from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sophister \Soph"ist*er\, n.
1. A sophist. See {Sophist}. [Obs.] --Hooker.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Eng. Univ.) A student who is advanced beyond the first
year of his residence.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The entire course at the university consists of three
years and one term, during which the students have the
titles of first-year men, or freshmen; second-year men
or junior sophs or sophisters; third-year men, or
senior sophs or sophisters; and, in the last term,
questionists, with reference to the approaching
examination. In the older American colleges, the junior
and senior classes were originally called, and in some
of them are still called, junior sophisters and senior
sophisters.
[1913 Webster]