To pass a student through an examination on condition of his doing further work. Originally a Yale word.
1849. A young man [from the country] … shall be examined and “conditioned” in everything, and yet he shall come out far ahead of his city Latin-school classmate.—Letter cited in B. H. Hall’s ‘College Words,’ p. 124 (1856).
1860. This peculiarly Yalensian system of “conditions.”… A man, who is conditioned once, instead of doing better, generally keeps on getting conditioned, until, after a little medical advice from the Faculty, concluding that a little relaxation from such intense application to study is essential for his physical well being, he leaves College on “account of his health.”—Yale Lit. Mag., xxvi. 25–6 (Oct.).
1869. What will old Whaleham say if I am conditioned in mathematics?—W. T. Washburn, ‘Fair Harvard,’ pp. 105–6 (N.Y.).
