Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a college freshman.

1915		R. Bolwell ‘College Sl. Words And Phrases’ in DN IV:iii 236: frosh. Freshman.
1917		Daily Palo Alto (CA) 3: [headline] Frosh Says Sophs Have No Jazz.
1932		J.A. Shidler ‘More Stanford Expressions’ in AS VII:6 436: ‘He has a block cinched,’ means the frosh will make a varsity letter.
1944		Chicago Daily News 29 Nov. 3/1: Dr. Snyder followed her dutifully, after donning the frosh cap she had brought for him [DA].
1957		‘Weldon Hill’ Onionhead (1958) 8: He had some of his best failures [i.e with girls] as a Frosh.
c.1960		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 305: If all the young ladies were answers to find, / And I were a frosh, I’d plug in and grind.
1982		Eble Campus Sl. Spring 4: frosh – short for freshman.
1989		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 3: froshie – freshman.
1998		‘Don’t talk like a frosh: a guide to Yalespeak’ in Yale Herald 🌐.
2009		(con. 1960s) J. Ellroy Blood’s a Rover 27: She’s USC frosh. She’s got Crutch all wired.

2. a member of a freshman sports team.

1979		B. Gutcheon New Girls (1982) 98: Ann learned [...] about how hard it is to make the varsity soccer team even though you were practically the best regular substitute on the whole frosh team.
1998		(ref. to 1968) Greenberg & Zelina Ohio State ’68 1: The frosh of only had two games scheduled that year.

3. (collective) freshmen.

1924		P. Marks Plastic Age 22: ‘Never mind; we ’ll do the ordering next year.’ ‘Right you are [...] and won’t I make the little frosh walk.’.
1932		J.A. Shidler ‘More Stanford Expressions’ in AS VII:6 436: After the freshmen have left the house and the day’s rushing is over the fraternity brothers meet to discuss the frosh.
1947		C. Willingham End as a Man (1952) 166: You frosh can come to me when you’ve got problems—we’ll sit down and talk about them.
1949		Chicago Daily News 5 Mar. 15/6: [heading] Frosh-Soph Hold Meet At Wheaton [DA].
1996		H. Roth From Bondage 215: There, in fair weather, freshmen and sophomores, ‘frosh’ and ‘sophs,’ attired in their World War uniforms, marched and countermarched.
2005		M. Evans Harvey Mudd College 81: Dorms are a lot like frats, some of them have frosh initiation.