Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PEN'SION-ER, n.

1. One to whom an annual sum of money is paid by government in consideration of past services.
2. One who receives an annual allowance for services.
3. A dependant.
4. In the university of Cambridge, and in that of Dublin, an undergraduate or bachelor of arts who lives at his own expense. – Encyc.
5. One of an honorable band of gentlemen who attend the king of England, and receive a pension or an annual allowance of a hundred pounds. This band was instituted by Henry VII. Their duty is to guard the king's person in his own house.