| 释义 |
† squil Oxford Univ. slang. Obs. exc. Hist.|skwɪl|
Also squill.
[Curtailed form of L. Esquilīnus of or pertaining to the Esquiline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome (see quots.). The Esquiline was largely inhabited by low persons; it was used as a cemetery, ult. for paupers (cf. Hor. Sat. i. 8).]
A name formerly used by Christ Church men to designate opprobriously any member of the university not a member of Christ Church (see also quot. 1970).
1721[see hodman 3]. 1874C. Wordsworth Soc. Life Eng. Univ. 18th Cent. 304 Ch. Ch. was unpopular:{ddd}the men gave themselves airs, with wonderful ignorance and conceit they claimed to belong to an House, not to a College; those of other Colleges were ‘squils’ and ‘hodmen’. 1900H. L. Thompson Christ Church vii. 151 The phrase ‘Squils and Hodmen’ needs some explanation. The first word is now happily forgotten, but was in use within the last twenty years, as a colloquial designation of members of other colleges. It was supposed to be a corruption of ‘Ex-Collegees’, or ‘esquilini’. 1921S. Paget H. Scott Holland iv. 82 He belonged to us, not to ‘out-college men’, whom some of us called Squills, i.e. dwellers on the Esquiline. 1970Bill & Mason Christ Church & Reform p. ix, We are both non-gremial members of Christ Church, and in the abusive word of an earlier day are therefore ‘squills’. |