Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
break gates en · VERB
Meanings
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(UK, dated, idiomatic, qualifier:universities) To enter an Oxford or Cambridge college enclosure after the hour to which a student has been restricted.
He broke gates to-day; and then there was something that Grove did'nt seem inclined to be very explicit about.
1868, “Willowstoke”, in The Light blue, a Cambridge university magazine, volume 3, page 210:Students were frequently caught by the proctors and bulldogs for breaking gates ( i.e. going absent without leave ) .
2011, Peter Linehan, St John's College, Cambridge: A History, page 304:From 12½ to past 2 at a College meeting: we rusticated 'sine die', an ill-conducted idle reckless vagabond named Moore — he had been gated, but he broke gates, shirked Sunday Evening Chapel & went to a Hotel to drink & smoke till they shut up the house & turned him out: —we did a good deal of Bursarial work.
2000, Joseph Romilly, M. E. Bury, J. D. Pickles, Romilly's Cambridge Diary 1848-1864:
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Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see break, gates.
I have had horses break gates with me , and that both with and without getting a fall ; but candour must make me allow I never rode at one contemplating such a result ;
1846, Harry Hieover, Stable Talk and Table Talk, Or, Spectacles for Young Sportsmen, page 32:
Forms