Search

bachelor’s degree.
a religious service held at an educational institution, usually on the Sunday before commencement day.
baccalaureate sermon.
Historical Examples

A dozen had taken the baccalaureate, and were proudly repeating the pirouettes and spread-eagles of that degree.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 Various

The president preached the baccalaureate sermon from Gen. 5:24.
The American Missionary – Volume 52, No. 2, June, 1898 Various

The baccalaureate, licentiateship, and mastership formed three distinct degrees.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 1 Various

In his baccalaureate sermon the president of Yale offered the graduates some advice which at least they should find stimulating.
The Fiction Factory John Milton Edwards

The baccalaureate sermon, delivered by Professor Francis, was very appropriate and touching.
The American Missionary, Volume XLII. No. 7. July 1888 Various

Most of the students had never seen a single patient before they reached the honors of the baccalaureate.
The Catholic World. Volume II; Numbers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. E. Rameur

Nothing has shown more clearly the intellectual barrenness of the pulpit than baccalaureate sermons lately delivered.
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 7 (of 12) Robert G. Ingersoll

To this was added, that he was seeking the degree following the baccalaureate, that of Master of Arts.
The Life of Philip Melanchthon Karl Friedrich Ledderhose

After securing her baccalaureate and licentiate in Paris, she applied for admission as a student to the Paris observatory.
Woman in Science John Augustine Zahm

I got my baccalaureate from French Government in 1941—first part.
Warren Commission (6 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15) The President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy

noun
the university degree of Bachelor or Arts, Bachelor of Science, etc
an internationally recognized programme of study, comprising different subjects, offered as an alternative to a course of A levels in Britain
(US) a farewell sermon delivered at the commencement ceremonies in many colleges and universities
n.

1620s, “university degree of a bachelor,” from Medieval Latin baccalaureatus, from baccalaureus “student with the first degree,” altered by a play on words with bacca lauri “laurel berry” (laurels being awarded for academic success).

The Medieval Latin word perhaps ultimately is derived from Latin baculum “staff” (see bacillus), which the young student might carry, but it is more likely just a re-Latinization of bachelor (q.v.) in its academic sense. In modern U.S. usage, the word usually is short for baccalaureate-sermon (1864), a religious farewell address to the graduating class.