  Bailey, Erasm. Colloq. (1733), 259. Are you going to Louvain to see the University?

1785.  J. Adams, Wks. (1854), IX. 530. He is anxious to study some time at your university [= Harvard College] before he begins the study of law.

1840.  Carlyle, Heroes, v. (1858), 305. Universities are a notable, respectable product of the modern ages.

1856.  Stanley, Sinai & Pal., x. 364. The great Jewish university which rendered Tiberias for three centuries the metropolis of the race.

1868.  M. Pattison, Academ. Org., 46. The university of the chancellor, masters, and scholars, is one corporation, and each of the colleges distinct and independent societies.

  b.  fig. and transf.

1595.  Locrine, III. iii. I think you were broght vp in the vniuersitie of bridewell; you haue your rhetorick so ready at your toongs end.

1607.  Hieron, Wks., I. 386. To be admitted into that great vniuersitie, where He, which is the doctour of the chaire, Christ Iesus, will [etc.].

1615.  (title) A Catalogue or Table of all the Arts and Sciences read and taught in this University of London.

1652.  Benlowes, Theoph., II. xiii. Man,… by infusion wise;… Chanc’llor install’d of Eden’s University.

c. 1852.  J. Gibson, in Biog. (1911), iii. 28. He looked upon Rome as the great University of Sculpture.

1863.  Miss Braddon, Aurora Floyd, xxxi. In the London universities of crime.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 215. None of these young gentlemen was absolutely necessary at that ovine university [= a sheep-station].

  † 2.  The whole body, aggregate, or number of creatures, persons, things, etc.; = UNIVERSALITY 5.

1382.  Wyclif, Tobit viii. 19. That the vnyuersite of Jentilis knowe, for thou art God alone in al erthe.

1402[?].  Quixley, in Yorksh. Archæol. Jrnl. (1908), XX. 50. To all þe worldes vniversitie This balade be ensample and myrrour.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., II. xvi. 243. In al the hool vnyuersite of thingis and of beingis.

1494.  Hylton’s Scala Perf., II. xlvi. (W. de W.). Al thise gracyous knowynges felid in a soule of the vnyuersitee of al creatures.

c. 1510.  More, Picus, Wks. 18/2. If any part of the whole vniuersitye of creatures were destroyed.

1563.  Man, Musculus’ Commonpl., 29 b. All that compasse of the whole universitie of thinges and times.

1581.  W. Fulke, in Confer., III. (1584), O iv b. The vniuersitie of faithfull doeth pray.

1604.  T. Wright, Passions, VI. 304. The vniversity of Beastes, foules, and fish.

1659.  H. Thorndike, Wks. (1846), II. 483. If in all Scripture … a Church signify the university of Christians.

1677.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, IV. 180. The Communitie or Universitie of the Multitude.

[1862.  G. Long, trans. Th. M. Aurelius Anton., p. lxxvi. The gods will do whatever is best and consistent with the university of things.]

  fig.  1382.  Wyclif, Jas. iii. 6. Oure tunge is fijr, the vniuersite of wickidnesse [L. universitas iniquitatis]

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 76 b. Y^e tonge is but a small thynge,… but it is (sayth the sayd apostle) the vniuersite of all euyls.

  † b.  Without const. The whole of something; all things, etc.; universal nature. Obs.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., V. pr. iv. (1868), 165. Þe eye of intelligence is heyȝer for it sourmounteþ þe envirounynge of þe vniuersite and lookeþ ouer þat by pure subtilite of þouȝt.

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Macc. xiv. 35. Thou, Lord of vnyuersitee, or of alle creatures.

1387–8.  T. Usk, Test. Love, I. ix. (Skeat), l. 46. Man is mad of al the foure elementes. Al universitee is rekened in him alone.

1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 205. For God knowethe how euery thynge awe to be create, and how he scholde dispose the pulcritude of the vniversite in hit.

1502.  Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), I. iv. D iij. By the nombre of seuen … vnyuersyte to vs is sygnyfyed.

1610.  Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 314. Where ever they live, they may finde a god the governor and father of all university.

  † c.  The universe; = UNIVERSALITY 5 b. Obs.

1494.  Hylton’s Scala Perf., II. xlvi. (W. de W.). Our lorde Jhesu maker & keper of al this fayr vnyuersitee.

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. (1641), 5/1. In Six dayes [God] formed … All things contain’d in th’ Universitie.

1598.  T. Bastard, Chrestoleros (1880), 6. Man is a little world and beares the face And picture of the Vniuersitie.

a. 1619.  Fotherby, Atheom., II. x. § 1 (1622), 299. This Vnity: which they make the onely cause of the whole vniuersity.

