▪ I. pupil, n.1
(ˈpjuːpɪl)
Forms: 4–6 pupille, 6 -yll, 6–7 -ill, puple, 7– pupil.
[a. F. pupille masc. and fem. (14th c. in Godef.), ad. L. pūpillus, pūpilla orphan, ward, minor.]
1. An orphan who is a minor and hence a ward; in Civil and Sc. Law, a person below the age of puberty who is under the care of a guardian.
| 1382 Wyclif Jas. i. 27 To visite pupilles [gloss that is, fadirles or modirles, or bothe], and widewes in her tribulacioun. 1487 Sc. Acts Jas. III (1814) II. 177/2 Acciouns & complaintis made be kirkmen wedowis orphanis & pupillis. 1530 Palsgr. 259/2 Puple within age, pupille. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 239 The French kyng..claymed to haue the order and mariage of the yonge lady, as a pupille ward and orphane. 1615 Sylvester Job Triumphant xxiv, They pluck the Pupill from the tender Brest. 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. (1761) I. viii. 168 The chancellor..was the guardian of all such minors and pupils as were the king's tenants. 1869 Act 32 & 33 Vict. c. 116 §3 (Scotland) The judicial factor appointed to such pupil, minor, or lunatic. |
2. One who is under a teacher or instructor; one who is taught by another; a scholar; a disciple.
| 1563 Foxe A. & M. 1543 There is but one in al thuniuersitie, that when he was a young man was my pupill. 1605 Stow's Ann. 1427 The Earle of Worcester and the Lord Zouche who had beene his puples when they were brought vp in Cambridge. 1700 Wallis in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 314 Every tutor with his pupills. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 6 This distinguished teacher..is said to have had a class of 2000 pupils. 1876 Grant Burgh Sch. Scot. ii. v. 161 The ordinance requiring the pupils of the grammar school of Glasgow to speak Latin only. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 120 He took pupils to increase his income. 1894 Fowler Adamnan Intr. p. 78 Laisren was a pupil of St. Columba. |
3. attrib. and Comb. a. appositive (in sense 1): In the state of pupilage or nonage; under age, infant; also fig.
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxiv. §26 Francis the yong King was taken away by death, and another pupill King crowned, euen Charles his younger brother, and ninth of that name. a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 27 Espying his time fitting, and the Soveraignty in the hands of a pupil Prince. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 57, I hate a pupil teacher, I endure not an instructer that comes to me under the wardship of an overseeing fist. 1659 Torriano, Pupilla, a pupil-woman. 1700 J. A. Astry tr. Saavedra-Faxardo II. 255 Fear was a necessary Tutor to this Pupil People. 1887 Westm. Rev. Sept. 103 The custody of his pupil children. |
b. in sense 2, as pupil-master; pupil-like adj. and adv.; pupil power: see power n.1 4 f; pupil-room (at Eton), the room in which a tutor takes his pupils; also, the preparation and other work done there by a pupil; also, † the pupils' room in a barrister's chambers; pupil–teacher a., designating the relation between pupils and teachers; esp. in phr. pupil–teacher ratio. See also pupil-monger, -teacher.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. i. 31 Wilt thou, Pupill-like, Take thy Correction mildly, kisse the Rodde? 1766 Let. in Hist. Hawtrey Fam. (190.) I, Mr. Norbury used to sleep in his pupil-room in a press-bed. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis I. xxix. 285 In the pupil-room of Mr. Hodgeman, the special pleader,..six pupils were scribbling declarations. 1850 J. Struthers Life in Poet. Wks. I. p. xxxvii, The pupil-master was a remarkably quiet man. c 1860 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 577 He has done a good deal of extra work for me in pupil-room. 1899 A. Lubbock Mem. Eton i. 5 [He] was..allowed to roast them [chestnuts] over the pupil-room fire while pupil-room was going on. 1958 J. Townsend Young Devils vi. 47 How vitally important a good pupil-teacher, teacher-headteacher and teacher-environment relationship had been considered at my training college. 1960 Where? Winter 16 Pupil-teacher ratio, the number of pupils to a teacher in a school. 1974 Times 16 Jan. 13/1 The union knows that pupil teacher ratios are better in London than in some other parts of the country. 1978 C. Hookway in Hookway & Pettit Action & Interpretation 40 There will be a network of pupil-teacher relations connecting them. |
Hence (from sense 2) ˈpupildom, ˈpupilhood, the condition of a pupil; † ˈpupiless, a female pupil; ˈpupilless a.1, without pupils.
