▪ I. school, n.1
(skuːl)
Forms: 1 scól (? scolu), 2–7 scole, 3–6 (in Comb.) scol, 3–7 schole, (4 cole), 4–5 skule, 4, 6 scoole, 4–6 skole, Sc. scule, 5 skoole, (scwylle), Sc. sculle, 5–6 scoll, Sc. scoulle, 6 skoll, scolle, Sc. scoile, scwle, scuil(l, schuill, schuile, scoill, skuil(l, 6–7 schoole, schoule, (scool), (7 Sc. scoull, scooll), 6– Sc. schule, 7– school.
[OE. scól str. fem., a. L. schola (in Rom. pronunciation scōla) school, a. Gr. σχολή, orig. leisure, hence employment of leisure, study, and (in later use) a school. The L. word has been adopted in nearly all the Rom., Teut., and Celtic langs.: OF. escole (mod.F. école), Pr., Cat., Pg. escola, Sp. escuela, It. scuola, Romanian şcoală; OHG. scuola (MHG. schuole, mod.G. schule), MDu. schole (Du. school, mod.Fris. skoalle), ON., MSw. skóle wk. masc. (Sw. skola fem., Da. skole); OIrish scol (mod.Ir., Gael. sgoil), Welsh ysgol, Breton skol; also Russ. shkola.
An OE. form scolu occurs once in the OE. Chron. (Parker MS.) an. 816. It is doubtful whether this is to be read as scólu, with irregular u due to some analogy, or as scŏlu, which might be an adoption of L. schŏla with original short vowel (perhaps from the pronunciation of Britons: cf. ælfric Gramm., Præfatio). The OE. scolu troop (see shoal) which is often confused with this word, is certainly unconnected.
The curious 14th. c. form cole is perh. aphetic from OF. escole.]
I. Place or establishment for instruction.
1. a. An establishment in which boys or girls, or both, receive instruction.
See also boarding-, charity-, grammar-, infant-, public, Sunday-school; also free school (free a. 32 b), normal school (normal A. 3), etc.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (Skeat) I. 50 Eac þær leornode on þære ylcan scole se æðela Gregorius. a 1225 Ancr. R. 422 Ancre ne schal nout forwurðen scolmeistre, ne turnen hire ancre hus to childrene scole. c 1386 Chaucer Prioress' T. 43 A litel scole of cristen folk ther stood..in which ther were Children an heepe. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 475 When he was a child and went vnto þe skule. 1512–13 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl. IV. 404 Maister David Vocat, maister of the scule of Edinburgh. 1577 M. Lok in Frobisher's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 87 My late father..kept me at scholes of grammer in England till I was xiij yeres olde. 1707 J. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Gt. Brit. iii. xi. 386 There are in London divers endowed Schools, which in France would be stiled Colleges. 1784 Cowper (title) Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools. |
b. Used, without article, to mean: Instruction in, attendance at, a school. Chiefly in set phrases, as
to be at school,
to go to school,
to put,
send,
† set to school.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 184 Cildru on scole betæcen. c 1205 Lay. 9897 He wes isende to Rom to leornien in scole. ? a 1300 Oxf. Student 19 in E.E.P. (1862) 41 Þis child was siþþe ido to scole. 13.. S.E. Legendary (MS. Bodl. 779) in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXII. 337/17 Crissaunt..to cole [so often in this MS.] gan to go. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 255, I hadde in custom to come to scole late. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. ii. 38 The thyrd syster..was put to scole in a nonnery. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxvii. 419 He set me to scole to Parys. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 324 She was a vixen when she went to schoole. 1596 ― Merch. V. iii. iv. 75 That men shall sweare I haue discontinued schoole Aboue a twelue moneth. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 141 ¶5 From school I was dismissed to the University. 1846 Dickens Cricket on Hearth i. 25 She and I were girls at school together. 1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain i. xii, Some say that school is the pleasantest time of one's life. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. v, The stock contrivances of boys for wasting time in school. |
c. fig. in various phrases.
to go to school (to, (now rare) with): to submit to be taught (by).
† to hold at school: to have under one's control, to keep in tutelage.
to put, † set to school: to subject to teaching; often, to presume to correct (one's superior).
| ? 1404–8 Man know thy self 9 in 26 Pol. Poems 27 Lerne to dye, and go to skole, Siþ þou fro deþ may not fle. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 16990 Tyl I hadde gone to Scole with Trybulacion. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 97 Why sonne thinkst thou me such a foole? That my childe shall set his mother to scoole? 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 301 Wee must give these good fellowes leave (after their woonted manner) to set the Holy Ghost to schoole. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 68 Wee'l set thee to schoole to an Ant, to teach thee ther's no labouring i' th' winter. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §15. 30 What reason may not goe to Schoole to the wisedome of Bees, Aunts, and Spiders? 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. vi. (1739) 14 Rome held now the most part of the Churches of Europe at School. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 261 The Calf, by Nature and by Genius made To turn the Glebe, breed to the Rural Trade. Set him betimes to School. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. xlvi, You must e'en go to School yet, you are no Conjurer, for ought I see. 1883 M. Pattison Milton's Sonnets 46 Milton had put his poetical genius to school to the Italians, Dante, Petrarch, and the rest. 1959 Listener 3 Dec. 1005/1 Even those who cannot accept it entirely must assuredly go to school with him. |
d. to † hold school,
keep (a) school: to be the master or mistress of a school.
to teach (a) school (now
dial. and
U.S.): to teach in a school.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 114 For whanne I schal myn yhen close, Anon min herte he wole oppose And holde his Scole in such a wise, Til it be day that I arise. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 21105, I lernede my konnyng off Sathan, Wych halt hys scole nat hennys ffer. 1487 Caxton Bk. Gd. Manners i. xvii. (W. de W. c 1515) E vj b, He became so poore that for to gete his lyuynge he taught the lesson and held scole to smale chyldren of Corynthye. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Ludum aperire, to beginne to keepe a schoole. 1590 C. Ockland in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 74, I teach schole at Grenewych. 1686 Parr Life Usher 75 Forbidding them, under great penalties to teach Schools. 1715 Pope Iliad I. Ess. on Homer 14 Phemius..taught a School in Smyrna. 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 169 The Business of Teaching School..leaves but little Time for Study. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 196 There..The village master taught his little school. 1821 Combe Syntax, Wife iii. 47 An Elephant might keep a school. 1828–30 Godwin in C. K. Paul Life (1876) II. 304 [Eugene Aram] keeps school at Netherdale. 1883 Harper's Mag. July 226/1 By keeping school..she strove to provide for her..family. 1891 J. F. Kirk Suppl. to Allibone's Dict. Eng. Lit. s.v. Emerson, He taught school for three years. 1893 Leland Mem. I. 21 An infant school..kept by the Misses Donaldson. |
e. Proverbial phrases.
to tell tales out of school (or † the school),
† forth of school: said
lit. of children (now
rare or
obs.); hence
fig., to betray damaging secrets. Also,
† to tell out of school.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 19 To tell tales out of schoole, that is hir great lust. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 24, I shoulde tel tales out of the Schoole, and bee Ferruled for my faulte, or hyssed at for a blab, yf I layde al the orders open before your eyes. 1629–30 in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) II. 65 We have some news at Cambridge, but it is too long to relate; besides, I must not tell tales forth of school. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ i. iv. §10. 70, I am very prone to think that the ground of the great pique in some of the Greek writers against Herodotus, was, that he told too many tales out of School, and had discovered too much of the Infancy of Greece. 1679 C. Nesse Antichrist 221 Which book, were it extant..would tell tales out of the school. 1690 J. Norris Refl. Cond. Hum. Life Ep. Ded. (1691) A 6 b, 'Tis well if I do not..make them Angry with me for telling out of School. 1887 T. A. Trollope What I remember II. vi. 102 A very handsome..supper, at which, to tell tales out of school,..the guests used to behave abominably. 1894 Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Yrs. Life I. 31 Possessing a slight failing in the shape of ‘telling tales out of school’ as the saying is. |
f. Used, without article, for: A session of school; the set time of attendance at school.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. i. 10 How now Sir Hugh, no Schoole to day? 1797 F. Reynolds The Will v. (ed. 3) 57 Alb. School's up! School's up! 1834 Tracts for Times No. 22. 5 It still wanted a considerable time to school. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iv, About ten minutes before school Martin and Arthur arrived in the quadrangle. 1881 A. O'Shaughnessy Songs of a Worker 176 In yonder quiet ground against the church Where between schools the children play with flowers. 1893 Leland Mem. I. 42 Keeping me in after school to study. |
g. Those who are present in, or are attending, a school; the scholars of a school.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 12476 All þe scole on him can wonder. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. v, The whole school of three hundred boys swept into the big school to answer to their names. |
h. Applied (with defining word, as
upper school,
lower school) to a division of a large school, comprising several forms or classes. Also, in Jesuit schools, a form or class.
| 1629 Wadsworth Pilgr. iii. 15 The Students of the three under schooles, go up to those of the upper. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, The lower-fourth form..was the largest form in the Lower school. 1857 Act 20 & 21 Vict. c. 84 Sched. §45 There shall be two schools, viz. an ‘Upper School’, and a ‘Lower School’ [at Dulwich]. 1880 Macm. Mag. No. 245. 423 The general students, or boys at Stonyhurst, are..divided into seven forms, or, as they are called there, ‘schools’. |
i. The building in which a school is carried on. At Rugby, a school-house; also, the large classroom of a school-house.
| 1843 Dickens Christmas Carol ii, The school is not quite deserted... A solitary child..is left there still. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, There was another large unoccupied desk in the corner of the great school. Ibid. i. ix, They saw five or six nearly new balls hit on the top of the School. Ibid., After one or two attempts, [they] scaled the schools. |
j. high school. A designation applied (with some variety of use) to certain classes of schools for secondary education in the British Islands and the United States. Also
attrib. Cf. -schooler.
