Harvard

Proper noun

Harvard

1. A surname transferred from the given name.
2. An unincorporated community in Latah County, Idaho, named after the university.
3. A city in McHenry County, Illinois.
4. A town in Worcester County, Massachusetts (not the location of the university, which is in Cambridge, Middlesex County).
5. A minor city and township in Clay County, Nebraska, named for the university.
6. A university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, named after John Harvard, American clergyman and philanthropist.
   • The Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker appeared on the podcast of Aporia, an outlet whose owners advocate for a revival of race science and have spoken of seeking “legitimation by association” by platforming more mainstream figures.2025 June 7, Jason Wilson, “Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
7. A person who attends, attended, or is likely to attend Harvard; by extension, a person very successful academically.
   • I'd finished my second year at Harvard when I boarded the Penn Trader […] Not surprisingly. my name became Harvard. "Hey Harvard, get your ass back to the lazarette and bring me another bucket of red lead!"2005, Stephan Wilkinson, The Gold-Plated Porsche: How I Sank a Small Fortune Into a Used Car, and Other Misadventures, page 142
   • Lu had skipped second grade and found herself at the gifted school by the time she entered fifth grade. That more had earned her the nickname Harvard—another moniker from Lex. […] "Hey, Harvard, how was school today? Did you skip any more grades this week?" he had teased.2014, J Santiago, Lex and Lu
   1. (broadly, derogatory) a person who is nerdy, excessively privileged, pretentious
      • Don't mind her, kiddos. Miss Harvard ain't used to gettin' her hands dirty.2010 December 17, Terri Wiltshire, Carry Me Home, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN
      • I don't have anything to say about "Feast of Blood," because any idiot can understand it, unless they have an Ivy League education and start looking for allegories and metaphors and what have you. Hey Harvard, guess what: there aren't any. It's a story, not a dissertation. Symbolism is for pussies...2012 October 15, David Shields, Matthew Vollmer, Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, "Found" Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN...