SENIOR.  Noting the fourth year of the collegiate course in American colleges, or the third year in theological seminaries.—­Webster.

SENIOR BACHELOR.  One who is in his third year after taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts.  It is further explained by President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse:  “Bachelors were called Senior, Middle, or Junior Bachelors, according to the year since graduation and before taking the degree of Master.”—­p. 122.

SENIOR CLASSIC.  At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the student who passes best in the voluntary examination in classics, which follows the last required examination in the Senate-House.

No one stands a chance for Senior Classic alongside of him.—­Bristed’s Five Years in an Eng.  Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 55.

Two men who had been rivals all the way through school and through college were racing for Senior Classic.—­Ibid., p. 253.

SENIOR FELLOW.  At Trinity College, Hartford, the Senior Fellow is a person chosen to attend the college examinations during the year.

SENIOR FRESHMAN.  The name of the second of the four classes into which undergraduates are divided at Trinity College, Dublin.

SENIORITY.  In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the eight Senior Fellows and the Master of a college compose what is called the Seniority.  Their decisions in all matters are generally conclusive.

My duty now obliges me, however reluctantly, to bring you before the Seniority.—­Alma Mater, Vol.  I. p. 75.

SENIOR OPTIME.  Those who occupy the second rank in honors at the close of the final examination at the University of Cambridge, Eng., are denominated Senior Optimes.

The Second Class, or that of Senior Optimes, is larger in number [than that of the Wranglers], usually exceeding forty, and sometimes reaching above sixty.  This class contains a number of disappointments, many who expect to be Wranglers, and some who are generally expected to be.—­Bristed’s Five Years in an Eng.  Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 228.

The word is frequently abbreviated.

The Pembroker ... had the pleasant prospect of getting up all his mathematics for a place among the Senior Ops.—­Ibid., p. 158.

He would get just questions enough to make him a low Senior Op. —­Ibid., p. 222.

SENIOR ORATION.  “The custom of delivering Senior Orations,” says a correspondent, “is, I think, confined to Washington and Jefferson Colleges in Pennsylvania.  Each member of the Senior Class, taking them in alphabetical order, is required to deliver an oration before graduating, and on such nights as the Faculty may decide.  The public are invited to attend, and the speaking is continued at appointed times, until each member of the Class has spoken.”

SENIOR SOPHISTER.  At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a student in the third year of his residence is called a Senior Soph or Sophister.