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View synonyms for cow college

cow college

noun

, Informal.
  1. an agricultural college.
  2. a small, relatively unknown rural college.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of cow college1

First recorded in 1910–15
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Idioms and Phrases

An agricultural college; any small, relatively unknown rural college. For example, He's never published a paper, but he might do all right in some cow college . This term uses cow in the somewhat pejorative sense of “provincial.” [c. 1910]
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Example Sentences

There’s no cash cow college tournament for broomball.

He succeeded in quietly transforming the “cow college” in rural Blacksburg into a sprawling university that expanded to include colleges of architecture, arts and sciences, and education.

On Saturday, Auburn takes on Alabama, whose fans refer to their state rival as a “cow college” and to its supporters as barners.

From Slate

Such is life at the ultimate cow college: The locals may not want anything to do with the in-state rival, even when its flavor tastes great, but that is why the dairy store — which has a mission to train the ice cream makers and cheesemakers of tomorrow — offers options like Nittany White Out, which is vanilla ice cream with a salted caramel swirl and pieces of white-chocolate-covered pretzels.

The lowly Big Ten, from the cow college in Michigan that didn't get Jim Harbaugh and the spotlight was a testimony to how good you've become.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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