battels

[prettygoodword]

battels (BA-tuhlz) - (UK, some universities) fees charged by a college for board, provisions, and other living expenses.


Where "some" are specifically Oxford and Durham. Almost always used only in the plural. Origin unclear but possibly related to obsolete battle, to feed/fatten (an obsolete adjectival sense of battel is fertile/fruitful).

---L.

Comments

[ionelv]

According to wiktionary, battels is also an obsolete UK school slang for a "small sum of money given to pupils," and, in singular form, it was used at Eton College to mean a "small allowance of food collegers receive from their dames (matrons) in addition to their college allowance."

[prettygoodword]

Yeah, I left off those obsolete meanings (and another I found elsewhere).