Read it through once

The word has, and will continue to have, several meanings in several contexts: I am concerned with one meaning in one context. In defining the term in this way, I do not bind myself, for the future, not to use the term in any of the other ways in which it has been used. If, for instance, you find me on some future occasion, in writing, in public speech, or in conversation, using the word 'classic' merely to mean a 'standard author' in any language—using it merely as an indication of the greatness, or of the permanence and importance of a writer in his own field, as when we speak of The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's as a classic of schoolboy fiction, or Handley Cross as a classic of the hunting field—you are not to expect an apology. And there is a very interesting book called A Guide to the Classics, which tells you how to pick the Derby winner.