The first school known to have been so designated in Great Britain is that established in Edinburgh in 1519. In the year of its foundation this is referred to in the records of the Town Council as ‘the principale schule’ and ‘the principall gramer schule’, and it had by municipal enactment the exclusive privilege of teaching the higher branches of school learning within the burgh. In 1531 it is mentioned as ‘the hie schule’ (see below); this appellation occurs frequently in the 16th c., and from the 17th c. onwards has continued to be the official name of the institution. About the middle of the 19th c. the name of ‘High School’ was given, in imitation of the example of Edinburgh, to the principal secondary school in many Scottish burghs; these schools having been for the most part either founded or reconstituted about that time. In the United States, the term seems to have come into use about 1824, and is applied to a class of schools to which pupils are admitted when they have completed their course in the elementary school, and which afford preparation for the college, the university, or the technical school. In England, when used without qualification, the designation ‘High School’ is understood to refer to the schools established and managed by the Girls' Public Day-school Company (founded 1874) and to some other schools similar to these in the method and character of the instruction given. The few schools for boys and co-educational schools in England that are known as ‘High Schools’ are chiefly of recent foundation. While a ‘high school’ in the American sense of the term gives advanced instruction only, the schools so designated in Britain usually include elementary classes.
| 1531 Edinb. Town Council Rec. 19 Mar., I. 38 a, Maister Adam Melvil maister of the hie Schule oblist him to mak the bairnys perfyte gramarians within thrie ȝeires. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. iii, The old Town-Guard of Edinburgh, who..were, in my boyhood, the alternate terror and derision of the petulant brood of the High-school. 1826 Acc. High School for Girls (Boston, U.S.) 3 The English High School [for boys] has been in successful operation since 1821; and the satisfactory result of this experiment prepared the way for the establishment of the High School for Girls. 1844 Emerson Lect. New Eng. Reform. Wks. 1884 I. 262 In a hundred high-schools and colleges. 1875 A. McDowall Let. 9 Oct. in V. E. Stack Oxford High School (1963) i. 1 At a special Council meeting..it was resolved..to open the Oxford High School on Wednesday November 3rd. 1893 Wylie & Briscoe Popular Hist. of Nottingham xii. 122 In..1868, the Free Grammar School was removed..to.. Arboretum Street, and its designation was changed to that of ‘The High School’. 1901 E. Nesbit Wouldbegoods i. 4 After the holidays the girls went to the Blackheath High School. 1933 V. Brittain Testament of Youth i. i. 37 In the months before I went up to Oxford,..I often privately condemned my parents for not sending me to Cheltenham, or Roedean, or even to an ordinary High School, where practised authorities would have saved me from the fret of wrestling with academic mysteries. 1970 G. Trease Nottingham xviii. 213 The High School governors seemed boldly original in choosing a scientist,..an appointment for a long time almost unique among schools represented on the Headmasters' Conference. 1974 M. Spackman Hist. Oxford Central Girls' School & Cheney Girls' Grammar School iii. 43 In most years, two or more girls..entered for and gained one of these places at either the High School or Milham Ford. |
2. The place in which an ancient Greek or Roman philospher taught his hearers.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxi. (Clement) 154 He..ȝed full of[t]..to þe scule of phylosophy. 1549 Compl. Scot. Prol. 13 He persauand thir tua princis entir in his scule, he changit the mater of that present lecture. 1594 Ashley tr. Loys Le Roy 67 b, Alexander..gaue to the Philosopher Anaxarchus to set vp his Schoole, a hundred talents. 1634 Milton Comus 439 Or shall I call Antiquity from the old Schools of Greece To testifie the arms of Chastity? 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvi. 369 Also the Philosophers them⁓selves had the name of their Sects, some of them from these their Schools. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 40 The most famous school [of jurisprudence] was that of Berytus, on the coast of Phœnicia. |
3. a. gen. An institution in which instruction of any kind is given (whether to children or adults). Often with defining word indicating the special subject taught, as
dancing,
music,
riding school. In recent use, after French example, employed as the official title of various institutions for superior technical or scientific instruction,
e.g. The School of Mines,
The School of Economics, etc.
Also in the names of certain organizations established by various nations for the systematic prosecution of archæological research, as the British School at Athens and at Rome.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 449/2 Scole, of pleyynge gamys, or werre, or other lyke.., gignasium. c 1570 Pride & Lowl. (1841) 48 Then to the Master of the daunsing schoole. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Ludus gladiatorius, a schoole of fence. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 46 The Senators of Rome..caused Schooles of Defence to be erected in Capua. a 1583 Sir H. Gilbert Q. Eliz. Achad. (1869) 5 The..Mathematician..shall haue in his Schole a shippe and gallye, made in modell. 1641 Evelyn Diary 5 Oct., To this school join the music and mathematical schools. 1683 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 93 Proposed that care be Taken, about the Learning and Instruction of Youth, to Witt, a scool of Arts and Siences. 1802 C. James Milit. Dict. s.v., Royal Military School or College. 1816 J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) 232 The school of mines [in Paris]. 1835 Rep. Sel. Committee on Arts & Manuf. 35 They prayed for assistance towards establishing a school of design. 1845 Disraeli Sybil iii. viii, Lady Maud..longed to teach in singing schools. 1886 C. E. Pascoe Lond. of To-day xxxvi. (ed. 3) 315 At Chatham..is the School of Military Engineering. |
b. fig.| 1579 Gosson (title) The Schoole of Abuse. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 10 Or else a free schoole of skolds shalbe set vp for the nonce. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. i. 54 Tra. Faith he is gone vnto the taming schoole. Bian. The taming schoole: what is there such a place? 1605 1st Pt. Jeronimo i. iii. 23 From drinking schooles..From dicing houses. 1690 (title) The School of Politicks; or the Humours of a Coffee-house. A poem. 1777 Sheridan (title) The School for Scandal. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 190 The science of astronomy was cultivated at Babylon; but the school of the Arabs was a clear firmament and a naked plain. 1832 Thirlwall in Philol. Mus. I. 495 The ancient rhetoricians were a class of babblers, a school for lies and scandal. |
c. Formerly often adopted in the titles of manuals of instruction in particular subjects. Now only
Mus., as the title of an instruction-book dealing with a particular instrument.
| 1696 R. H. (title) The School of Recreation: or a guide to the most ingenious exercises of Hunting, Riding, Racing, Fireworks [etc.]. 1733 (title) The School of Miniature, erected for the instruction of the ignorant. 1845 E. Holmes Mozart 7 The system of fingering laid down in this violin school. |
d. spec. = riding-school. Hence [after F.
école], the exercises or system of training for horses and riders practised in the schools.
high school [
= F.
haute école]: the more difficult class of exercises taught in the schools.
| 1850 S. C. Wayte Equestrian's Man. 5 Tuition, in the school alone, can seldom make a good rider. 1881 E. L. Anderson How to Ride, etc. Introd. 5 It is to be regretted that, in this nation of horsemen, riding as practised in the schools, should have fallen into disuse; for the manége is the foundation of horsemanship. 1884 ― Mod. Horsemanship 143 (title of chapter) The High School. |
4. fig. a. A place, environment, etc., where one gains instruction or training in virtue, accomplishments, or the like; a person or thing regarded as a source of instruction or training.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (Skeat) I. 38 Her synd eac þa cnihtas..mid ðam ic becom to cristes scole. c 1314 Guy Warw. 384 (Auchin. MS.) Þou art y-tauȝt to a liþer scole. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 634 And þere thow wost þat I haue out myswent, Eschewe þou þat, for swych þyng to þe scole is. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 174 As he which of the Scole of helle Is tawht. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 1 b, Whether this family haue bene taught in the schole of the holy ghost, or in the schole of the Anabaptistes. 1583 Body in J. H. Pollen Acts of Engl. Martyrs (1891) 55 From our school of patience, the 16th Sept., 1583 [i.e. from prison]. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. 29 The ægyptians; which Nation we know was one of the most ancient Schools of the world. 1656–63 Davenant Siege of Rhodes v. (1672) 64, I was bred in Natures simple School. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 238 Empires, and Monarchs, and thir radiant Courts, Best school of best experience. 1705 Addison Italy Pref., Italy..is the great School of Musick and Painting. 1759 Goldsm. Polite Learn. xi. Wks. (Globe) 443/2 They keep the student from the world, which, after a certain time, is the only true school of improvement. 1813 Byron Corsair i. xi, Warp'd by the world in Disappointment's school. 1833 E. Everett Orat. (1850) I. 395 The men of 1776 were trained in the strictest school of British military discipline and conduct. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Clive (1897) 534 A succession of commanders, formed in the school of Clive. 1849–50 Alison Hist. Eur. xlix. §4 VIII. 3 The best of all schools—that of great operations and adverse fortune. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, First Visit Wks. (Bohn) II. 5 He [Coleridge] said..that Sicily was an excellent school of political economy. |
b. the school of hard knocks, the experience of a life of hardship, considered as a means of instruction.
U.S. slang.| 1912 Ade Knocking Neighbors 24 They had been brought up in the School of Hard Knocks. 1931 Kansas City Star 23 Oct. 36/5 Fraternity brothers in the school of hard knocks. 1953 Sun (Baltimore) 5 Sept. 10/6 He has been through the school of hard knocks, and battled his way up with his fists to the top of fistiana. 1980 G. V. Higgins Kennedy for Defense xx. 178, I learned my business in the school of hard knocks. |
5. a. The body of persons that are or have been taught by a particular master (in philosophy, science, art, etc.); hence, in wider sense, a body or succession of persons who in some department of speculation or practice are disciples of the same master, or who are united by a general similarity of principles and methods. Also, in descriptions of works of art, in
phr. school of (an artist), used to designate an anonymous work produced in the school of a particular artist.
