Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
holder of any of the scholarships founded at Oxford in 1902 by British financier and imperialist Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), for whom the former African colony of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) also was named. The surname is literally "dweller by a clearing," from Old English rodu "plot of land of one square rod."
Usage examples of "rhodes scholar".
She was spending most of her time with another Rhodes scholar, but eventually I got my chance, and after our romance was over, we became lifelong friends.
Now it seems a bit strained and overdone, as if I were trying to find the kind of voice in which a cultivated Rhodes scholar should speak.
Young lady, I would like to remind you that he is a Rhodes scholar, and that his father is the Chief justice.
In 1955 he traveled as a Rhodes Scholar to Merton College, Oxford University to study English literature.