verb. (university).—1. To reject in an examination. [See infra Smyth-Palmer on PLUCK.]
1863. C. READE, Hard Cash, Prol. Gooseberry pie … adds to my chance of being PLOUGHED for smalls.
1877. Driven to Rome, 68. These two promising specimens were not ‘PLOUGHED,’ but were considered fit and proper persons to teach that Religion to others the history of which they were so lamentably ignorant themselves.
1895. R. POCOCK, The Rules of the Game, I. iii. I knew one of that lot at Corpus; in fact, we were crammed by the same tutor for ‘smalls,’ and both got PLOUGHED.
1900. PERCY WHITE, The West End, 142. ‘I’ll pay you back directly I have passed.’… ‘But suppose you’re ‘PLOUGHED?’’ ‘Well, then, I suppose you’ll have to wait a little longer.’
1608. SHAKESPEARE, Pericles, vi. 6. Bawd. Boult, take her away; use her at they pleasure: crack the glass of her virginity…. Boult. … She shall be PLOUGHED.
1608. SHAKESPEARE, Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2, 232.
| Agr. Royal wench! | |
| She made great Cæsar lay his sword to bed: | |
| He PLOUGH’D her and she cropped. |
TO PLOUGH THE DEEP, verb. phr. (rhyming slang).—To sleep.
TO PUT THE PLOUGH BEFORE THE OXEN, verb. phr. (old).—To reverse; ‘to put the cart before the horse.’
1653. URQUHART, Rabelais, I. He would PUT THE PLOUGH BEFORE THE OXEN, and claw where it did not itch.
PROVERBIAL PHRASES are:—TO PLOUGH WITH ASS AND OX = to sort or do things ill; TO LET THE PLOUGH STAND TO CATCH A MOUSE = to neglect weighty matters for small; TO PLOUGH THE AIR (or A ROCK) = to attempt the absurd or impossible.
