Dig¹

A plodder. College slang.

1

1837.

	A clever soul is one, I say,
	Who wears a laughing face all day,
	Who never misses declamation,
	Nor cuts a stupid recitation,
	And yet is no elaborate dig,
	Nor for rank systems cares a fig.
	‘Harvardiana,’ iii. 283: cited by B. H. Hall, ‘College Words,’ p. 159 (1856).

2

1849. Not as a punishment, but as a recreation for digs.—‘Letter to a Young Man,’ p. 14. (N.E.D.)

3

1863. A ‘dig’ may be at times a genius, but a genius can never be a ‘dig.’—Yale Lit. Mag., xxviii. 199 (April).

4

1869. I am going to study hard too, but I am not going to be a dig.—W. T. Washburn, ‘Fair Harvard,’ p. 21 (N.Y.).

5

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