baccalaureate
(bækəˈlɔːrɪət)
[ad. med.L. baccalaureātus, f. baccalaureus: see prec. and -ate.]
1. a. The University degree of bachelor.
| 1625–49 Sc. Acts Chas. I (1814) V. 73 (Jam.) Degries of baccalawreatt, licentiat, and doctorat. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. iv. Introd. (1852) 25 The degrees of a baccalaureate and a doctorate in divinity. 1849 Catal. Wesleyan Univ. 22 (B. H. Hall, College Words), The Seniors will be examined for the Baccalaureate, four weeks before Commencement. 1895 Rashdall Univ. Middle Ages I. 210 The institution of the Baccalaureate or pupil-teachership. 1907 Elem. Sch. Teacher Mar. 372 All of these four baccalaureates extend practically the same privileges to those who have obtained them. |
b. international baccalaureate, an examination offered by educational institutions in many countries, intended to qualify successful candidates for higher education in their own country or abroad; the diploma or qualification awarded for passing this.
| 1970 Times Educ. Suppl. 27 Feb. 15/4 The first international baccalaureate examination will be held this year with 100 candidates from four schools. 1978 Times 14 Feb. 3/1 Sixth-formers at a comprehensive school will for the first time be able to start studying next autumn for an international baccalaureate that will qualify them for entry to any university in the world. 1978 New Society 16 Feb. 373/1 There is already a tried and tested examination that overcomes many of the faults of A levels—the International Baccalaureate. 1984 N.Y. Times 1 Jan. viii. 5/1 Francis Lewis has an international baccalaureate program in Geneva, and a math and science institute associated with IBM. |
2. = bachelor. (By Longfellow used metri gratiâ, perh. with reference to laureate.)
| 1696 in Phillips. 1868 Longfellow Dante's Par. xxiv. 46 [He] as baccalaureate arms himself. |
3. attrib. baccalaureate degree; quasi-adj. in baccalaureate-sermon: a farewell discourse delivered to a graduating class in some American colleges.
| 1864 O. W. Holmes Soundings fr. Atl. 72 A baccalaureate sermon of President Hopkins. 1884 Nonconf. 10 July 667/1 Baccalaureate sermons are now being preached by the most eminent clergymen. 1891 D. C. Gilman Johns Hopkins Univ. 66 The manifold forms in which the baccalaurate [sic] degree is conferred. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. B7/1 (Advt.), Registered Nurses or Registered Psychiatric Nurses with baccalaureate degree or higher, and considerable experience in nursing education. |