subs. (Eton).—A Colleger; a scholar on the foundation. Hence TUGGERY = College. [Great Public Schools: from the toga worn by Collegers to distinguish them from the rest of the school.]
1881. PASCOE, ed. Everyday Life in Our Public Schools, 55. The long-looked-for St. Andrew’s Day arrives, when the great match of Collegers—or, as the small Oppidan would term it, ‘TUGS’—and Oppidans is to be played.
1883. J. BRINSLEY RICHARDS, Seven Years at Eton, xii. My interlocutor was a red-headed, freckled little boy of eleven, who had come from Aberdeen, ‘to try for TUGGERY’—that is, to try and pass on to the foundation as a King’s scholar.
1890. M. MORRIS, A Visit to Eton, in Great Public Schools, iv. 52. The disrespect, almost bordering on contempt, with which the Oppidans used for many years to regard the TOGATI, or gown-wearing boys.
Adj. (Winchester).—Stale, ordinary, vapid, common. Whence TUGS = stale news; TUG-CLOTHES = everyday clothes; TUG-JAW = wearisome talk.
PHRASES.—TO HOLD ONE TUG = to keep busy; to task-drive; TO HOLD TUG = to stand hard work, or severe strain; TUG OF WAR (see WAR).
1667. WOOD, Life, 18 July, 206. There was work enough for a curious and critical Antiquary, that would HOLD HIM TUGG for a whole yeare.
