itude.--_Bristed_.

PIMP. To do little, mean actions for the purpose of gaining favor
with a superior, as, in college, with an instructor. The verb with
this meaning is derived from the adjective _pimping_, which
signifies _little, petty_.

Did I not promise those who fished
And _pimped_ most, any part they wished.
_The Rebelliad_, p. 33.

PISCATORIAN. From the Latin _piscator_, a fisherman. One who seeks
or gains favor with a teacher by being officious toward him.

This word was much used at Harvard College in the year 1822, and
for a few years after; it is now very seldom heard.

See under FISH.

PIT. In the University of Cambridge, the place in St. Mary's
Church reserved for the accommodation of Masters of Arts and
Fellow-Commoners is jocularly styled the _pit_.--_Grad. ad
Cantab._

PLACE. In the older American colleges, the situation of a student
in the class of which he was a member was formerly decided, in a
measure, by the rank and circumstances of his family; this was
called _placing_. The Hon. Paine Wingate, who graduated at Harvard
College in the year 1759, says, in one of his letters to Mr.
Peirce:--

"You inquire of me whether any regard was paid to a student on
account of the rank of his parent, otherwise than his being
arranged or _placed_ in the order of his class?

"The right of precedence on every occasion is an object of
importance in the state of society. And there is scarce anything
which more sensibly affects the feelings of ambition than the rank
which a man is allowed to hold. This excitement was generally
called up whenever a class in college was _placed_. The parents
were not wholly free from influence; but the scholars were often
enraged beyond bounds for their disappointment in their _place_,
and it was some time before a class could be settled down to an
acquiescence in their allotment. The highest and the lowest in the
class was often ascertained more easily (though not without some
difficulty) than the intermediate members of the class, where
there was room for uncertainty whose claim was best, and where
partiality, no doubt, was sometimes indulged. But I must add,
that, although the honor of a _place_ in the class was chiefly
ideal, yet there were some substantial advantages. The higher part
of the class had generally the most influential friends, and they
commonly had the best chambers in College assigned to them. They
had also a right to help themselves fir