Sometimes (
e.g. in
Roman,
Venetian,
Tuscan School;
British,
French,
Flemish School; with reference to painting), the term denotes in the first place those whose training was obtained in the same locality; but in the main this local association is understood to imply more or less community of doctrines or style.
| 1612 Bacon Ess., Atheism (Arb.) 330 Most of all, that schoole which is most acused of Atheisme, doth demonstrate Religion. That is, the Schoole of Leusippus, and Democritus, and Epicurus. 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Communic. i. §4. 66 If by faith we eat the flesh of Christ; as it is confessed by all the Schooles of Christians; then [etc.]. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 217 A peripatetic Cobler scorn'd to soal A pair of Shoes of any other School. 1728 Chambers Cycl., School, in Painting, is a Term used to distinguish the different Manners of Places, and Persons: As, the Roman School, the Venetian School, the Flemish School, &c. 1771 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. iv. Wks. 1797 I. 61 The Roman, the Florentine, the Bolognese schools... These are the three great schools of the world in the epick stile. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 195 William Wycherley, the most licentious and hardhearted writer of a singularly licentious and hardhearted school. 1891 R. Fry Let. 17 May (1972) I. 145, I find..the Venetian School of painting far more instructive than the Florentine. 1903 Ibid. 16 Mar. 207 This, which was called ‘School of Lorenzo’, is Piero all over. 1958 Spectator 15 Aug. 219/2 An American school-of-Chayevsky drama about a jailbird's wife. 1976 D. Francis In Frame ix. 135 Although they were original oil paintings, they were basically second rate. The sort sold as ‘school of’ because the artists hadn't bothered to sign them. 1981 M. Spark Loitering with Intent ii. 56 She said, ‘Is that a real Degas you have in your room?’ ‘School of,’ I said. |
b. fig. A set of persons, who agree in certain opinions, points of behaviour or the like.
Cf. old school.
| 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate vi, She did not hesitate to admit him to her boudoir, after the privilege of the French and the old Scottish school. 1844 Thirlwall Greece lxiv. VIII. 295 He was a Roman of the new school, which studied to soften the homely roughness of the old Italian character. |
c. In extended use of sense 5 a, in
phr. school of thought (also
† opinion). Also used (
freq. absol.) with ‘school’ considered impersonally, a particular type of doctrine or practice as followed by such a body of persons.
| 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. v. (1904) 173/1 There are various schools of opinion allowed in the Church: and on this point I follow others. 1873 Illustr. London News 26 July 70/2 It will not be necessary to utter a single word that need occasion offence to either of those ‘schools of thought’ into which The Church of England is divided. 1892 New Review May 571 He is a ‘gentleman and scholar’,..‘trained in a liberal school of thought’. 1909 A. Berget Conquest of Air ii. v. 230 We are confronted by two schools of aviating apparatus: the American school..which demands everything of the aviator, and the French school..which requires..the minimum from the pilot. 1927 Public Opinion 28 Feb. 179/1 There is in philosophy a school of thought christened by Professor William James with the name Pragmatism. 1940 Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Apr. 270 With two schools of thought existing in France on the subject of Russia, Molotoff's speech,..has produced two different sets of reactions. 1977 R. Williams Marxism & Lit. ii. iv. 97 The theory became at once a cultural programme and a critical school. 1979 L. Kallen Introducing C.B. Greenfield xii. 148 There's a school of thought that considers benevolent paternalism a little sick. |
6. slang. a. (See
quot. 1812.)
b. A company of thieves or beggars working together.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., School, a party of persons met together for the purpose of gambling. 1842 Impositions practised by Vagrants 12 These lurkers generally go in schools, (companies) and will obtain from One to Two Pounds daily. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 244 He scraped acquaintance with a ‘school of shallow coves’; that is, men who go about half naked, telling frightful tales about shipwrecks [etc.]. 1856 Wynter Cur. of Civ. xii. (1860) 478 Inferior classes of thieves work in smaller ‘schools,’ say of a couple of women and a boy. Ibid. 481 What is called a ‘school’ of boys, who pick pockets in concert, under the eye of a master. 1859 Slang Dict., School, or Mob, two or more ‘patterers’ working together in the streets. 1882 Sydney Slang Dict. 7/2 School, company of gamblers, mob of sharpers, and those who prey on the public. 1911 L. Stone Jonah ii. vi. 213 He could think of nothing but the two-up school, which had swallowed all his spare money before he was married. 1946 A. Marshall These are my People 83 If I got into a school with some of the mugs round here they'd be penniless in two hours. 1952 H. Innes Campbell's Kingdom ii. 230 Four of the boys had started a poker school. 1976 J. R. L. Anderson Death in Desert v. 87 Sometimes a few of the chaps would get a card school going after supper. |
c. A group of persons drinking together in a bar or public house, and taking turns to buy the drinks.
| 1890 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 206/2 School,..any small gathering of people generally bent on pleasure, as a school of drinkers in a public house or canteen. Much used by soldiers. 1911 R. Macaire Disease & Remedy 11 A ‘school’ got more from those that did not drink. 1951 Landfall V. 22 [She] goes across to join another school by the wall. 1963 B. Pearson Coal Flat i. 21 He came up to the school Rogers was drinking with. 1971 D. Lees Rainbow Conspiracy v. 72, I..ordered a pint of bitter for myself. I didn't want to get into a school and I needed to think. |
II. Senses of mediæval academic origin.
7. a. An organized body of teachers and scholars in one of the higher branches of study cultivated in the Middle Ages;
esp. one of the various bodies of this kind which jointly constituted a university; a faculty.
† In early use the article is commonly omitted after a preposition. Now in revived use within
U.S. and some British universities (
esp. those of recent foundation), a department, faculty, or course of study in a college or university. (Perh. influenced by senses 9 and 10.)
In the
U.S. school is often used to designate either a department devoted to one subject or a grouping of several subject departments. It is also the standard designation for an institution providing postgraduate instruction in a particular subject (as
law school,
medical school, etc.). In recently founded universities in the
U.K. school has been used to designate a department teaching a range of subjects traditionally taught separately.
| c 900 Bæda'a Hist. iii. xiii. (1890) 190 Sum leornungmon in scole [L. scolasticus quidam]. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 93 Siche doutes we shulden sende to þe scole of Oxenforde. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 478 No maister, quod he, but seruitour, Thogh I haue had in scole swich honour. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 105 He lefte þe logykk skule, & made hym a monk of Ceustus ordur. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 88 Summe werers of piliouns in scole of dyuynyte han scantli be worthi for to be in the same scole a good scoler. 1617–20 Moryson Itin. (1903) 319 The publike schoole at Strasburg was not reputed an universitie yet gave the degrees of Bachelors and Masters of Artes. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvi. 370 That which is now called an University, is..an Incorporation under one Government of many Publique Schools, in one and the same Town or City. In which, the principall Schools were ordained for the three Professions, that is to say, of the Romane Religion, of the Romane Law, and of the Art of Medicine. 1727 Statutes Wm. & Mary Coll. in Hofstadter & Smith Amer. Higher Educ. (1961) I. i. x. 43 Let there be four schools assigned within the college precincts. Ibid. 44 In the philosophy school we appoint two masters or professors. 1772 J. Witherspoon Address Inhabitants Jamaica in Ibid. ii. x. 144 Two at least of the Professors of the justly celebrated Medical School lately founded in Philadelphia. 1835 J. Martin Descr. of Virginia 82 The different branches of science and literature..taught [at the University of Virginia] are styled schools. 1871 L. H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 32 Connected with the college are four professional ‘schools’ or ‘departments’, of which..the oldest is the Theological. 1894 Rep. Commissioners Gresham Univ. London p. xix, in Parl. Papers 1893–4 (C. 7259) XXXI. 807 We propose that each of the teaching institutions which complies with the necessary conditions shall be admitted, either as a whole or in certain departments, as a School of the University [of London], that is as a School at which University courses of instruction are to be pursued. 1910 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 39/1 The medical school [of Harvard University]..dates from 1782, the law school from 1817, the divinity school..from 1819, and the dental school..from 1867. 1949 Cavalier Daily (Univ. of Va.) 22 Oct. 1/3 Williams graduated from the University in 1949 and is now in his second year of medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 1964 A. Briggs in D. Daiches Idea of New University iv. 62 The Schools [of the University of Sussex] were envisaged not as super-departments, to which ‘subjects’ were attached, but as centres of linked studies, some of which would be shared with other Schools. 1971 E. Ashby Any Person, any Study ii. 71 Some British universities, in their enthusiasm to ‘redraw the map of knowledge’, have abolished departments and put in their place ‘schools of study’ (e.g. European studies, African studies, which include the history, economics, politics, language and literature, and geography of these regions). 1972 J. Ben-David Amer. Higher Educ. vi. 87 Intellectually the graduate school had become the decisive influence in higher education by the beginning of this century. 1976 Bull. Yale Univ. 30 Dec. 163 The courses of study in Yale University are offered in twelve schools, as follows. Yale College (1701), which is the undergraduate school, the Graduate School (1847), School of Medicine (1810), Divinity School, [etc.]. |
b. collect. pl. (In later use always
the schools.) The faculties composing a university; universities in general; the sphere or domain of academic discussion or traditional academic doctrines and methods.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4610 Is þar na lare in ȝoure land, labour of scolis, Fesike, ne no philosofy. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 89 Manye, whiche neuere leerned ferther in scolis than her grammer. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 103 He..haittit all that cunnyng wer in scuillis. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 111 That sik frehalderis..sulde susteine thair eldest sones at the schuilis, quhill perfytlie tha vndirstude the Canon lawis. a 1628 Preston Breastpl. Love (1631) 199 We learne at Schooles what to say in such a controversie, how to dispute rather than how to live. 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. iii. x. (1678) 62 Which I have sometimes shewed in the Physick Schools, at such times as I there dissected Anatomies. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. v. §63. 279 Boyes in the Schooles know, that a Posse ad Esse, the Argument followes not. 1644 Digby Two Treat. Ded. a iv, I haue not endeauoured to expresse my conceptions eyther in the phrase, or in the language of the schooles. 1649 Lovelace Lucasta 84 And henceforth..Be able to dispute ith' field, And Combate in the Schooles. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. iii. §9. 192 This whole mystery of Genera and Species, which make such a noise in the Schools. 1701 Swift Contests of Nobles & Comm. Wks. 1755 II. i. 12 A mixed government partaking of the known forms received in the schools. 1774 Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. (1775) 52 These are the arguments of states and kingdoms. Leave the rest to the schools; for there only they may be discussed with safety. 1785 Cowper Task ii. 534 Is Christ the abler teacher or the schools? |
† c. In various phrases, as
to go to school, to study at a university;
man of school, one who is versed in the learning of the schools;
degree of school(s,
in schools, a university degree.
