Word: gordian
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Dates: during 1880-1889
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...which I have met with during the last two or three years as examiner in the Cambridge local examinations: 1. 'Pitt was a great statesman; Fox was a ditto, he wrote a very good book of martyrs. Pitt and Fox both died a month after each other.' 2. 'The Gordian knot was a very difficult knot which Nero tied, and by means of which he kept the empire of Rome in subjection...
...particular course. Although we may learn much, the lesson will make no visible impression on the mind, and after a year or two will fade completely away, never to be recalled. Yet where are we to get instructiors of the type recommended by Professor Tyndall? This is indeed a gordian knot in the shape of a question, and we must confess has not been cut with an answer. Much can be done by a hard working and earnest teacher to keep up the flagging interest of his class, but from the general indifference it is quite evident that there...
Last year the all-important question in the university was the subject of the governor's degree. That question was grappled with by the overseers in a very heroic fashion, and the Gordian knot was cut, although the manner of its cutting may have displeased many. In other words the custom of conferring the degree of LL. D. upon the governor was stopped. Now in the face of the election of Mr. Robinson the question again arises. Every one agreed that the custom of conferring the degree was a bad one and every one was glad to see it broken...