“The Biennial,” remarks the writer of the preface to the Songs of Yale, “is an examination occurring twice during the course,—­at the close of the Sophomore and of the Senior years,—­in all the studies pursued during the two years previous.  It was established in 1850.”—­Ed. 1853, p. 4.

The system of examinations has been made more rigid, especially by the introduction of biennials.—­Centennial Anniversary of the Linonian Soc., Yale Coll., 1853, p. 70.

  Faculty of College got together one night,
    To have a little congratulation,
  For they’d put their heads together and hatched out a load,
    And called it “Bien.  Examination.”
    Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854.

BIG-WIG.  In the English universities, the higher dignitaries among the officers are often spoken of as the big-wigs.

Thus having anticipated the approbation of all, whether Freshman, Sophomore, Bachelor, or Big-Wig, our next care is the choice of a patron.—­Pref. to Grad. ad Cantab.

BISHOP.  At Cambridge, Eng., this beverage is compounded of port-wine mulled and burnt, with the addenda of roasted lemons and cloves.—­Gradus ad Cantab.

  We’ll pass round the Bishop, the spice-breathing cup.
    Will.  Sentinel’s Poems.

BITCH.  Among the students of the University of Cambridge, Eng., a common name for tea.

The reading man gives no swell parties, runs very little into debt, takes his cup of bitch at night, and goes quietly to bed. —­Grad. ad Cantab., p. 131.

With the Queens-men it is not unusual to issue an “At home” Tea and Vespers, alias bitch and hymns.—­Ibid., Dedication.

BITCH.  At Cambridge, Eng., to take or drink a dish of tea.

I followed, and, having “bitched” (that is, taken a dish of tea) arranged my books and boxes.—­Alma Mater, Vol.  I. p. 30.

I dined, wined, or bitched with a Medallist or Senior Wrangler. —­Ibid., Vol.  II. p. 218.

A young man, who performs with great dexterity the honors of the tea-table, is, if complimented at all, said to be “an excellent bitch.”—­Gradus ad Cantab., p. 18.

BLACK BOOK.  In the English universities, a gloomy volume containing a register of high crimes and misdemeanors.

At the University of Goettingen, the expulsion of students is recorded on a blackboard.—­Gradus ad Cantab.

Sirrah, I’ll have you put in the black book, rusticated, expelled.—­Miller’s Humors of Oxford, Act II.  Sc.  I.

All had reason to fear that their names were down in the proctor’s black book.—­Collegian’s Guide, p. 277.

So irksome and borish did I ever find this early rising, spite of the health it promised, that I was constantly in the black book of the dean.—­Alma Mater, Vol.  I. p. 32.