little-go

From little + go.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəlɡəʊ/

little-go (plural little-gos or little-goes)

1. (historical) A private lottery, especially when illegal.
2. (historical, Britain) Alternative form of little go (“university exam”)
   • 1853, Edward Bradley, chapter 7, in The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green:

     "Oh," said Mr. Charles Larkyns, "they give you no end of trouble at these places; and they require the vaccination certificate before you go in for your responsions, - the Little-go, you know. You need not mention my name in your letter as having told you this. It will be quite enough to say that you understand such a thing is required."

   • 1856, William Makepeace Thackeray, The King of Brentford's Testament:

     At school they never flogg'd him, / At college, though not fast, / Yet his little-go and great-go / He creditably pass'd, / And made his year's allowance / For eighteen months to last.

   • 1861, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1883, page 128:

     Let's see, this is only his third term? I'll give him, perhaps, two more to make the place too hot to hold him. Take my word for it, he'll never get to his little-go.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 801:

     […] the interrogators were able to recognize this as, “There was a question just like that on my little-go.”