DEGREE.  A mark of distinction conferred on students, as a testimony of their proficiency in arts and sciences; giving them a kind of rank, and entitling them to certain privileges.  This is usually evidenced by a diploma.  Degrees are conferred pro meritis on the alumni of a college; or they are honorary tokens of respect, conferred on strangers of distinguished reputation.  The first degree is that of Bachelor of Arts; the second, that of Master of Arts.  Honorary degrees are those of Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Laws, &c.  Physicians, also, receive the degree of Doctor of Medicine.—­Webster.

DEGREE EXAMINATION.  At the English universities, the final university examination, which must be passed before the B.A. degree is conferred.

The Classical Tripos is generally spoken of as the Tripos, the Mathematical one as the Degree Examination.—­Bristed’s Five Years in an Eng.  Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 170.

DELTA.  A piece of land in Cambridge, which belongs to Harvard College, where the students kick football, and play at cricket, and other games.  The shape of the land is that of the Greek Delta, whence its name.

What was unmeetest of all, timid strangers as we were, it was expected on the first Monday eventide after our arrival, that we should assemble on a neighboring green, the Delta, since devoted to the purposes of a gymnasium, there to engage in a furious contest with those enemies, the Sophs, at kicking football and shins.—­A Tour through College, 1823-1827, p. 13.

Where are the royal cricket-matches of old, the great games of football, when the obtaining of victory was a point of honor, and crowds assembled on the Delta to witness the all-absorbing contest?—­Harvardiana, Vol.  I. p. 107.

I must have another pair of pantaloons soon, for I have burst the knees of two, in kicking football on the Delta.—­Ibid., Vol.  III. p. 77.

  The Delta can tell of the deeds we’ve done,
  The fierce-fought fields we’ve lost and won,
    The shins we’ve cracked,
    And noses we’ve whacked,
  The eyes we’ve blacked, and all in fun.
    Class Poem, 1849, Harv.  Coll.

A plat at Bowdoin College, of this shape, and used for similar purposes, is known by the same name.

DEMI, DEMY.  The name of a scholar at Magdalene College, Oxford, where there are thirty demies or half-fellows, as it were, who, like scholars in other colleges, succeed to fellowships.—­Johnson.