Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
PAUPER, n. Also powper (Sc. 1830 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1864) III. 39). Sc. forms and usage: †a school pupil who received free education in return for various cleaning and supervisory duties about the school.n.Sc. 1801 D. Sage Memorabilia (1889) 151:
To the school-hours of attendance we were summoned by the blowing of a post-horn, which the pauper, or janitor, blew lustily . . . After this he proceeded to the school-house to arrange it for our reception, by sweeping the floor and lighting the fire. For all this drudgery the only remuneration he received was a gratis education — whence his designation of the pauper or “poor scholar.”e.Rs.1 1929:
Pauper. The boy who swept the school and lit the fire. He was not charged fees. There was a pauper in the school I attended in Kilmuir Easter about 1876.
