pollman

plural pollmen

1. UKhistoricalCambridge University slangOne who takes an ordinary university degree, without honours.

   It is related of some Cambridge poll-man that he was once so ill-advised as to desert a private tutor.

   1889 March 2, Academy

   2 more examples

   Even the wretched pollmen cannot be expected to unravel the quirks and catches in their elementary papers with any degree of credit, unless they have been privately trained for the purpose.

   1860 July 1, “IX. Cambridge University Reform”, in The British Quarterly Review, volume 32, page 227

   Nevertheless, it is tolerably clear, from various parts of their Report, that while they believe the best Harrow or Rugby boy to be equal to the picked scholars of their own schools, they are persuaded that the average Harrow or Rugby boy—one, for example, who goes from the fifth form to be a pollman at Cambridge or an officer in the army—knows less, and has received less intellectual training and intellectual stimulus, than a French boy of the same age.

   1869 January 16, “A French View of English Schools”, in The Saturday Review, volume 27, number 690, page 92

   Synonyms: passman, poll

plural Pollmans

1. A surname.