or mortar.—The trencher-cap worn at certain public schools and at the universities.
1600. W. KEMP, Nine Daies Wonder, ‘Dedicatory Epistle.’ So that me thinkes I could flye to Rome … with a MORTER on my head.
d. 1635. CORBET, To Thomas Coryate.
| No more shall man with MORTAR on his head | |
| Set forward towards Rome. |
1647. FLETCHER, The Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. He … may now travel to Rome with a MORTAR on’s head.
1857. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, Pt. II. ch. iii. ‘I don’t mind this ’ere MORTAR-BOARD, sir,’ remarked the professor of the noble art of self-defence, as he pointed to the academical cap which surmounted his head.
1864. Fun, 21 May, p. 96, ‘The Proctor and the Proctorized.’
| Anon I saw a gentle youth (no ‘sub fusc’ under-grad), | |
| ‘Toga virilis’ he had none, ‘no MORTAR BOARD’ he had. |
1881. PASCOE, ed. Everyday Life in Our Public Schools, 147. On admission … a boy provides himself with a MORTAR or college-cap.