1642.  H. More, Song of Soul, I. ii. 13. Physis is the great womb From whence all things in th’ University Yclad in divers forms do gaily bloom.

  † d.  The whole people; = UNIVERSALITY 5 c.

1677.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, III. I. v. 181. That the first invention … of Laws may be committed to prudent men; and yet the … confirmation of them appertain to the universitie or common multitude.

  e.  Law. (See quot. 1832.)

1832.  Austin, Jurisprudence, II. p. xli. Such universities of rights and duties (or such complex aggregates of rights and duties) as arise by universal succession.

1861.  Maine, Anc. Law, 178. Without this fact there is no university of rights and duties.

  † 3.  Your university, the collective whole of the members of a body, group, or company of persons specifically addressed in some formal or official document. Also pl. in Sc. use. Obs.

  Chiefly in renderings of the common phrase Noverit universitas vestra.

c. 1400.  Brut, cli. 163. To alle Cristen peple … Iohn, by the grace of God, kyng of Engeland, gretyng to ȝour vniuersite.

1416.  Munim. de Melros (Bann. Cl.), 539. Wit yhoure vniuersite þat [etc.].

1500.  Cartular. St. Nicholai Aberdon. (New Spald. Cl.), I. 76. Till all ande sindry … gretinge in gode euirlesting. Ȝoure vniuersiteis sall wit ws … till hafe consentit [etc.].

1543.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 161. Knowe your universitie, that I … do make my last will of certayne my landes.

c. 1596.  in Abstr. Protocols Town Clerks of Glasgow (1897), V. Pref. 16. To all and sindry … gretyng … Wittis your universiteis that [etc.].

  † 4.  a. A body or company of persons associated together for some purpose. Obs.

1471.  Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 617. Hit is leeffful þ[a]t an vnyuersite answere not alway to one maister.

  † b.  A body or class of persons regarded collectively; esp. an aggregate of persons forming a corporate body or society, a corporation. Obs.

1607.  Cowell, Interpr., Vniversitie, is by the Ciuill lawe any bodie politicke, or corporation.

1643.  Prynne, Sov. Power Parl., App. 159. Although kings doe die, the people in the mean time (as niether any other Universitie) never dyeth.

1678.  Sir G. Mackenzie, Crim. Laws Scot., I. i. § 7 (1699), 11. A collective Body of People, or university, such as a Burgh or Incorporation.

[1755.  Magens, Insurances, II. 40. The Prior and Consuls … of the University of the Shippers and Merchants … of this City of Seville.

1776.  A. Smith, W. N., I. x. I. 148. All such incorporations [of trades] were antiently called universities. Ibid. The university of smiths, the university of tailors, &c.

1843.  Penny Cycl., XXVI. 22/2. The universities or corporate bodies at Rome.]

  II.  † 5. Extension to the whole (of something); = UNIVERSALITY 1. Obs. rare.

1553.  Ascham, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 18. My trust is ye will not judge me unconstant, for this universitie in choice of my living.

1677.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, III. II. iv. 270. Al perfection importes some kind of universitie. Ibid., 271. Now God having the whole of essence in himself must necessarily have an universitie of perfection.

  III.  attrib. and Comb. (in sense 1).

  6.  a. Simple attrib., passing into adj. use (rarely with hyphen): Of, pertaining or belonging to, characteristic of, prevailing or obtained at, a University or Universities, as University course, court, education, learning, lecture, library, etc.

1379.  Rolls of Parlt., III. 69/1. Son College appellez Mokel Universite Hall en Oxenford.

1589.  R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 17. He will … praise him, that he is not infected with … Vniuersitie learning.

1602.  2nd Pt. Return Parnass., IV. v. 1806. Few of the university pen plaies well.

1606.  Dekker, News fr. Hell, F 3 b. Ibis Homere, that hath laine sick seuenteen yeers together of the Vniuersitie plague, (watching and want).

a. 1628.  F. Greville, Sidney (1652), 199. Lest … she might be constrained to … labour the compassing of disorderly ends, by a Mechanicall kinde of University Canvasse.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 5 March 1673. University lectures and erudition.

1708.  J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. III. (1710), 302. [The] University Library [Cambridge].

1726.  R. Newton (title), University Education; or, an Explication and Amendment of the Statute which [etc.].

1783.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), X. 8753/2. The jurisdiction of the university-courts in criminal matters.

1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 140. Students enter upon the university course with a certain preparation.

