first year

See also: first-year

English

Alternative forms

• first-year
• 1st year (sense 2)

Noun

first year (countable and uncountable, plural first years)

1. A first-year student.
   • 1969 March 13, Charlie Dickins, “[Editorial]”, in Woroni, volume 21, number 2, Canberra: A.N.U. Students’ Association; Canberra Publishing Co. Pty. Ltd., page 2:

     The obvious topic for this issue is the new first year students. What are they like? It would be easy to say that they seem to be a typical mob of apathetic new students. It would be more correct however, to say that they are simply a typical bunch of first years. They were given one of the best, if not the best, Orientation Weeks (thanks especially to the untiring efforts of Ronny-Boy Colman) that the A.N. U. has ever seen. The reaction of the first years was perhaps a little disappointing to the organisers but it was probably as good as could be expected.

   • 1979, Alan Bleasdale, No More Sitting on the Old School Bench, Huddersfield, W.Y.: Woodhouse Books, published 1983, →ISBN, page 30:

     Another thing you should know about is that the first years always stand with the teachers on the first day.

   • 1980, Rita Allcock, Wendy Bland, Dance in Education, London: Dance Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 8:

     Obviously it is pointless to expect from a group of first years the ability to pursue any great degree of abstraction in the preparation of a dance.

   • 1993, Linda Mather, chapter 23, in Blood of an Aries, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 193:

     Jo left the school in the wake of a bunch of first years who made for the gate as if the building was on fire.

   • 2005, Jasmin Oliver, Gucci Girls: Cutting It, London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, →ISBN, page 7:

     The first years always fancy an older man, mate.

   • 2007, Helen Ryan, A Year in the Life of Rachel, [Drogheda]: Choice Publishing & Book Services Ltd, →ISBN, page 54:

     There is a rumour going round the school that Claire Miles is throwing a party at Easter to celebrate her pregnancy. […] Of course it might not be true about the party. The stupid first years are always getting things wrong.

2. (Philippines, education, uncountable) The first year of junior high school in the Philippine education system; seventh grade.
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see first,‎ year.
   • 1992, Christopher Brickell, editor, The Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening, London: BCA by arrangement with Dorling Kindersley, published 1994, →ISBN, page 207, column 1:

     The use of sterilized compost when planting should minimize problems with weeds, at least for the first years.

   • 2012, Phyllis Koch-Sheras, Peter Sheras, Lifelong Love: 4 Steps to Creating and Maintaining an Extraordinary Relationship, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 142:

     For many couples, the first years seem to go the best.

   • 2014 May 28, Ian S. Port, “Second Acts”, in SF Weekly, volume 33, number 19, San Francisco, Calif.: SF Weekly, LP, →ISSN, page 38:

     First years are always hard for festivals.

References

• “first year”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “first-year”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.