Also ’varsity. [Colloquial abbreviation of UNIVERSITY. Cf. the late 17th-cent. form VERSITY.] University. Also attrib.
1841. Heads of the People, 119. Next to a drunken sailor, just paid off, there is nothing like Eton schoolboys, and Oxford gentlemen. You see, sir, when they leaves school, or the ’Varsity, they are very happy at the thoughts of getting away from the big wigs, and their books.
1846. in Brasenose Ale, 84. To victory we steered, And o’er the vanquished Varsity Our flag triumphant reared.
1872. H. Kingsley, Hornby Mills, etc., II. 66. I have such faith in the old University (never use that horrid word ’varsity, my lad; don’t vulgarise the old place).
1888. Quiller-Couch, in Echoes fr. the Oxford Mag. (1890), 105. We’ll dance at the ’Varsity Ball.
