Forms: α. 4–5 studiaunt, 4–6 studiant(e, 5 studyaunt(e, Sc. -and, 6 steudiant; 4–6 studiente, 4–8 studient, 5–6 studyent(e, 6 stewdyent. β. 5–6 studente, 5– student. [In the α forms, var. of ESTUDIANT, a. OF. estudiant, estudient, mod.F. étudiant (= Pr. estudian, Sp. estudiante, Pg. estudante, It. studiante, studiente), subst. use of pr. pple. of estudier, étudier to STUDY; in the mod. (β) form, ad. L. student-em, pr. pple. of studēre, to be eager, zealous, or diligent, to study; cf. It. studente, Du., G., Sw., Da. student.]
1. A person who is engaged in or addicted to study. Const. of, in, or with defining word prefixed, indicating the subject studied. Also with adj. of degree, as close, deep, † good, great, hard student.
α. 1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. xxvii. (Tollemache MS.). He [Mercurius] makeþ men studientes in science of numbris, and loueris þerof.
1450–80. trans. Secreta Secret., xxviii. 21. He that is a parfit studiaunt in that science.
1557. North, Gueuara’s Diall Pr., 98. We se it by experyence, that the greate studiantes are persecuted more wyth sycknes, then any others.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., IV. ii. 9. I am not … leane enough to bee thought a good Studient.
β. 1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 13. Not vnprofitable to goode studentes [non inutilem studiosis].
1529. More, Dyaloge, II. i. Wks. 178/1. No student in scripture should presume to trye examine, and iudge the catholike faith of Christes churche by the scripture.
1559. Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence, xxxviii. I know thou musest at this lore of mine, How I no student, should haue learned it.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., II. (Arb.), 129. I haue heard worthie M. Cheke many tymes say: I would haue a good student passe and iorney through all Authors both Greke and Latin.
1660. I. H., B. Valentine’s Triumphant Chariot, 21. Moreover the courteous & favourable student of Art, ought to know the several sorts and kinds of Antimony.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 526, ¶ 3. Lest this hard Student should one time or other crack his Brain with studying.
1822. Shelley, trans. Calderon’s Mag. Prodig., I. 86. I see Both by your dress and by the books in which You find delight and company, that you Are a great student.
1857. J. Hullah, Rudim. Mus. Gram., 2. The student should sing, or play … this scale of Do, until he is thoroughly familiar with the sound of it.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. v. 41. My position was in every way worthy of a student of nature.
1885. G. Monod, in Contemp. Rev., Jan., 136. Stanislas Guyard was well known in England by all Assyriological students.
2. A person who is undergoing a course of study and instruction at a university or other place of higher education or technical training. Also const. of, in (a subject); often with defining word prefixed, as art, law, medical student.
α. c. 1430. Pilgr. Lif Manhode, I. lxxxiv. (1869), 48. Now sey me … if ther be many studyauntes, and how gret the citees ben.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 95. Quhethir a studyand may lefully be haldin in prisoun.
1509. Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 301. The studyentes of bothe the vnyuersytees to whome she was as a moder.
1547. Househ. Bk. Edw. VI., in Trevelyan Papers (Camden), 195. Nicholas Bacon, studiant at the Lawe.
1564. J. Martiall, Treat. Crosse, title, By Iohn Martiall Bachiler of Lawe and Studient in Diuinitie.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 443. Flockes of Studientes, that ouer-swarme the whole land.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Norf. (1662), 250. He was … entered a Studient of the Municipal-law in the Inner-Temple.
1770. Luckombe, Hist. Printing, 61. William Rastall … became a studient in Lincoln’s Inn.
β. 1474. Caxton, Chesse, III. v. g vij. The Joly felawes that were students promysed to the woman a besaunte yf she myght or coude torne the corage of ypocras for to haue to doon wyth her.
1477. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 192/1. The studentes in the Universitees of Oxon and Cambrigge.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., III. (1562), 83 b. When I was in Cambridge, and student in the kinges College.
1629. Wadsworth, Pilgr., iii. 16. Now let vs come to the Collegiates or Students, and their diet.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, an. 1637. Authors (it seems) desired by the students of divinity there [Balliol Coll.].
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xvii. II. 40. After a regular course of education, which lasted five years, the students dispersed themselves through the provinces.
1845. W. B. S. Taylor, Hist. Univ. Dublin, 149. Provided the student be of two years’ standing in the university.
1860. N. Brit. Rev., XXXIII. 78. The students at the Scottish universities … usually reside either in furnished lodgings or are boarded in private families.
1886. C. Bigg, Chr. Platonists Alexandria, ii. 42. This was the famous Catechetical School…. The students were of both sexes, of very different ages.
1895. Rashdall, Univ. Europe, II. II. 605. The medieval student in Arts was usually much younger than the modern undergraduate.
