break gates | Idiomator

Meaning: (UK,universities,idiomatic,dated)To enter an Oxford or Cambridge college enclosure after the hour to which a student has been restricted.1868, “Willowstoke”, inThe Light blue, a Cambridge university magazine, volume 3, page210:Hebroke gatesto-day; and then there was something that Grove did'nt seem inclined to be very explicit about.2000, Joseph Romilly, M. E. Bury, J. D. Pickles,Romilly's Cambridge Diary 1848-1864:From 12½ to past 2 at a College meeting: we rusticated 'sine die', an ill-conducted idle reckless vagabond named Moore — he had been gated, but hebroke gates, shirked Sunday Evening Chapel & went to a Hotel to drink & smoke till they shut up the house & turned him out: —we did a good deal of Bursarial work.2011, Peter Linehan,St John's College, Cambridge: A History, page304:Students were frequently caught by the proctors and bulldogs forbreaking gates( i.e. going absent without leave ) .; Used other than figuratively or idiomatically:seebreak,‎gates.1846, Harry Hieover,Stable Talk and Table Talk, Or, Spectacles for Young Sportsmen, page32:I have had horsesbreak gateswith me , and that both with and without getting a fall ; but candour must make me allow I never rode at one contemplating such a result ;

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