Obs.| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 271 Enuye..heet freres to go to scole, And lerne logyk and lawe. c 1380 Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 427 Degre takun in scole makiþ goddis word more acceptable. Ibid. 428 So prestis wiþ-oute degre of scole may profite more þan don þes maystris. Ibid., & þus men of scole trauelen veynly for to gete newe sutiltees. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 11477 Thogh a man wer neuere so wys, And hadde lernyd at Parys, Thys thyrty yer at scole be In that noble vnyuersyte. 1451 Rolls of Parlt. V. 222/2 After the degrees in Scoles singulerly of the seide Scolers. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 381 Amange clerkis in scule. 1591–5 Spenser Col. Clout 702 A filed toung, furnisht with tearmes of art, No art of schoole, but Courtiers schoolery. 1611 Coryat Crudities 392 Though it be no Vniuersitie to yeeld degrees of Schoole to the students. 1638 Bp. R. Montagu Art Enq. Visit. A 4, Of what degree in schools is he? |
† d. to hold schools or
keep schools: to engage in academic disputation or discussion.
Obs.| c 1460 Sir R. Ros La Belle Dame 329 In fayre langage,..which ye and mo holde scoles of dayly. 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 949/2 We wyl in this matter keepe no longe scholes. 1567 Jewel Def. Apol. iii. 345 Wherefore doo your Doctours keepe sutche hote Schooles emongst them selues. |
† e. pl. with
sing. construction: An assembly of the ‘schools’ of a university, a public disputation.
| c 1470 Gregory in Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden) 229 Mayster Halden kept the scholys with in the Fryers and dysputyd a gayne a Gray Fryer..; and at that scholys were many grete docters and clerkys to geve hym audyens. |
f. U.S. A college or university. Also in phrases
to go († put) to school, to attend (send to) college or university.
| 1767 P. V. Fithian Jrnl. & Lett. (1900) 1 A letter to my Father, begging him to put me to School. 1904 Delineator Oct. 657 College pillows..of crimson, with ‘Harvard’, in white letters; of orange, with ‘Princeton’ in black, and similarly with the names and colours of other schools. 1957 A. Buchwald Brave Coward 54, I am more American than you are. I even went to school on the GI Bill of Rights, in Rome. I got an honorable discharge from the Army. 1962 ― How much is that in Dollars? p. ix, When friends..assured me the streets of Paris were paved with mattresses, I decided to finish up my last year of schooling there... But while we were going to school..Congress passed the monumental Marshall Plan. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. ii. 5/6 (caption) Oxford crewman J. K. Mullard waves jubilantly after victory over traditional rival Cambridge... Oxford won by three lengths in 113th meeting between the schools. 1977 I. Shaw Beggarman, Thief i. vi. 76 The proms at which he played the trumpet in the band, to help pay his way through school. 1978 Sci. Amer. July 15/2 The latter experience convinced him that his interest lay in research; he therefore went back to school, acquiring his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1965. |
8. the School,
the Schools: the Schoolmen, the scholastic philosophers and theologians collectively. Now
rare or
Obs.| a 1614 Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 127 Many of the Schoole, as Aquinas Fra. Victoria, Sotus, Bannes. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvi. 374 A Nunc-stans (as the Schools call it). 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii. vi. §3. 181 The spirit of Prophecy came upon them per modum impressionis transeuntis, as the Schools speak. 1683 J. Norris Parting 3, Poems (1684) 20, I now believe the Schools with ease,..That should the sense no torment seize, Yet Pain of Loss alone would make a Hell. |
9. a. sing. The building or room set apart for the lectures or exercises of a particular ‘school’ (in a university).
b. pl. A building belonging to a university, containing rooms serving in some cases originally for lectures in the several faculties, in later times chiefly for the disputations and exercises for degrees, and for meetings of the academic body or of portions of it. Hence, in modern Oxford use: The building in which most of the university examinations are held.
| c 1590 Marlowe Faustus (1604) A 3 b, Ile haue them fill the publike schooles with skill [mod. edd. silk] Wherewith the students shalbe brauely clad. 1644 Evelyn Diary Jan., We went into some of the Scholes [of the Sorbonne], and in that of Divinity we found a grave Doctor in his chaire, with a multitude of auditors, who all write as he dictates. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. viii. §120 They caused provisions of corn to be laid in,..assigning the public schools to that purpose. 1697 Evelyn Acc. Archit. Misc. Writ. (1825) 366 Or compare the Schools and Library at Oxford with the Theatre there. 1706 T. Hearne Collect. 3 Oct. (O.H.S.) I. 292 Forreigners..frequently go to ye Schools to hear Lectures. 1751 Wesley Wks. 1872 II. 222, I went to the Schools, where the Convocation was met. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiv, There is no more characteristic spot in Oxford than the quadrangle of the schools. 1873 Students' Handbk. Univ. Oxf. 151 A copy of it must be deposited in the Music School. |
10. In modern Oxford use.
a. pl. The periodical examinations for the degree of B.A.
| 1828 J. H. Newman Lett. (1891) I. 180. I am going out of the Schools, and Dornford (I fancy) will supply my place for the ensuing examination. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiv, The row of victims..‘sitting for the schools’ as it is called. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. App. 581 A former colleague of mine in the Oxford Schools. 1882 Society 18 Nov. 11/2 The schools at Oxford are ‘on’ once more, and white ties are again the order of the day. |
b. Each of the several courses of study, in any of which an ‘honours’ degree in Arts may be taken: corresponding to the Cambridge ‘Tripos’.
In 1910 the ‘Schools’ were as follows: ‘
Literæ Humaniores’ (
i.e. classics), Mathematical and Physical Science, Natural Science, Jurisprudence, Modern History, Theology, Oriental Languages, English Language and Literature, Modern Languages.
| 1873 Students' Handbk. Univ. Oxf. 110 Those who have obtained Honours in the School of Theology. |
† III. 11. a. The doctrine or teaching of a master; the lore or knowledge of a subject imparted by teaching.
Obs.| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 84 As thou hast preid above That I the Scole schal declare Of Aristotle. Ibid. III. 139 Ther mai a man the Scole liere Of Rethoriqes eloquences. 1423 Jas. I. Kingis Q. vii, Quhich to declare my scole is ouer ȝong. c 1460 Wisdom 86 in Macro Plays 38 Teche me þe scolys of yowur dyvynyte. 15.. Piers of Fullham 3 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 2 A man, that lovyth fyscheng and fowlyng bothe, ofte tyme that game schall hym be lothe, of that crafte all thoghe he can the scole, yn the see, in rever, in ponde, or yn pole. 15.. Mayd Emlyn 128 ibid. IV. 87 Thus by her scole Made hym a fole, And called hym dodypate. |
† b. A particular method or discipline taught.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 125 Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly, After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe. ― Miller's T. 143 In twenty manere koude he trippe and daunce After the scole of Oxenforde tho. c 1400 Beryn 2403 So yee aftir my scole Wol do, & as I rede ȝew. c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 1141, I shall the lerne a newe scole, If thoue so hardy to fighte be. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. ii. 14 At the wendyng slake The yoke, thyne oxen neckes forto cole: But drawing by the horne is noo goode scole. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 117 It wold syt on a stole, And lerned after my scole For to kepe his cut. |
† c. Schooling, discipline.
Obs.| 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. viii. 328 Certis the freelnes of the wil is to be kutt awei and to be leid aside with greet bateil, greet scole, and greet craft. |
IV. Repr. L.
schola,
Gr. σχολή, in late senses.
† 12. A hostelry at Rome for the reception of pilgrims.
Obs.| O.E. Chron. an. 816, Þy ilcan ᵹeare forborn Ongolcynnes scolu. ? a 900 in Thorpe Diplomat. Anglicum (1865) 116 Ic [æthelwulf] on Rome..Englisce scole ᵹesette. c 1450 Brut 316 Seynt Peters pens,..þe whiche Kyng Iva [sic]..ferst graunted to Rome, for þe scole of Engelond ther to be continued. |
† 13. A public building, gallery, or the like.
Obs.| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xi. 44 A kirk theked with leed, þat es called þe Scole of Salomon. 1534 Whitinton Tullyes Offices i. (1540) 33 Solon fyrste edifyed the schole of Areopagus in Athenes. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxvi. v. II. 568 In the same place, and namely in the schoole or gallerie of learned men, there be many more images highly commended. |
14. Hist. One of the cohorts or companies into which the Imperial guard was divided.
| 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xiii. I. 388 The avenues of the palace were strictly guarded by the various schools, as they began to be called, of domestic officers. Ibid. xvii. II. 57 The whole number consisted of three thousand five hundred men, divided into seven schools, or troops, of five hundred each. |
V. 15. [
f. school v.] A cross-country ride.
| 1892 Field 9 Apr. 512/2 Then began a cheery ‘school’ over some scrubby hills. |
VI. attrib. and
Comb. 16. Simple attributive.
a. Pertaining to a school (sense 1) or schools, as
school-age,
school assembly,
school atlas,
school bag,
school beret,
school blazer,
school blouse,
school bus (also
school-busing),
school curriculum,
school-desk,
school dinner,
school education,
school eleven,
school-fee,
school-French,
school-friendship,
school holiday,
school-hours (
hour 2 b),
† school law,
school librarian,
school-life,
school lunch,
school mag,
school magazine,
school meal,
school nurse,
school party,
school play,
school-poem,
school-prank,
school prefect,
school prize,
school reader,
† school-recess,
school register,
school rule,
school satchel,
school scarf,
school secretary,
school slang,
school song,
school subject,
school system,
school-teacher (hence
school-teacherish adj.),
school tie,
school treat,
school trunk,
school uniform,
school-vacation,
school warden,
school wear,
school-work,
school-year, etc. See also
school cap at sense 19 below, school-board, -book, -day, -ma'am, -master, -mistress.
| 1741 S. Richardson Familiar Lett. cxxx. 168 Nor is the Consequence of this Defect confin'd to the *School-age, as I may call it. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 716 So soon as children have passed school-age, they [etc.]. 1939 M. S. Rice Working-Class Wives iii. 66 The children of school age come under the School medical services. 1972 G. Sereny Case M. Bell ii. i. 80 Fernwood Reception Centre..is used for children of school age who come there primarily because of sudden family emergencies. 1974 Sat. Rev. World (U.S.) 2 Nov. 24/3, 95 per-cent of school-age Eskimos are in school. |
| 1932 Mrs. J. Murray (title) Incidental music for use at *school assembly. Arranged by I. R. Davies. 1977 J. Aiken Last Movement ix. 166 Opera and large gatherings ran each other close for first place among her dislikes. How did she stand school assemblies? |
| 1815 J. A. Cummings (title) A *school atlas, accompanying ancient and modern geography. 1885 C. M. Yonge Two Sides of Shield I. vi. 100 The elder boys' old school atlases. 1979 H. McLeave Borderline Case xvi. 155 On a school atlas Dr. Li charted the progress of the disease. |
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 118/3 Water⁓proof *School Bags; made of enameled cloth, with flap and leather shoulder strap. 1913 P. Geddes Masque of Anc. Learning 3 Boy enters, swinging his school-bag. 1977 C. Fremlin Spider-Orchid xiii. 90 She'd dumped her school bag on the floor. |
| 1967 M. Drabble Jerusalem the Golden iii. 51 The girls in her class..regarded her as relatively plain..with no notion of how to twist a *school beret or hitch a school skirt. 1975 ‘J. Bell’ Victim xiii. 140 A small girl stepped out. She held a school beret in one hand. |
| 1913 J. Vaizey College Girl v. 62 The boys wore flannel trousers with *school blazers and caps. 1978 A. Price '44 Vintage vi. 74 His school blazer..had been too small for him. |
| 1932 D. C. Minter Mod. Needlecraft 253/1 *School or Gym Blouse... Long sleeves for school type, short for gym blouse. 1979 K. Conlon Move in Game i. i. 14 Mrs Brennan wrote: ‘butter, eggs, shoe polish, school blouse, [etc.].’ |
| 1908 Suburban Life July 48/1 (caption) The *school bus. 1939 G. Household Rogue Male 110, I saw the school-bus and an occasional car. 1976 P. R. White Planning for Public Transport i. 25 A local authority..may also be an important customer in its own right, by allocating subsidies, and contracts for school bus services. |
| 1974 Times 25 Oct. 10/5 The sensitive issue of *school busing in Boston. |
| 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. i. 156 He taught Geography and English History and English Literature, so far as the *school curriculum allowed him. 1981 Listener 1 Jan. 22/3 His comments on the school curriculum contain a germ of truth. |
| 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes I. iii. 75 A little enclosure, made of *school-desks and forms. 1953 A. Clarke Moment next to Nothing i. ii. 29 I'll clear the table, have our school⁓desk ready. |
| 1835 Dickens Sk. by Boz (1836) 1st Ser. I. 26 They were three long graces in drapery, with the addition—like a *school-dinner—of another long grace afterwards. 1963 New Society 22 Aug. 5/1 That inevitable horror, the school dinner. 1973 J. Burrows Like Evening Gone x. 115 She used to help with school dinners..serving and washing up. |
| 1731 J. Creichton Mem. 10 Having lost the Benefit of a thorough *School-Education..the Reader cannot reasonably expect to be much pleased with my Style. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. I. ii. xiv. 463 The earnings of..any labour which requires school education, are at a monopoly rate. |
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, The Captain of the *School eleven..accompanied them. |
| 1511–12 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 242 In haill payment of half ane ȝeris burd and *scoile fee. 1870 Act 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75 §25 The school board may, if they think fit,..pay the whole or any part of the school fees payable at any public elementary school by any child [etc.]. 1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House I. iii. 64 The school-fee was a mere trifle, but Mr. Ryder would willingly have boarded and lodged the boy. 1958 ‘Castle’ & ‘Hailey’ Flight into Danger 17 Pay off the bills—the new water tank, school fees, instalments on the Chev. 1973 J. Leasor Host of Extras ii. 32 He'd be selling the car to pay his son's school fees. |
| 1837 [Miss Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras xv. (1843) 145 About half of them know the language well, and the rest speak it like *school-French. |
| 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 436 *School-friendships are not always found..permanent and sound. |
| 1939 *School holiday [see nursery tea s.v. nursery 8 a]. 1981 J. Robin Elmdon xi. 224 A private house, occupied in the school holidays by the wife of a business-man in Baghdad. |
| 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 137 Out of *School-Hours. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair ii, Surreptitiously nursing it [a doll] in school hours. |
| 1650 J. M. (title) *School-Laws, or Qui Mihi in English. |
| 1920 B. M. Peacock (title) A *school and club librarians' handbook. 1978 J. Irving World according to Garp ii. 28 It was a habit among the school librarians, upon recognizing that they didn't have a book which someone sought, to say, ‘Perhaps the infirmary has it.’ |
| 1721 M. Cave Let. 27 Nov. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. of Eighteenth Cent. (1930) II. xxiii. 71 The apprehension of Tommy's weak Constitution I find very grevious, inferring that he is unable to undergo a *School Life. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, The care with which he has watched over every step in your school lives. 1885 Welldon Serm. Harrow i. (1887) 6 In a few days perhaps..you will feel the continuity of your school-life; but for the present it seems to you to have been broken. |
| 1949 M. Mead Male & Female xvi. 330 As *school-lunches develop, the home with school-age children is deserted all day long. 1980 Times 10 Sept. 8/1 Changes [are] taking place in the school meals service... Many parents are weighing up the relative merits of school lunches versus packed ones. |
| 1960 L. Durrell Let. in Spirit of Place (1969) 153 The boys of King's School..asked for an article for the *school mag. 1976 Listener 8 Apr. 452/4 It is very difficult to write about school, and the tone of the school mag is not wholly avoided. |
| 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. v. 383, I got leave to send a ballad..to that *school magazine... It was actually inserted. 1939 C. Isherwood Goodbye to Berlin 311 The newspapers are becoming more and more like copies of a school magazine. 1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex iii. 23 The occasional poems which seek entry in the columns of the school magazine. |
| 1948 F. Le G. Clark (title) The social history of the *School Meal service. 1973 Times 5 Oct. 4/5 A [parliamentary] resolution called for..free school meals. |
| 1912 Q. Rev. July 57 Enormous improvements..have been effected in the environment of the nation since that time. A full account of these is here impossible but it may be said that they include..the appointment of..district and *school nurses. 1976 J. Philips Backlash (1977) iii. i. 122 If..the school nurse..came, I was to tell her to give me some first aid. |
| 1803 T. Lawrence Let. 28 Jan. in D. E. William Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence (1831) I. 231 We all sat down like a Rugby *school party, but rather more vociferous. 1968 J. Sangster Touchfeather ii. 11, I went [to Berlin] with a school party... We stayed for five days..visiting the museums. 1976 H. Tracy Death in Reserve xviii. 136 He was told that there were parties of Boy Scouts..and a school party due next week. |
| 1933 E. K. Chambers Eng. Folk-Play 187 It is not to be supposed that, after the Reformation and the growth of the professional travelling companies, local plays..ceased to be performed... Some are *school-plays produced by the local Holophernes. Some are May games. 1972 Guardian 17 Aug. 10/6 It is impossible not to wish him well..like you would a child on sports day or in a school play. 1973 J. R. L. Anderson Death on Rocks iii. 62 She's gone with the kids to a school play. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 167 That last pagan king of Ireland Cormac in the *schoolpoem choked himself. 1933 R. Tuve Seasons & Months iii. 75 Cuculus, above all Philomela (familiar as the subject of various ‘school-poems’). |
| 1799 Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Poet's T. (ed. 2) I. 48 Playing *school-pranks with his companions. |
| 1949 E. Coxhead Wind in West vii. 178 He who had been the naughty child was now the *school prefect. 1975 P. D. James Black Tower ii. 35 The old insistent arguments spoken in that confident school prefect's voice. |
| 1853 C. Brontë Villette I. iii. 54 Graham, it chanced, was at that time greatly preoccupied about some *school-prize, for which he was competing. 1904 ‘E. Nesbit’ Phœnix & Carpet xi. 206 Its conversation..was entertaining and instructive—like school prizes are said to be. |
| 1835 H. A. Hansard (title) Souter's second *school reader. 1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door 194 Prester John..has since become a school-reader in many languages. 1981 E. Hay Sambo Sahib viii. 110 Helen [Bannerman]..was delighted..that some of her books had been selected as school readers. |
| 1795 Jemima I. 63 A pressing invitation that she would spend the next *school recess at the Hall. |
| 1973 J. Burrows Like Evening Gone vi. 73 There were forty-three names on the *school register. |
| 1943 G. Greene Ministry of Fear iii. ii. 192 Excited like a boy breaking a *school rule. 1978 F. Weldon Praxis vii. 36 School rules forbade conversation between girls of different age groups. |
| 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 325/2 *School Satchels. Waterproof Brown Canvas. 1972 J. Fleming Alas Poor Father i. 7 Picking up the school satchel, he hooked it over his arm. |
| 1907 E. Nesbit Enchanted Castle iii. 90 The crimson *school-scarf that had supported his white flannels. 1971 A. Price Alamut Ambush x. 119 Carelessly hung coats and school scarves on the row of wooden pegs. |
| 1958 J. Townsend Young Devils vi. 52, I was shown into his room by a cheerful middle-aged *school secretary. 1977 J. Aiken Last Movement i. 24 Mother..had asked if Gina would be interested in the job of school secretary. |
| 1900 Farmer Public School Word-Bk. p. v, It would, however, seem almost necessary to emphasise that this Word-Book is not, per se, a dictionary of *school slang. 1934 Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. ii. v. 263 A word or two may be added on German school-slang (Pennälersprache). 1975 D. Durrant With my Little Eye xviii. 181 Patty's coarse, cruel, school slang bitchery. |
| 1934 M. V. Hughes London Child of Seventies vi. 68 Another treat to me was the *school song (‘Homo plantat’). 1974 Listener 17 Jan. 84/1 E. E. Bowen and John Farmer started the collection of Harrow School Songs, in the 1870s. |
| 1922 H. E. Palmer Everyday Sentences in Spoken Eng. p. v, English is no longer either an abhorred *school-subject nor a fascinating literary hobby. 1977 Grimsby Even. Tel. 5 May 5/2 She said..that it could easily be possible to make road safety a school subject on its own merit. |
| 1814 Jane Austen Mansf. Park III. iii. 63 Common neglect of the qualification..in the ordinary *school-system for boys. 1869 C. L. Brace New West 79 The general school system of California..is more centralized. 1911 C. E. Persons et al. Labor Laws & their Enforcement 218 We should know how many children..the school system could no longer control, as well as those it still retains. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 1 May b4/4 In America, school systems have expanded in the atmosphere of an anticipated tug-of-war with parents. |
| 1847 Webster, *School-teacher, one who teaches or instructs a school. 1932 G. Greene Stamboul Train i. i. 6, I see his passport. Richard John. Schoolteacher. 1950 C. S. Belshaw Island Admin. in S.W. Pacific xii. 122 In one or two cases Councils unofficially..levied their own funds, which were to be put to such purposes as paying school-teachers [etc.]. |
| a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Phoenix (1936) 361 The heroine being one of the old-fashioned *school-teacherish sort. 1978 H. Wouk War & Remembrance xiii. 126 She shook a schoolteacherish finger at him. |
| 1932 *School tie [see old school tie]. 1937 G. Barker Poems 24 O long lost upward in the dream descending, The flying pig and the school-tie anaconda! 1977 Times 23 Nov. 12/8 Western society..puts children..in school uniform and school ties to make them conform. |
| 1888 Mrs. H. Ward Robert Elsmere II. iii. xxv. 274 Counting up the engagements of the next few weeks—the *school-treat, two club field-days, a sermon. 1934 D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors 121 An importunate child at a school treat. |
| 1915 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 429 We'll get his old *school trunk to-morrow and pack his civilian clothes. 1978 Times 3 Aug. 9/2 Cash's name-tapes are very widely available... But get a move on if..the first school trunk is looming. |
| 1933 A. White Frost in May ii. 47 She trotted sedately behind the lay-sister, wearing her *school uniform. 1976 W. Trevor Children of Dynmouth ii. 37 They were still in their school uniforms—Stephen's grey with touches of maroon, Kate's brown and green. |
| 1787 Hawkins Life Johnson 471 Whose son in his *school-vacation was come home. |
| 1835 App. Munic. Corpor. Rep. iv. 2897 The two *School Wardens [at Kingston-upon-Thames] are elected in like manner. Their duty is to visit and superintend the school. |
| 1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. p. lv/1 *School wear. 1976 Evening Post (Nottingham) 14 Dec. 15/8 (Advt.), Derby's leading boyswear and schoolwear specialists. |
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. vi, There could be no reason for stopping the *school work at present. |
| Ibid. ii. ii, There were thirty-eight weeks in the *school year. 1961 Guardian Jrnl. (Nottingham) 14 Nov. 4 The intention here is to reduce these dates in the school year from three to two. 1965 New Society 16 Sept. 4/2 The new school year has begun and millions of parents have heaved a sigh of relief. 1975 Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xx. 293 An additional benefit was the informal contact between teacher and parent, a valuable foundation for the coming school year. |
b. Taught in or attending school, as
school bully,
school-child,
school-chum,
school-companion,
† school-fere,
school friend,
school-kid,
school-maid,
school-miss,
school-urchin, etc. Also school-boy, -fellow, -girl, -mate.
| 1907 ‘Mark Twain’ in N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 7, I had had a quarrel with a big boy who was the *school-bully. 1956 ‘C. Blackstock’ Dewey Death vii. 154 Mark..had something of the school bully in him... It seemed he derived a cruel satisfaction from the young man's palpable fear. |
| 1840 Carlyle Heroes iv. (1841) 207 He [Luther] had to beg, as the *school-children in those times did. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 705 The first case of illness was a school-child. |
| 1846 Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 149 The stupid *school-chum of his private secretary! |
| 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 31 May (1815) 108 The departure of your *school-companions. |
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 449 One Calistenes, Alisaundre *scolefere under Aristotil. Ibid. VII. 397 He..went to Rome at þe laste wiþ oon of his scole feres. |
| 1853 C. Brontë Villette I. iii. 43 Graham is busy with his school-friends. 1973 ‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Answer x. 97 He recalled Judith's school friend as soon as he set eyes on her. |
| 1938 *School-kid [see feis 2]. 1976 J. Wainwright Who goes Next? 164 He went to live with his boy-friend—little more than a schoolkid. |
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iv. 47 Is she your cosen? Isa. Adoptedly, as *school-maids change their names By vaine, though apt affection. |
| 1873 Black Pr. Thule ii, I take her to be an affected *school-miss. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 201 Antiquity mentions that Stagyrite *schoolurchin and bald heathen sage. |
c. Belonging to or connected with the school as a building (
cf. 1), as
school-bell,
school building,
school-chapel,
school-door,
school gate,
school library,
school-roof,
school-yard, etc. See also
school hall at sense 19 below, schoolhouse.
| 1702 S. Sewall Diary 9 Aug. (1879) II. 61 Set out from Salem as the *School-Bell rung. 1779 J. Wedgwood Let. 23 Nov. (1965) 247 Rise at 7 in winter, when I shall ring the school bell. 1862 Calverley Verses & Transl. (1894) 12 When the school-bell cut short our strife. 1976 C. Dexter Last seen Wearing xvii. 136 The school bell rang at 4.00 p.m., and the last lesson of the day was over. |
| 1829 R. Gilbert Liber Scholast. 167 The *school buildings are well adapted [etc.]. 1975 Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xix. 280 The class is likely to be held in a school building. |
| 1884 Tablet 11 Oct. 591/2 The erection of a *school-chapel was immediately begun. |
| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. Concl. 62 There is not that sect of Philosophers among the heathen so dissolute..but would shut his *school dores against such greasy sophisters. |
| 1847 C. M. Yonge Scenes & Characters xxiii. 280 William walked to the *school gate with them. 1973 J. Mann Only Security iii. 23 When she left the school gates behind her, she was finished with the problems for the day. |
| 1854 Rep. Trans. Pennsylvania State Agric. Soc. 276 Another great reform would be the introducing of a *school library into every district school. 1860 J. A. Symonds Let. 18 Aug. (1967) I. 260, I shall..get to Shrewsbury at about half past one. That will allow me time to see the MS in the School Library. 1941 M. Treadgold We couldn't leave Dinah i. 20 A discerning headmaster..had directed..her vivid imagination to the excellent school library. 1971 J. B. Carroll et al. Word Freq. Bk. p. vi, Some of these publications are normally found in the classroom, others in the school library. |
| c 1340 Hampole's Wks. (1895) I. 140 An Abbot þat..neuer lift vp his heued to see þe *scole-rouf. |
| 1870 Emerson Soc. & Sol. v. 99 The warm sympathy with which they kindle each other in *school-yard, or in barn or woodshed. |
d. Pertaining to the Schoolmen (
cf. sense 8), or to the ‘schools’ of universities (
cf. sense 7 b), scholastic, academic, as in
school-account,
† school-amorist,
school-argument,
school author,
school-clerk,
† school dispicion,
school-ethics,
school-exercise,
† school implement,
school-language,
school-logic,
school-manner,
school matter,
school-medicine,
school moralist,
school morality,
school name,
school-opinion,
school-pedantry,
school philosopher,
school philosophy,
school-phrase,
school-question,
school quiddity,
school-subtilty,
school-syllogism,
school term,
school-theology,
school trick, etc.;
school-like adj. and
adv. See also school-craft, -divine, -divinity, -doctor, -man, -point.
