English

Proper noun

Golgotha

1. (biblical) The hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.
2. (slang, at Oxbridge colleges in the 18th and 19th centuries) The rooms of the heads of the colleges (a pun on "the place of the skulls / heads").
   • 1726, Nicholas Amhurst, Terræ-filius: or, the Secret History of the University of Oxford (No. XI), page 59:

     But Printing is not the only, nor the principal uſe, for which theſe ſtupendous ſtone-walls were erected; for here is that famous apartment, by idle wits and buffoons nick-named Golgotha, i.e. the place of Sculls or Heads of colleges and halls, where they meet and debate upon all extraordinary affairs, which occur within the precincts of their juriſsdiction.

Translations

See also

• Calvary

Quotations

• 1611, Bible (KJV), John 19:17:

  "And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha"

• 1726, Terræ Filius No. XI:

  "…for here is that famous apartment, by idle wits and buffoons nick-named Golgotha, i.e. the place of Sculls or Heads of colleges and halls, where they meet and debate upon all extraordinary affairs…"