| a 1849 Poe E. B. Browning Wks. 1864 III. 424 During the epoch of his *pupildom in that school. |
| a 1785 T. Potter Moralist II. 221 The *pupiless, the friend, the sensible and accomplished companion. |
| 1854 E. Forbes Opening Disc. in Nat. H. Chair in Wilson & Geikie Life xv. (1861) 554 None who remained constant to the beautiful studies of his *pupilhood. |
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. x, Sometimes accompanied by his hopeful pupil; oftener, *pupil-less. |
▪ II. pupil, n.2
(ˈpjuːpɪl)
Also 6–7 -ill; and in L. form.
[a. OF. pupille fem. (14th c. in Godef.) = It., Pr. pupilla, Sp. pupila; ad. L. pūpilla pupil of the eye, the same word as pūpilla female child (see prec.). Cf. baby n. 3.]
1. The circular opening (appearing as a black spot) in the centre of the iris of the eye, which expands or contracts in regulating the passage of light through it to the retina; the apple of the eye.
(α) in Latin form.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. vii. (1495) 112 The blacke of theye..is callyd Pupilla in latyn for smalle ymages ben seen therin. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 249 Þe place þat is clepid pupilla, þat is þe poynt of þe iȝe.] |
| 1670 Phil. Trans. V. 1027 They contract much their pupilla or sight-hole of the Eye. 1718 J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. I. xii. §23 The Number of them [sc. rays] is much fewer than if they were immediately received in a greater Opening of the Pupilla without this hole. |
(β) in English form.
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 5 It [the Carbuncle] so warreth with the pupill or the eiesight, that it sheweth manifolde reflexions. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xx. 156 If beholding a candle we protrude either upward or downeward the pupill of one eye, the object will appeare double. 1685 Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. vii. Wks. 1772 V. 232, I consider then that what is called the pupil or apple of the eye, is not (as it is known) a substantial part of the organ, but only a round hole or window made in the uvea, at which the modified beams of light enter, to fall upon the chrystalline humour. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 388 The pupils of the eyes were much dilated. 1877 Black Green Past. ii, [Her eyes] were large and they had dark pupils. |
2. fig. and transf.; in Entom. The dark central spot of an ocellus.
| 1599 Davies Immort. Soul 49 The Wit, the pupill of the soules clear eye. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 79 Beloculus is a white stone, having a black pupil. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xlvi. IV. 286 Ocellus, an eye-like spot in the Wings of many Lepidoptera, consisting of annuli of different colours, inclosing a central spot or pupil. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as pupil change, pupil contractor, pupil dilator, pupil reaction; pupil-contracting, pupil-dilating adjs.
| 1868 Garrod Mat. Med. (ed. 3) 415 Medicines which act upon the eyes... Pupil Dilators (Mydriatics)... Pupil Contractors (Myositics). 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 775 The course of the pupil-dilating fibres is more circuitous. Ibid. VII. 87 Optic atrophy, failure of pupil reaction. 1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 17 Dec. 1644 Such concomitant affections as muscular palsies and pupil changes. |
Hence ˈpupilless a.2, (of an eye) having no pupil.
| a 1849 Poe Berenice Wks. 1864 I. 442 The eyes were lifeless and lustreless, and seemingly pupilless. 1881 E. Warren Laughing Eyes (1890) 81 The pupilless eyes of marble busts. |
▪ III. † pupil, v. Obs. rare.
(ˈpjuːpɪl)
Also 6 -ell.
[f. pupil n.1]
trans. To treat as a pupil; to teach.
| 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (Percy Soc.) 28 Haue I seene thee Pupell such greene young things, and with thy counsell Tutor their wits? 1612 Heywood Apol. Actors i. 30 It becomes my juniority rather to be pupil'd my selfe then to instruct others. |