optime

[ op-tuh-mee ]

noun

(formerly at Cambridge University, England) a student taking second or third honors in the mathematical tripos.: Compare wrangler (def. 2).

Origin of optime

1700–10; extracted from Latin phrase optimē (disputasti) (you have argued) very well

In 1854 he took his degree as fourth junior optime, and fourth in the first class of the classical tripos.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 | Various
Ut navem, ut aedificium idem destruit facillime qui construxit, sic hominem eadem optime quae conglutinavit natura dissolvit.
Cato Maior de Senectute | Marcus Tullius Cicero
Ergo humanum genus bene se habet et optime, quando secundum quod potest Deo adsimilatur.
The Unity of Civilization | Various
The young fellow sitting near me winked; and the divinity-student said, in an undertone,—optime dictum.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table | Oliver Wendell Holmes
He achieved the rare distinction of obtaining an optime for both Greek and for physics.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 8 | Various

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