Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BACH'E-LOR, n. [Fr. bachelier; Sp. bachiller, a bachelor of arts and a babbler; Port. bacharel, id. and bacello, a shoot or twig of the vine; It. baccelliere, a bachelor of arts; bacchio, a staff; bacchetta, a rod; L. baculus, a stick, that is, a shoot; Fr. bachelette, a damsel, or young woman; Scot. baich, a child; W. bacgen, a boy, a child; bacgenes, a young girl; from bac, small. This word has its origin in the name of a child, or young person of either sex, whence the sense of babbling in the Spanish. Or both senses are rather from shooting, protruding.]

1. A young man who has not been married.
2. A man of any age, who has not been married; often with the word old.
3. A person who has taken the first degree in the liberal arts and sciences, at a college or university. This degree or honor, is called the baccalaureate. This title is given also to such as take the first degree in divinity, law, or physic, in certain European universities.
4. A knight of the lowest order, or more correctly, a young knight, styled a knight bachelor. The Germans anciently constituted their young men knights or soldiers, by presenting to them a shield and a lance, in a great council. This ceremony answered to that of the toga virilis of the Romans. In the livery companies of London, those persons not yet admitted to the livery are called bachelors.