matriculate
[verb muh-trik-yuh-leyt; noun muh-trik-yuh-lit]
- to enroll in a college or university as a candidate for a degree.
- to register (a coat of arms), used especially in Scottish heraldry.
Show More
- to be matriculated.
Show More
- a person who has been matriculated.
Show More
Origin of matriculate
1480–90 for earlier sense; < Medieval Latin mātrīculātus (person) listed (for some specific duty), equivalent to mātrīcul(a) list (see matriculant) + -ātus -ate1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for matriculate
Historical Examples
Subsequently, I learnt that this was the third year he had vainly attempted to matriculate.
YouthLeo Tolstoy
He has to matriculate this year, it's frightfully difficult.
A Young Girl's DiaryAn Anonymous Young Girl
You have made up your mind immediately you matriculate at her Universities.
The London PulpitJ. Ewing Ritchie
I had presently to arrange a holiday and go to London to matriculate, and so it was I came upon my aunt and uncle again.
Tono BungayH. G. Wells
He leaves home provided with his ordinary apparel, which he is compelled to abandon, on becoming a matriculate.
matriculate
- to enrol or be enrolled in an institution, esp a college or university
- (intr) to attain the academic standard required for a course at such an institution
Show More
- Also called: matriculant a person who has matriculated
Show More
Word Origin
C16: from Medieval Latin mātrīculāre to register, from mātrīcula, diminutive of matrix list, matrix
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for matriculate
v.
1570s, "to admit a student to a college by enrolling his name on the register," from Late Latin matriculatus, past participle of matriculare "to register," from Latin matricula "public register," diminutive of matrix (genitive matricis) "list, roll," also "sources, womb" (see matrix).
The connection of senses in the Latin word seems to be via confusion of Greek metra "womb" (from meter "mother;" see mother (n.1)) and an identical but different Greek word metra meaning "register, lot" (see meter (n.2)). Evidently Latin matrix was used to translate both, though it originally shared meaning with only one. Related: Matriculated; matriculating.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper