From more definite accounts it would seem that a sizing of biscuit was one biscuit, and a sizing of cracker, two crackers.  A certain amount of food was allowed to each mess, and if any person wanted more than the allowance, it was the custom to tell the waiter to bring a sizing of whatever was wished, provided it was obtained from the commons kitchen; for this payment was made at the close of the term.  A sizing of cheese was nearly an ounce, and a sizing of cider varied from a half-pint to a pint and a half.

The Steward shall, at the close of every quarter, immediately fill up the columns of commons and sizings, and shall deliver the bill, &c.—­Laws Harv.  Coll., 1798, p. 58.

The Butler shall frequently inspect his book of sizings.—­Ibid., p. 62.

Whereas young scholars, to the dishonor of God, hinderance of their studies, and damage of their friends’ estate, inconsiderately and intemperately are ready to abuse their liberty of sizing besides their commons; therefore the Steward shall in no case permit any students whatever, under the degree of Masters of Arts, or Fellows, to expend or be provided for themselves or any townsmen any extraordinary commons, unless by the allowance of the President, &c., or in case of sickness.—­Orders written 28th March, 1650.—­Quincy’s Hist.  Harv.  Univ., Vol.  I. p. 583.

This term, together with the verb and noun size, which had been in use at Harvard and Yale Colleges since their foundation, has of late been little heard, and with the extinction of commons has, with the others, fallen wholly, and probably for ever, into disuse.

The use of this word and its collaterals is still retained in the University of Cambridge, Eng.

Along the wall you see two tables, which, though less carefully provided than the Fellows’, are still served with tolerable decency, and go through a regular second course instead of the “sizings.”—­Bristed’s Five Years in an Eng.  Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 20.

SIZING PARTY.  In the University of Cambridge, Eng., where this term is used, a “sizing party” says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, “differs from a supper in this; viz. at a sizing party every one of the guests contributes his part, i.e. orders what he pleases, at his own expense, to his friend’s rooms,—­’a part of fowl’ or duck; a roasted pigeon; ‘a part of apple pie.’  A sober beaker of brandy, or rum, or hollands and water, concludes the entertainment.  In our days, a bowl of bishop, or milk punch, with a chant, generally winds up the carousal.”

SKIN.  At Yale College, to obtain a knowledge of a lesson by hearing it read by another; also, to borrow another’s ideas and present them as one’s own; to plagiarize; to become possessed of information in an examination or a recitation by unfair or secret means.  “In our examinations,” says a correspondent, “many of the fellows cover the palms of their hands with dates, and when called upon for a given date, they read it off directly from their hands.  Such persons skin.”