| 1701 Norris Ideal World i. vii. 408 To lay open the *school-account of this matter, and unravel it through all its abstrusities. |
| 1644 Bulwer Chirol. 163 Thus the *Schoole-Amorist [= Ovid]. |
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xv. (1592) 225 The holy Scripture..vseth no *schoole arguments to make vs beleeue that there is a God. |
| 1551 Cranmer Answ. Gardiner iii. 90 It is not plainly written of all the Papists, both lawyers and *schole authors, that [etc.]. |
| a 1583 Sir H. Gilbert Q. Eliz. Achad. (1869) 3 The greatest *Schole clarkes are not alwayes the wisest men. |
| 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) Pref. A 2, Arguments of proofe in shew holden on a whole day by fine wits, in a *schoole despicion. |
| 1710 Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. i. §100. 145 One may make a great progress in *School-Ethics without ever being the wiser or better Man for it. |
| c 1425 Orolog. Sapient. i. in Anglia X. 327/43 Hem þat in *scole-excersyse..sechene þoo þinges þat bene nedefulle to sowle-hele. |
| 1586 Hooker Answ. Travers xvi. (1612) 19 These *schoole implements are acknowledged by graue and wise men not vnprofitable to haue beene inuented. |
| 1639 Drummond of Hawthornden Disc. Impresa's Wks. (1711) 229 For ladies, who understand not the *school languages. 1840 Carlyle Heroes v. (1841) 289 Eagerly devouring what spiritual thing he [Johnson] could come at; school-languages and other merely grammatical stuff, if there was nothing better! |
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 14/2 Such as more distinctlie and *schoolelike discusse this matter. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster v. i. 129 His learning labours not the schoole-like glosse. 1645 Milton Tetrach. 23 Such a methodical and School-like way of defining. |
| 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages ix. ii. (1819) III. 538 Philology..degenerated through the prevalence of *school-logic. |
| 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 229 b, He discourseth at large the article of Justifycation after the *scoole maner [orig. more scholastico]. |
| c 1386 Chaucer Friar's Prol. 8 Ye han heer touched al so moot I thee In *scole matere greet difficultee. 1447 in Epist. Acad. Oxon. (O.H.S.) I. 260 All his buks of study, also oder boks longyng to scole mater. |
| 1731 Hist. Litteraria III. 260 The Venereal Disease had just then made its appearance, which the common *School-Medicine was not able to cure. |
| 1710 Norris Chr. Prud. iv. 149 This the *School-Moralists..have abundantly proved. |
| Ibid. iii. 125 The *School Morality. |
| 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetry (Arb.) 41 Who thinke vertue a *schoole name. |
| 1751 Warburton Pope's Ess. Man ii. 81 note, For this dangerous *school-opinion gives support to the Manichean or Zoroastrian error. |
| 1704 Norris Ideal World ii. Pref. 16 Which..would perhaps savour a little too much of *school⁓pedantry. |
| a 1704 T. Brown Dial. Dead, Reas. Oaths Wks. 1711 IV. 96 A *School-Philosopher with his newest set of Distinctions. |
| 1701 Norris Ideal World i. ii. 72 It agrees not with the principles of the *School-Philosophy, that will by no means allow the essences of things to be eternal. 1759 Goldsm. Polite Learn. xi. Wks. (Globe) 443/2 Universities..where the pupils..support every day syllogistical disputations in school philosophy. |
| 1668 Howe Blessedn. Righteous xii. 218 Servato ordine finis, as the *School-phrase is. |
| 1586 Hooker Answ. Travers xvi. (1612) 18 If..it were a *schoole question. |
| a 1625 E. Chaloner Six Serm. (1629) 30 The husbandman..vsed not..those *schoole quiddities to simple labourers. |
| 1629 H. Burton Truth's Tri. 67 No Romish sophistrie, or *schoole-subtilty can inuent any probability. |
| 1709 Shaftesbury Moralists i. 4 Her *School-Syllogism and her Elixir, [are] the choicest of her [Philosophy's] Products. |
| c 1386 Chaucer Mech. T. 325, I counte nat a panyer ful of herbes Of *scole termes. 1825 Southey in Q. Rev. XXXI. 380 It is (to use a school term) an inseparable accident of Lisbon. |
| 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 512 And if one could, it were but a *schoole trick. |
e. Produced by the pupils or assistants of a master of a school of art (see sense 5 a), as
school painting,
school-piece,
school-work.
| 1903 R. Fry Let. 16 Mar. (1972) I. 207, I have found..a tondo..which I can't help still fancying a schoolpiece. Anyhow this, which was called ‘School of Lorenzo’, is Piero all over. 1905 Mrs. H. Ward Marriage W. Ashe i. ii. 31 It was an old low-ceiled room, panelled in white and gold, showing here and there an Italian picture—Saint, or Holy Family, agreeable school-work. 1937 Burlington Mag. Feb. 77/1 The accidental meeting of northern and southern art-forms, as it were, in a school-piece. 1979 R. Cox Auction iii. 58, I would certainly not say priceless. As School paintings go, yes, it's valuable. |
17. locative, in sense ‘at school’, with
ppl. adjs., as
school-based,
school-bred,
school-made,
school-taught,
school-trained, etc.
| 1975 Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xxiii. 339 Up to a third of the time is normally given to *school-based teaching practice. 1977 Times Educ. Suppl. 21 Oct. 7/1 Many people.. believe school-based assessments are important in giving a comprehensive picture of the candidates' achievements. |
| 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 840 And if it chance..That though *school-bred, the boy be virtuous still. |
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 870 As in chorea, so in tic, there are cases which appear to be *school-made. |
| 1765 Goldsm. Trav. 41 Let *school-taught pride dissemble all it can, These little things are great to little man. |
| 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa x. 214 Boys trained in the mission school and married to *school-trained girls. |
18. objective and
obj. gen., as
school desegregation,
school-drilling,
school governor,
school-leaving,
school management,
school manager,
school-teaching, etc.
| 1961 J. W. Peltason (title) Fifty-eight lonely men: Southern federal judges and *school desegregation. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 20 June 11-e/6 President Ford heard pro and con views on busing as a remedy for school desegregation from school superintendents and principals Saturday. |
| 1822–29 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) IV. 347 The whole system of *school-drilling education. Ibid. 349 Such and a thousand similar recreations..should enter into the school-drilling of the day. |
| 1976 L. Henderson Major Enquiry xvii. 116, I was attending a meeting of the Branton Education Committee, I am one of the *school governors. |
| 1901 Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 3/6 A..*school-leaving certificate. |
| 1883 J. Landon (title) *School management. 1975 Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xii. 193 It would not be easy to argue for another post to be added to the senior level of the school management structure. |
| 1862 Edin. Rev. Apr. 415 That fortunate individual has dined at the house of a *school manager. 1888 Pall Mall G. 12 Jan. 4/1 The celibacy of the ‘school marm’ is a heresy which as yet only exists in the pious dream of school managers and school boards. |
| 1847 Webster, *School-teaching, the business of instructing a school. 1854 C. M. Yonge Castle Builders v. 65 The example of their sister..made them think *school⁓teaching the most dignified and delightful of tasks. 1950 Sport 7–11 Apr. 14/1 Defensive stability has been added by the signing of schoolteaching goalkeeper, Alec Grant. 1981 E. North Dames vi. 101 You did the right thing getting out of schoolteaching when you did. |
19. Special Combinations:
school air Horsemanship, an ‘air’ (
air n. 17) which horses are taught in the school;
school attendance, attendance at a school, used
attrib. of persons or things involved in the enforcement of compulsory school attendance;
school(s) broadcast, a radio or television broadcast for the instruction of children in school; also
school broadcaster,
broadcasting;
school-butter, (
a)
cf. quots. 1584–93 (sense obscure); (
b)
slang, a flogging; (
c)
U.S. ‘a teasing call to school children’ (Payne
Wordlist East Alabama);
school-cap, (
a)
Geol. (see
quot. 1829); (
b) a cap worn as part of a school uniform (hence
school-capped adj.);
School Cert.,
abbrev. of next;
School Certificate, in one of several (public) examination systems, a certificate of proficiency in subjects learned at school;
school colours, the distinctive colours of a school,
esp. as conferred as a sign of sporting achievement (see
colour n.1 6 c);
school committee, (
a)
U.S. = school board 2; (
b)
N.Z., a group of the parents of primary school-children elected to assist the headmaster of that school;
school crossing, a supervised road-crossing for school-children near the entrance to a school;
school-dame, an old woman who keeps a small school for young children;
school district N. Amer., a unit for the local administration of schools;
† school-feast, a tea-party or picnic for village school-children;
school-gait (see sense 3 d);
school-gallop (see
quot.);
school-going n., attendance at school;
school-going a., that goes, or is suitable to go, to school;
† school-hall, (
a) the room or building in which university disputations were held; (
b) the assembly hall of a school;
† school-hire = school-wage;
school inspector, an officer appointed to inspect and report on the condition of schools and the teaching therein; hence
school-inspectorship;
school journal N.Z., a booklet prepared by the Department of Education and issued to all primary schools at regular intervals;
school land N. Amer., land set apart for the financial support of schools (
cf. school section);
school-learning,
† (
a) the learning of ‘the schools’ (7 b); (
b) education at school;
school-leaver, one who is about to leave or has just left school (
cf. leaver);
school leaving age = leaving age s.v. leaving vbl. n.;
school-mamma,
-mother, an elder girl at a girls'-school who acts as a protectress of one or more younger ones;
school method, the teaching system to be followed by a teacher in training; the practice or theory of school-teaching;
school milk, milk provided at reduced cost or free of charge to children in school;
† school-pace = school-gait;
school-pence, a small weekly sum of money paid for tuition in elementary schools;
school phobia Psychol., excessive anxiety about or fear of attending school; so
school-phobic a. and
ellipt. as
n.;
school report = report n. 2 e;
school-rider, a school-trained horseman; so
school-riding;
† school-rod [
cf. G.
schulrute], a birch-rod or cane;
† school-scholar, one who has the learning taught at school (sense 1);
school section U.S. and
Canad., ‘a section of land set apart for public schools’ (Bartlett 1860);
school-ship, a ship used for the instruction and training of boys in practical seamanship;
schools programme = school broadcast;
schools television, a television broadcast for schools;
school story, a story treating of life in a school;
school-tide = school-time (b);
school-time, (
a) the time at which school commences, or during which school continues; (
b) that period of life which is passed at school;
school-wage (now
dial.), the periodical payment made for tuition at school;
school-years = school-time (
b).
