valedictory (valediktori)

and n. [NL. as if * val edict or i us, II. n.; pl. valedictories (-riz). A farewell oration or addre (sometimes in Latin), spoken at graduation in American colleges and other institutions by one of the graduating cla , usually by the one who has the highest rank. Compare valedictorian . The valedictory , of course, came last, and I felt rather awkward in rising to declaim my stilted Latin phrases before an audience which had been stirred by such vigorous English. Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past, p. 56. See valance .