3. a. At Christ Church, Oxford: A member of the foundation, corresponding to the ‘fellow’ or ‘scholar’ of other colleges.
Since 1882 the title is restricted to the senior members. Before that date the two groups were distinguished as Senior and Junior Students respectively.
1651. Langbaine, Found. Univ. Oxf., 12. He [Henry VIII.] established therein a Dean, 8 Canons, 3 publick Professors of Divinity, Hebrew, and Greek, 60 Students, eight Chaplains.
a. 1672. A. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), I. 47. In the beginning of this yeare [1638] his eldest brother Thomas Wood … became one of the students of Christ Church,… he being then 14 yeares of age.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 24 Oct. 1672. Mr. Lock, an excellent learned gentleman and student of Christ Church.
1858. Ordinances Oxf. Univ. Comm., Ch. Ch., § 6. The Senior Students shall be persons of unblemished character. Ibid., § 17. If in the judgment of the electors to open Studentships he shall not be in all respects fit to be a Student of the House.
b. A person who receives emoluments, during a fixed period, from a college or other institution, or from a special fund, to enable him to pursue his studies and as a reward of merit.
1800. Camb. Univ. Cal., 37. Gonvil or Caius College … [4 names] Students in Physic.
1814. Hist. Univ. Camb. (ed. 2), 55. Gonville and Caius College…. There are also four Studentships … for students in physic: these students are required to take their degree of Bachelor in Physic as soon as they are of sufficient standing.
1888. Camb. Univ. Cal., 512. Gonville and Caius College … Frank Smart Student [1 name].
† 4. Const. for. One who strives after or studies to attain (an object or end). Obs. rare.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 39. Wherein they both agre, that Musicke vsed amonges the Lydians is verie ill for yong men, which be studentes for vertue and learning.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XII. 467. So long, not a head Of all those Oxen, fell in any strife Amongst those students for the gut, and life [τόφρα βοῶν ἀπέχοντο λιλαιόμενοι βιότοιο].
5. attrib. and Comb., as student-life, -song; appositive, as student-monk, -preacher; student-like adj.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Massacre at Paris, 140. Paris hath full fiue hundred Colledges … Besides a thousand sturdy student Catholicks.
1841. W. Howitt (title), The Student-life of Germany:… containing nearly forty of the most famous Student Songs.
1870. Ruskin, Lect. Art, v. 135. Not one [drawing] is weak or studentlike—all are evidently master’s work.
1886. Willis & Clark, Cambridge, I. Introd. p. lxxxiii. Foundation of Gloucester House for student-monks.
1889. Hardwicke’s Sci.-Gossip, XXV. 127. Mr. Ralfs has an abundant store of anecdotes relating to his student-days.
1905. W. Holman Hunt, Pre-Raphaelitism, I. 49. Mulready was most painstaking and student-like.
1912. G. W. E. Russell, Edward King, ii. 29. The student-preacher of a written sermon … before the College [at Cuddesdon] had the right to dine at the Vicarage, and receive a detailed criticism after dinner.
b. Special comb.: student interpreter, a civil servant who is appointed to undergo a course of instruction in foreign languages in order to qualify for a post in the diplomatic or consular service; hence student interpretership; student(’s) lamp, an argand lamp with an elevated reservoir which automatically controls the flow of oil.
1872. Parl. Paper (title), Return of *Student Interpreters in China, Japan, and Siam: 1847–72.
1884. (title) Civil Service Commission. Open Competition for *Student Interpreterships in China and Japan.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Student’s Lamp.
1881. C. A. Young, Sun, 249. Like the shade of a student-lamp.
Hence Studentdom, the community of students. Studentess, a female student. Studenthood, Studentism, the condition of being a student. Studentless a., having no students.
1842. Hood, Review. Seriously, there are doubtless virtues that redeem the vulgarities and the vices of *Studentdom.
1899. Scotsman, 2 June, 4/5. Restrictions imposed by the authorities are such as to drive the whole of Russian studentdom into a common camp of protest.
c. 1870. Stevenson, Lett., in Westm. Gaz. (1895), 13 July, 10/1. Miss —— and the rest of our fellow-*studentesses.
1904. Contemp. Rev., March, 367. His own [lectures] on Job, the Psalms,… and other Old Testament subjects drew only students and German and Russian studentesses.
1910. Sir H. Johnston, Brit. across Seas, Africa, Pref. p. v. A concise history … which would not be too abstruse for young students,… nor yet too lacking in technical information to be of service to those who had left *student-hood behind.
1848. Blackw. Mag., LXIV. 530/2. There were burghers and merchants from the far cities, who, since the days of their *studentism, had fattened on tobacco and beer.
1899. J. C. Smith, Wallace’s Buchanan, vi. 129. St. Leonard’s College … in the first year was *studentless.