1871.  J. Place (title), University Tests, and their Abolition, Considered in a Letter [etc.].

1895.  Rashdall, Univ. of Europe, II. II. 325. Another essential qualification for a University town … is facility of access.

  b.  That is (or has been) a member of a University; educated or studying at a University, as University chum, man, woman, etc.

1580.  Spenser, Three Proper Lett., Wks. (1912), 619/1. Some learned, and well aduized Uniuersitie man.

1641.  R. Brooke, Eng. Episc., II. vii. 111. They thinke the wayes of Gods Spirit are free, and not tied to a University man.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Servitour,… a poor University-Scholar that attends others for his Maintenance.

1755.  Man, No. 13. 4. An university chum of mine.

1868.  M. Pattison, Academ. Org., 2. Even University men themselves betray … an impression that something should be done.

1917.  Mrs. H. M. Usborne, Women’s Work in War Time, 102. University women and office girls rubbed shoulders over work for which they both were equally unsuited.

  c.  With the names of officials, etc., attached to or connected with a University, as University auditor, lecturer, librarian, orator (see ORATOR 5), preacher, register, etc.

1589.  Nashe, in Greene, Menaphon (1610), A iv b. That royall erection of Trinitie Colledge, which the Vniuersity Orator … aptly termed Colonia deducta.

1614.  J. Chamberlain, in Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1848), I. 305. The University Orator, Nethersole,… is taxed for calling the prince Jacobissime Carole.

1631.  Milton (title), On the University Carrier who sicken’d in the time of his vacancy.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 10 July 1669. The Terræ filius (the Universitie Buffoone).

1708.  J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. III. (1710), 298. The Custos Archivorum, or University-Register.

1800.  Cambr. Univ. Cal., 6. University Officers [include] Chancellor,… High Steward,… Vice-Chancellor [etc.].

1882.  Addenda Corpus Stat. Univ. Oxon., 882/2. The University Auditor appointed under the provisions of the Statute.

1893.  Glasgow Univ. Calendar, 19. Lecturers, Demonstrators, or University Assistants.

  d.  With past or pres. pples., chiefly in locative combs., as University-bred, -taught, -trained; -going adjs.

1845.  Ld. Campbell, Chancellors, cxxi. (1857), VI. 2. The common-place progress of a high-born, university-bred barrister.

1853.  T. Cooper, Alderman Ralph, I. v. 130. But Jack’s quotations were so much the more valuable in that he scorned pedantry, and freed the author he quoted from all archaisms and obsolete allusions, and brought home the force of ancient wisdom to the usages and habits of modern life: an example I wish our University-taught men would follow.

1868.  B. Cracroft, Ess., II. 205. The ‘Barrister’ is one of the best types of the University trained man, whose nature has been strong enough to retain its own independence in spite of the training, but on whom that training has had the peculiar effect of superseding the necessity of making style a primary object.

1879.  J. C. Morison, Gibbon, 11. The two greatest historians … were not university-bred men.

1898.  Edin. Rev., Jan., 121. The university-going class among the Roman Catholic community.

  7.  Special combs., as University cap, the academical cap worn by the members of a University, a square cap or ‘mortar-board’; University chair, the chair or office of a University professor; University Chest, at Oxford and Cambridge, the funds of the University, or the office which receives and administers these; University extension: (see EXTENSION 9 g); University sermon, a sermon preached before the members of a University, usually by a specially nominated or appointed person.

1772.  Nugent, Hist. Fr. Gerund, I. 73. Heads stuck in *university-caps.

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. x. They sometimes invert the hat, and wear it brim uppermost, like a University-cap.

1883.  N. & Q., 15 Dec., 469/1. The University or ‘Trencher’ Cap.

1711.  Shaftesb., Charac., III. 287. He finds these Subjects … appropriated to the School, the *University-Chair, or Pulpit.

1717.  E. Miller, Acc. Univ. Camb., 177. Neither the Vice-chancellor…, or the *University Chest, get one Farthing of Money by it.

1870.  Addenda Corpus Stat. Univ. Oxon., II. 800. The Curators of the University Chest.

1827.  Oxford Guide, 56. In the Long Vacation there are no *University sermons.

  Hence † University v., to provide or endow with a University; Universityless a., having no University; Universityship, the state or condition of being a University; status as a University.

1682.  Loyal Satirist, in Somers, Tracts (1812), VII. 69. Pembroke may be visited, and Manchester *universitied.

1655.  Fuller, Hist. Camb., 21. As for Scotland, it was *University-less till [etc.]. Ibid., 35. The *University-ship of Cambridge, is to be accounted from her original constitution.