plebe
(pliːb)
[In sense 1 app. a. F. plèbe (in 14th c. plebe), ad. L. plēb-s, plēbem: see plebs. In sense 2 app. shortened from plebeian: cf. pleb.]
† 1. The Roman Plebs; by extension, the commonalty of any other nation. Obs.
| 1612 Heywood Apol. for Actors ii. 35 All other roomes were free for the plebe or multitude. 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue iii. 391 But still the Plebe, with thirst and fury prest, Thus roaring, raving, 'gainst their Chiefs contest. 1635 Heywood Hierarch. vi. Dial. 363 The Plebe with the motion seem'd content, Proserpine smil'd and Cerb'rus howl'd consent. |
2. a. U.S. colloq. A member of the lowest class at a military or naval academy; a newly entered cadet, a freshman. Also pleb. Also attrib.
| 1833 in Mil. & Naval Mag. (U.S.) (1834) Oct. 85 My drill master, a young stripling, told me I was not so ‘gross’ as most other pleibs, the name of all new cadets. 1834 in Ibid. June 281, I was reckoned, already, as one of a class of cadets. To be sure, it was the ‘plebe class’; but what of this? 1860 in Amer. Hist. Rev. (1928) XXXIII. 601 In most of our tents the cadets and plebes live together, 2 cadets, and 2 plebes to wait on them generally. 1884 Roe Nat. Ser. Story ii, You could see a squad of ‘plebes’ drilling. 1896 Peterson Mag. VI. 266/2 Although he was only a ‘plebe’, as the newly entered cadet was termed, even the hazers respected the native dignity and modesty that marked his demeanor. 1947 Newsweek 6 Oct. 78/2 The ‘plebe’ system which gives upper classmen authority over newcomer midshipmen filled Smith with revulsion. 1948 Menjou & Musselman It took 9 Tailors 26 New arrivals are called plebes and a plebe is the dirt beneath an upperclassman's shoes; but to add insult to injury, a plebe has to clean and polish the shoes while he is being stepped on. 1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon vii. 156 Buzz ranked number one in his class at the end of his plebe year. 1973 H. Gruppe Truxton Cipher iii. 31 Pozo was given to salting his speech with naval maxims left over from his days as a plebe. 1977 Time 19 Sept. 39/3 That summer, it [sc. West Point] enrolled its first women plebes—and now has 177 female cadets. |
b. Comb. plebeskin (U.S. slang), civilian dress.
| 1888 New York World 22 July (Farmer), West Point, N.Y., July 21. The fourth class entered camp on Monday, but are still wearing their plebeskins. They will don their dress coats the first week in August, when they enter the battalion. |