Origin: 1615–25; < Medieval Latinbaccalaureātus, equivalent to baccalaure(us) advanced student, bachelor (for baccalārius (see bachelor), alteration by association with Latin phrase bacca laureus laurel berry) + -ātus-ate1
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
the university degree of Bachelor or Arts, Bachelor of Science, etc
2.
an internationally recognized programme of study, comprising different subjects, offered as an alternative to a course of A levels in Britain
3.
(US) a farewell sermon delivered at the commencement ceremonies in many colleges and universities
[C17: from Medieval Latin baccalaureātus, from baccalaureus advanced student, alteration of baccalāriusbachelor; influenced in folk etymology by Latin bāca berry + laureus laurel]
1620s, "university degree of a bachelor," from M.L. baccalaureus "student with the first degree," altered by a play on words with bacca lauri "laurel berry" (laurels being awarded for academic success). The M.L. word perhaps ultimately is derived from L. baculum "staff" (see
bacillus), which the young student might carry, but it is more likely just a re-Latinization of bachelor (q.v.) in its academic sense. In modern U.S. usage, the word usually is short for baccalaureate-sermon (1864), a religious farewell address to the graduating class.