Meanings
- archaicuncountableOxford University slangdivinity (as a subject or examination).
It was obvious to everybody by then that he was not going to pass "divvers".
1988, Bevis Hillier, Young Betjeman, →ISBN, page 1942 more examples
It is indeed no small hardship to give up fourteen successive evenings to an examination so farcical and extravagant as Divvers, which is void of definite purpose or result, when they might have been doing a thousand and one things of enjoyment and interest such as only a University can provide.
1911, A. Hamilton Gibbs, The Compleat Oxford Man, page 211With the increasing loss of faith by experiences in the trenches, many students after the war turned away from Christianity, some embracing humanism, and even Marxism. As a result, the University supported the abolishment of the biblical literacy exam "Divvers".
2020 May 31, Jackie Brown, “Surviving through History: Oxford’s ambition for learning unplagued by pandemics”, in The Oxford StudentSynonyms: div
Synonyms & antonyms
noundivinity (as a subject or examination).
Origin
Jocular modification of divinity + -ers. See Oxford "-er".
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
divvers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/divvers
“divvers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/divvers. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “divvers,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/divvers.
Source: divvers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.