soph colloq.
(sɒf)
[Abbreviation of sophister and sophomore.]
1. = sophister 3. (In early use also at Oxford.)
| 1661 K. W. Conf. Charac., College Butler (1860) 68 Did you but see him dominere over a freshman,..when they come to be sophs the pump is his reward for his insolencies. 1684 Wilding in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 260 For being created Sen. Soph,..00 00 06. 1691 Mrs. D'Anvers Academia 6 These kindly hug young Soph,..And of his Cash t' a Farthing ease him. 1713 Byrom Rem. (1854) I. i. 20 There is one Law, a M.A., and Fellow of Emmanuel, has this last week been degraded to a Soph, that is, the Year below a Bachelor. 1740 Gray in W. Mason Mem. I. 266 The furniture much like that of a Soph at Cambridge for convenience and neatness. 1794 Gentl. Mag. Dec. 1084 One was a Harry Soph; another a fellow-commoner and senior soph. 1841 Peacock Stat. Cambr. 146 The exercises in the Sophs' schools for the degree of bachelor of arts have been altogether abandoned. 1871 ‘M. Legrand’ Cambr. Freshm. xix. 322 No longer a Freshman proper, but in all the budding dignity of a Junior Soph. |
| transf. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. clxxvii. III. 214 The Romans, senior sophs in their day, ever put their veterans in third line. |
2. U.S. = sophomore 1 b.
| 1778 Stiles Diary (1901) II. 277, I appointed Stevens a Soph. Waiter in the Hall. 1860 Macm. Mag. July 224 These sophomores, or sophimores, or sophs,..have the traditional reputation of being the chief actors in such..larking as goes on at Yale. 1890 Gunter Miss Nobody i. (1891) 8 They have come from Yale by train, singing that old-time glee with which the Sophs used to taunt the Freshes. |