Laureate Or Laureat

Laureate or laureat. [fr. lauera, Lat.] an officer of the household of the sovereign, whose business formerly consisted only in composing an ode annually, on the sovereign's birthday, and on the new year; sometimes also, though rarely, on occasion of any remarkable victory, Warton's Hist. of English Poetry. The annual birthday ode has been discontinued for many years. the title is derived from the circumstance that in classical times and in the Middle Ages the most distinguished poets were solemnly crowned with laurel. From this the practice found its way into our universities; and it is for that reason that Selden, in his Titles of Honour, speaks of the laurel crown as an ensign of the degree of mastership in poetry. A relic of the old university practice of crowning distinguished student of poetry exists in the term 'Laureation,' which is still used at one of the Scotch Universities (St. Andrews), to signify the taking of the degree of Master of Arts.