E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Be’jan.
A freshman or greenhorn. This term is employed in the French and Scotch universities, and is evidently a corruption of bec jaune (yellow beak), a French expression to designate a nestling or unfledged bird. In the university of Vienna the freshman is termed beanus, and in France footing-money is bejaunia.
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“His grandmother yielded, and Robert was straightway a bejan or yellow-beak.”—Macdonald: R. Falconer.
