2.  Intransitively, to rehearse a lesson.  The class will recite at eleven o’clock.—­Webster.

This word is used in both forms in American seminaries.

RECORD OF MERIT.  At Middlebury College “a class-book is kept by each instructor, in which the character of each student’s recitation is noted by numbers, and all absences from college exercises are minuted.  Demerit for absences and other irregularities is also marked in like manner, and made the basis of discipline.  At the close of each term, the average of these marks is recorded, and, when desired, communicated to parents and guardians.”  This book is called the record of merit.—­Cat.  Middlebury Coll., 1850-51, p. 17.

RECTOR.  The chief elective officer of some universities, as in France and Scotland.  The same title was formerly given to the president of a college in New England, but it is not now in use.—­Webster.

The title of Rector was given to the chief officer of Yale College at the time of its foundation, and was continued until the year 1745, when, by “An Act for the more full and complete establishment of Yale College in New Haven,” it was changed, among other alterations, to that of President.—­Clap’s Annals of Yale College, p. 47.

The chief officer of Harvard College at the time of its foundation was styled Master or Professor.  Mr. Dunster was chosen the first President, in 1640, and those who succeeded him bore this title until the year 1686, when Mr. Joseph Dudley, having received the commission of President of the Colony, changed for the sake of distinction the title of President of the College to that of Rector.  A few years after, the title of President was resumed. —­Peirce’s Hist. of Harv.  Univ., p. 63.

REDEAT.  Latin; literally, he may return.  “It is the custom in some colleges,” says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, “on coming into residence, to wait on the Dean, and sign your name in a book, kept for that purpose, which is called signing your Redeat.”—­p. 92.

REFECTORY.  At Oxford, Eng., the place where the members of each college or hall dine.  This word was originally applied to an apartment in convents and monasteries, where a moderate repast was taken.—­Brande.

In Oxford there are nineteen colleges and five halls, containing dwelling-rooms for the students, and a distinct refectory or dining-hall, library, and chapel to each college and hall.—­Oxf.  Guide, 1847, p. xvi.

At Princeton College, this name is given to the hall where the students eat together in common.—­Abbreviated REFEC.