varsity
[vahr-si-tee]
- any first-string team, especially in sports, that represents a school, college, university, or the like: He is on the varsity in tennis and in debating.
- Chiefly British Informal. university.
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- of or relating to a university or school team, activity, or competition: a varsity debater.
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Origin of varsity
1840–50; compare versity university, in 17th century; pronunciation probably preserves historical outcome of Middle English ĕr, as in varmint
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for varsity
Contemporary Examples
Army B-squad players who fail to make it onto the varsity team after a year or two usually quit football.
When he next tried out for the varsity, he weighed 174 pounds and was faster than he had been on his arrival at West Point.
Her grandson Kane is a freshman and is playing for both the JV and varsity squads.
Native American Basketball Team in Wyoming Have Hoop Dreams Of Their OwnRobert Silverman
August 31, 2014
The Varsity Chiefs are awesome, and the engine for this devastating hardwood machine is point guard Buell Robinson.
Native American Basketball Team in Wyoming Have Hoop Dreams Of Their OwnRobert Silverman
August 31, 2014
She is a varsity track star, a champion baton-twirler, and a volunteer at Cortland Memorial Hospital.
The Stacks: The Searing Story of How Murder Stalked a Tiny New York TownE. Jean Carroll
April 19, 2014
Historical Examples
Of them some twenty-four were on the 'varsity and sixteen on the second.
Left End EdwardsRalph Henry Barbour
After that, with the ball on the second's eight yards, the 'varsity should have scored easily.
Left End EdwardsRalph Henry Barbour
We've done as much, in a way, as the 'varsity fellows to win from Claflin.
Left End EdwardsRalph Henry Barbour
After that you may believe that the 'varsity played football!
Left End EdwardsRalph Henry Barbour
He's been begging the 'varsity fellows to get stale and be done with it.
Left End EdwardsRalph Henry Barbour
varsity
- British, NZ and Southern African informal university, formerly used esp at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge
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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 varsity
adj.
1846, "university," variant of earlier versity (1670s), shortened form of university.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper