▪ I. schooling, vbl. n.1
(ˈskuːlɪŋ)
[f. school v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of teaching, or the state or fact of being taught, in a school; scholastic education.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 90 But certis her withal y wolde that profound and groundli scoling in logik, philsophi, and dyuynyte, and lawe were not left bihinde. 1579 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 121 All the world seeth so many small children, that are orphans, lacking schooling for want of helpe. 1588 W. Kempe Educ. Children F 3 b, He shall proceede to the second degree of Schooling, which consisteth in learning the Grammar. 1599 Heywood 1st Pt. Edw. IV, iii. ii, That halfyear's schooling at Lichfield was better to thee than house and land. 1766 Entick London IV. 422 There is a charity-school..for 36 boys,..for schooling only. 1783 Wesley Wks. 1872 XIII. 93, I will give you a year's schooling and board at Kingswood School. 1820 Scott Monast. Introd. Ep., Whose sons he had at bed, board, and schooling, for twenty pounds per annum a-head. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 138 To give her Sunday-schooling, and a certain amount of weekday schooling in the year. 1844 Thackeray Barry Lyndon i, Six weeks' was all the schooling I got. 1894 Mrs. Oliphant Hist. Sk. Q. Anne vii. 337 The son..after sundry local schoolings went to Charterhouse. 1904 R. C. Jebb Bacchylides (Proc. Brit. Acad.) 17 The man of mere lore and schooling. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus ii. i. H iij b, Suerly it shulde not greue me so moche, so it myghte be lefull for me, nowe to folowe thy dyscipline .i. to be one of thy scoolynge. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xx. (1634) 740 The ceremoniall law was the schooling of the Jewes. 1813 Scott Trierm. Introd. iv, Then, Lucy, hear thy tutor speak, For Love, too, has his hours of schooling. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. ii. ix. III. 53 The severe schooling of these wars had prepared it for entering on a bolder theatre of action. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. i. (1876) 158 His mind had had a different schooling. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 12 But perhaps there is no schooling so good for an author as his own youthful indiscretions. 1899 H. Latham (title), Pastor Pastorum, or the Schooling of the Apostles of our Lord. |
c. The maintenance of a child at school, considered as involving expense; hence, cost of school education.
| 1563 Haddington Council Rec. in J. Miller Rem. Old Haddington (1883) 183 Ilk bairn [was to pay] ilk term xij of skoilings silver alanerlie. c 1610 Lady Compton in Grose Antiq. Rep. (1808) III. 438 Find my Children Apparel and their Schooling. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 1099 Schooling or school-hire, minerval. 1727 Philip Quarll (1816) 34 His parents..being no longer able to continue his schooling. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (ed. 2) I. iv. 25 She could not afford to pay for her little lass's schooling. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xlvi, She would..pay his half⁓year's schooling. 1885 Law Rep., Weekly Notes 150/2 The husband refused to pay for the schooling of one of the two youngest daughters. |
| fig. 1577 F. de L'isle's Legendarie B v, In deede during the raigne of Francis the second they were euen with him, and paid for their scholing, as hereafter more at large wil appeare. |
d. The employment or profession of teaching in school; ‘schoolmastering’. rare.
| 1837 [Miss Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 149 They had not much of a school, only five or six boys; I do not think that schooling will ever be their vocation. |
| attrib. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 621 For such is all the mental food purvey'd By public hacknies in the schooling trade. |
e. slang. A term of confinement in a reformatory.
| 1879 Horsley Jottings fr. Jail i. (1887) 8 ‘This is young ―, just come home from a schooling’ (a term in a reformatory). |
† 2. Disciplinary correction, chastisement; also, admonition, reproof, scolding. Obs.
| 1557 N. T. (Genev.) 2 Cor. Argt., Albeit certeyn wicked persones abused his afflictions to condemne therby his autoritie, yet they were necessarie schollings, and sent to hym by God for their bettering. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 116 But Demetrius come, And come Egeus, you shall go with me, I haue some priuate schooling for you both. 1601 J. Chamberlain in St. Papers, Dom. 1598–1601 (1869) 544 The Lord Keeper has had some schooling about it [the vacant Mastership of the Rolls], and is much troubled, but only cares that Hele may miss it. 1703 Quick Serious Inquiry 32 And she would be there in her stead to give him such a Schooling.., as he never had in all his Life. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xiii, I confess I thought the schooling as severe as the case merited. |
† b. to have in schooling: to be engaged in tutoring or admonishing. Obs.
| 1553 Respublica v. vi. 1537 Ah, in feith, dame Veritee hath had youe in scooling of late. a 1591 H. Smith Serm. (1592) 597 Because ther is such warning before vs, now we haue the drunkard in schooling, I will spend the time that is left to shew you the deformity of this sinne. |
3. a. The training or exercising of horse and rider in the riding-school. b. The exercising of horses in the hunting field. Also attrib., as schooling-match.
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., School, or Schooling, in the manege, is used to signify the lesson and labour both of the horse and horseman. 1860 Trollope Castle Richmond iii, In Ireland a schooling match means the amusement of teaching your horses to jump. 1869 ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O.V.H. xxvii, Ralph had gone..to improve the occasion by testing the schooling of the four-year-old filly..over the timber obstacles. 1890 Daily News 2 Dec. 3/7 The schooling of horses over hurdles and fences. 1893 Star 24 Dec. 3/6 Alec Taylor has had schooling hurdles put up. |
4. slang. (See quots.)
| 1859 Slang Dict., Schooling, a low gambling party. 1883 Pall Mall G. 10 Dec. 1/1, I saw no ‘schooling’ or gambling groups. |
▪ II. ˈschooling, vbl. n.2
[f. school n.2 and v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of swimming together in schools or shoals.
| 1880 Rep. Roy. Comm. Fishing N.S. Wales 12 [The schnapper] has its periods of migration and accumulation in shoals, a movement so well expressed by the term ‘schooling’ that we shall adopt the phrase for the future. 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 374 In November, when schooling begins, the fish are full-roed. |
| attrib. 1883 E. P. Ramsay Food Fishes N.S. Wales 12 The schooling-season is midsummer. |
▪ III. ˈschooling, ppl. a.1
[f. school v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That schools, instructs or educates; also, † admonishing, reproving.
| 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) II. v. 73 Let me reckon with you, Harriet, said Miss Grandison (taking my hand with a schooling air). 1839–52 Bailey Festus 333 All the schooling spheres he had passed through. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas 65 And the schooling bullet leaped across and showed them whence they came. |
2. Attending school.
| 1890 Star 15 Dec. 4/3 We have over 1,000 schooling children. |
▪ IV. ˈschooling, ppl. a.2
[f. school n.2 or v.2 + -ing2.]
That swim together in ‘schools’.
| 1873 S. Powel in Rep. U.S. Fish Commission 1871–2, 74 The scup are known to be schooling, wandering fish of the high seas; and come from the Gulf Stream and from the Florida Cape. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 189 Mackerel, mullet, silversides and all our other schooling species contribute also a share to its support. |