Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to a town; town.
- noun An inhabitant of a town.
- noun At Eton College, a student who is not on the foundation, and who boards with one of the masters or with a private family in the town: distinguished from a colleger.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a town.
- noun An inhabitant of a town.
- noun A student of Eton College, England, who is not a King's scholar, and who boards in a private family.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective rare Of or pertaining to a
town orconurbation . - noun rare, obsolete A
town dweller . - noun A class of student in traditional English
public schools such as Eton; opposed tocolleger or King's Scholar.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word oppidan.
Examples
-
Massachusetts by oppidan on January 6, 2005 - 5: 38pm
-
Calvin, a "martinet", or oppidan, in the Collèege de la
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3: Brownson-Clairvaux 1840-1916 1913
-
But now oppidan life extended beyond these walls; and houses, streets, villas and gardens spread into the plain on all sides.
The Bishop's Secret Fergus Hume 1895
-
Touching the temporal government of Rome, and oppidan affairs, there is a pretor and some choice citizens, which sit in the Capitol.
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume III (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland I Various 1885
-
It may therefore be concluded that he was an oppidan.
Fielding Austin Dobson 1880
-
On another occasion, 'to the great joy' of the narrator, an oppidan vanquished a colleger, though the colleger fought so furiously that he put his fingers out of joint, and went back to the classic studies that soften manners, with a face broken and quite black.
The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) 1809-1859 John Morley 1880
-
'That the most popular oppidan of his day should have utterly ignored the supposed inferiority of the less wealthy section of the school, and looked on worth and high character as none the worse for being clothed in a coarse serge gown, is a fact seemingly trivial to ordinary readers, but very noticeable to Eton men.
Life of John Coleridge Patteson Yonge, Charlotte M 1873
-
It was decided that I also should go to Eton, but as an oppidan, and becoming already a partisan of my own part of the school, I often now disputed conclusions or questioned facts in my tutor's school anecdotes, which commonly tended to the sole glorification of the "collegers."
A Flat Iron for a Farthing or Some Passages in the Life of an only Son Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing 1863
-
But I dubitate whether this abstruser sort of speculation (though enlivened by some apposite instances from Aristophanes) would sufficiently interest your oppidan readers.
The Biglow Papers James Russell Lowell 1855
-
But I dubitate whether this abstruser sort of speculation (though enlivened by some apposite instances from Aristophanes) would sufficiently interest your oppidan readers.
The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell 1855
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.