Thank you sciencegeek.... it always amuses me when someone won't answer the basic question if I don't spell it or phrase it using their particular dialect.

Thank you also, MtheGM for giving me the 'almost' clear answer. I did some searches and found this page, which 'seems' to say that 'reading for' basically indicates studying and 'taking a prescribed number of classes'. I did not pursue the issue long enough to determine whether that needs more explication.

I'd ask here, but probably would not express my question in a manner that would elicit an answer suitable for a coarse, semi-literate colonial. I shall endeavor to console myself with a short dip into Chaucer.