APPLICANT. A diligent student. "This word," says Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, "has been much used at our colleges. The English have the verb _to apply_, but the noun _applicant_, in this sense, does not appear to be in use among them. The only Dictionary in which I have found it with this meaning is Entick's, in which it is given under the word _applier_. Mr. Todd has the term _applicant_, but it is only in the sense of 'he who applies for anything.' An American reviewer, in his remarks on Mr. Webster's Dictionary, takes notice of the word, observing, that it 'is a mean word'; and then adds, that 'Mr. Webster has not explained it in the most common sense, a _hard student_.'--_Monthly Anthology_, Vol. VII. p. 263. A correspondent observes: 'The utmost that can be said of this word among the English is, that perhaps it is occasionally used in conversation; at least, to signify one who asks (or applies) for something.'" At present the word _applicant_ is never used in the sense of a diligent student, the common signification being that given by Mr. Webster, "One who applies; one who makes request; a petitioner." APPOINTEE. One who receives an appointment at a college exhibition or commencement. The _appointees_ are writing their pieces.--_Scenes and Characters in College_, New Haven, 1847, p. 193. To the gratified _appointee_,--if his ambition for the honor has the intensity it has in some bosoms,--the day is the proudest he will ever see.--_Ibid._, p. 194. I suspect that a man in the first class of the "Poll" has usually read mathematics to more profit than many of the "_appointees_," even of the "oration men" at Yale.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 382. He hears it said all about him that the College _appointees_ are for the most part poor dull fellows.--_Ibid._, p. 389. APPOINTMENT. In many American colleges, students to whom are assigned a part in the exercises of an exhibition or commencement, are said to receive an _appointment_. Appointments are given as a reward for superiority in scholarship. As it regards college, the object of _appointments_ is to incite to study, and promote good scholarship.--_Scenes and Characters in College_, New Haven, 1847, p. 69. If e'er ye would take an "_appointment_" young man, Beware o' the "blade" and "fine fellow," young man! _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 210. Some have crammed for _appointments_, and some for degrees. _Presentation Day Songs_, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854. See JUNIOR APPOINTMENTS. APPROBAMUS. Latin; _we approve_. A certificate, given to a student, testifying of his fitness for the performance of certain duties.