| 1885 Dodge Patroclus & Penelope 58 Horses educated in all the *School airs which are applicable to road-riding. |
| 1876 Act 39 & 40 Vict. c. 79 §7 The provisions of this Act..shall be enforced— (1.) In a school district within the jurisdiction of a school board, by that board; and (2.) In every other school district by a committee (in this Act referred to as a *school attendance committee). 1911 G. B. Shaw Getting Married Pref. 185 If you pay less than {pstlg}40 a year rent, you will sometimes feel tempted to say to the..school attendance officer, and the sanitary inspector: ‘Is this child mine or yours?’ 1944 Act 7 & 8 Geo. VI c. 31. 252 The authority shall serve upon the parent an order in the prescribed form (hereinafter referred to as a ‘school attendance order’) requiring him to cause the child to become a registered pupil at a school named in the order. 1971 Reader's Digest Family Guide to Law 219/2 The education authorities sent the school attendance officer to the home and..he found that the child had received no tuition that day. |
| 1931 4th Ann. Rep. B.B.C. in Parl. Papers 1930–31 (Cmd. 3863) X. 291 It is believed that 5,260 schools followed the *school broadcasts in the year. 1949 Radio Times 15 July 6/1, I asked the Chief Wireless Operator if it would be possible for me to listen to the Schools Broadcast. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 246 The BBC permits the recording of schools broadcasts. |
| 1974 *School broadcaster [see school broadcasting below]. |
| 1927 B.B.C. Handbk. 1928 138/1 Many thousands have their school set with its loud-speaker, and *School Broadcasting has become a subject for educational research. 1928 1st Ann. Rep. B.B.C. 6 in Parl. Papers (Cmd. 3123) VII. 121 The Kent Education Committee undertook an enquiry into the efficacy of schools broadcasting. 1974 Time 8 Apr. 13/1 This autumn radio will celebrate 50 years of school broadcasting... School broadcasters use much more sophisticated material to complement the work of the teacher. |
| 1584 A. Munday Fidele & Fortunio 1473 in Archiv. Stud. neu. Spr. CXXIII. 76 O that I had some of Pediculus [i.e. Pedante's] *Schoole-butter to make me a lip salue. 1593 G. Harvey Pierces Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 231 Should the Butterwhore..try all the conclusions of her cherne, she might peraduenture in some sort pay thee home with Schoole⁓butter: but vndoubtedly she should haue much adooe, to stoppe thy Ouen-mouth with a lidde of Butter. 1618 Fletcher Loyal Subj. v. iv, Anc. He was whipt like a top, I never saw a whore so lac'd: Court schoole-butter? Is this their diet? a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, School-butter, a Whipping. 1912 Dialect Notes III. 588 When he yelled school butter at us, we yanked him off the wagon and blacked his eyes. 1935 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 84, I fell down.., running after that fellow that cried ‘school-butter’. |
| 1829 Trans. Geol. Soc. Ser. ii. II. 42 The bed below this is called the Top Cap... The next bed is called the *School Cap..; it consists of a compact limestone extremely cellular [etc.]. 1908 Magnet I. 1, His hair was thick and curly, and there was a school-cap stuck on the back of his head. 1930 Auden Poems 18 The rest as jury, wearing school caps. 1975 Listener 4 Dec. 747/3 Tell us that story about going to St John's Wood. Well, I had a letter, and went up wearing a school cap. |
| 1933 M. Lowry Ultramarine ii. 97 Mothers with warm-smelling furs are fussing with their *school-capped sons. 1973 M. Russell Double Hit ii. 15 A school-capped boy bicycled out of the main gates. |
| 1937 Discovery Jan. p. ii/1 (Advt.), *School Cert. and Army. Quick easy way if Latin taken for former only. 1967 H. W. Sutherland Magnie vii. 92 She could have taken the one year course herself, but she thought you'd need a school cert. at least. 1977 D. May in P. Collenette Winter's Tales 23 90 We were doing a run-through of School Cert. |
| 1888 Kipling Wee Willie Winkie 75 They were an educated regiment, the percentage of *school-certificates in their ranks were high, and most of the men could do more than read and write. 1911 Rep. Consultative Comm. Exam. Secondary Schools 106 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 6004) XVI. 159 We would suggest that the examination should be called the examination for the Secondary School Certificate. 1931 ‘G. Trevor’ Murder at School ii. 36 He was in my junior form... I expect he'd have taken his School Certificate. 1948 Min. of Educ. Circular No. 168. 23 Apr. 3/1 In 1951 the Minister proposes that the existing School and Higher School Certificate examinations should be discontinued and that in their place there should be introduced an examination for the ‘General Certificate of Education’. 1966 G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Australia & N.Z. viii. 173 He [sc. a New Zealander] is likely to sit School Certificate (approximately equivalent to English GCE Ordinary Level). 1978 A. Price '44 Vintage iv. 46 The acquisition of School Certificate German had been the limit of his ambition. |
| 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. xiv. 382 He respected the quest of *School Colours. 1924 A. Huxley Little Mexican 3 Holding to my head..a speckled straw [hat], gaudy with the school colours. 1972 L. P. Davies What did I do Tomorrow? v. 63 A scarf in the school colours of narrow emerald and gold stripes on black. |
| 1787 in C. O. Parmenter Hist. Pelham, Mass. (1898) 226 Voted Not to Devid the School Quarter where Dea. John Crawford is *School Committee Man. 1877 Statutes N.Z. xxi. §58. 122 For every school district constituted under this Act there shall be a School Committee consisting of seven householders within the school district, to be elected as hereinafter provided. 1945 Suburban List (Essex Junction, Vermont) 8 Feb. 10/3 The school committee could not keep the buses running. 1947 ‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 87 To crown it all the damned School Committee had to pick on this Saturday for their school picnic. |
| 1951 Sunday Pictorial 21 Jan. 4/3 The warning signs brandished by Bristol's *school-crossing wardens are so large that wardens find it hard to keep both feet on the ground in a strong wind. 1979 Hampstead & Highgate Express 22 June 10/3 Most of the school crossings in the borough were without lollipop men and women. |
| a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 101 We could suppose our senses to be the *school-dames that first taught us the alphabet of this learning. 1852 T. Parker Ten Serm. Relig. i. (1863) 10 He must study the anicular lines on the school-dame's slate. |
| 1809 E. A. Kendall Travels through Northern Parts U.S. I. 128 There are thirteen *school districts [in Berlin, Conn.]. 1876 [see school attendance above]. 1903 A. B. Hart Actual Govt. 542 The smallest unit of school administration is the school district, which in many States has its own board, raises its own taxes, and appoints its own teachers. 1978 N.Y. Times 29 Mar. a13/1 In Duarte,..the school district and a medical center are the two major employers. |
| 1849 C. Brontë Shirley II. vi. 137 (heading) The *school-feast. 1879 M. E. Braddon Vixen I. xvii. 325 The school-feast was fixed..for the Wednesday in Whitsun week. |
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., A *school pace or gate denotes the same with ecoute. 1885 Dodge Patroclus & Penelope 130 The traverse is a School gait rarely needed on the road. |
| 1884 E. L. Anderson Mod. Horsemanship 148 The *School Gallop is a pace of four beats, and is procured from the ordinary gallop by demanding a close union, and by sustaining the forehand with the reins [etc.]. |
| 1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago 78 *School-going was a practice best never begun. 1884 Athenæum 15 Mar. 347/3 According to these statistics 1 out of 4 boys and 1 out of 89 girls of school-going age are under instruction. 1900 Daily News 1 June 6/4, 93,000 school-going children. |
| 1509 Parlt. Devylles xl, I wyst hym [Jesus] neuer go to scole, And yet I sawe hym dyspute in the *scole hall. 1933 A. Thirkell High Rising viii. 161 Amy took Laura over to the school hall. 1980 J. Thomson Alibi in Time viii. 104 The school hall opened off the entrance foyer. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 449/2 *Scole hyre, scolagium. 1588 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1860) II. 182 For schole heir of the childer, for twoe wekes, 1s. 2d. More paid to Mr. Turpen, that was owne for Abraham schole heir, 8s. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 1099 Schooling or school-hire, minerval. |
| 1822 Missionary Reg. Dec. 501/2 (heading) *School inspectors and village readers. 1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House IV. xli. 192 He's a school inspector! Don't you have inspections here? Not under Government? O thrice happy people! 1924 M. Kennedy Constant Nymph xiv. 190 He knows too much about everything..being a school inspector. 1979 D. Cook Winter Doves i. 26 The School Inspectors came round..and they saw the state of the house, so they sent someone from the Council. |
| 1911 H. S. Walpole Mr. Perrin & Mr. Traill iii. 47 He saw himself at Eton or Harrow, or a *school-inspectorship. |
| 1907 Append. Jrnls. House Reps. N.Z. E.i.e. 6, I might mention..the *School Journal, because it will give an opportunity of explaining the place it should occupy in the school system. 1935 J. Guthrie Little Country v. 102 The word [sc. Australasia] was expurgated from school journals. |
| 1648 Suffolk Co. (Mass.) Deeds (1880) I. 91 Humphrey Johnson of Roxbury granted unto William Chenie of Roxbury twenty Acres of land in Roxbury bounded with..the *school lands & Richard Peacocks northwest. 1775 Let. 28 Feb. in Coll. New Hampshire Hist. Soc. (1889) IX. 89, I might..lay out for the Clearing the School Lands to the amount of {pstlg}500 Sterl{supg}. 1885 Rep. Indian Affairs (U.S.) 147 Others claim they have purchased their lands from the State of Nevada under the school-land grant. 1952 D. F. Putnam Canad. Regions 372/2 Another factor in the land pattern was the reservation of certain parcels as school lands. |
| a 1583 Sir H. Gilbert Q. Eliz. Achad. (1869) 10 In the vniuersities men study onely *schole learninges. 1751 Eliza Heywood Betsy Thoughtless I. 8 He having finished his school-learning, and was soon to go to the university. 1840 Carlyle Heroes ii. (1841) 84 Mahomet..had no school-learning, of the thing we call school-learning none at all. |
| 1925 Contemp. Rev. May 634 The problem of the unemployed ‘*school-leaver’ complicates in many ways the problem of the boy at work. 1955 Times 14 July 2/6 The Student Training Scheme is designed to enable public and grammar school-leavers to qualify professionally, having particularly in view careers in design, development, production, or commercial engineering. 1980 Listener 19 June 803/1 Wakefield was a miner's son and his parents did not expect him to be a late school-leaver. |
| 1920 Circular (Board of Educ.) No. 1180. 12 Oct. 3 The Board are prepared to consider proposals for making a byelaw under the subsection raising the *school leaving age to 15. 1946 Ann. Reg. 1945 i. iii. 75 On September 28 the Minister of Education announced that the school-leaving age would be raised to 15 on April 1, 1947, and that no attempt would be made to postpone the change beyond that date. 1955 Times 9 July 2/6 Many people thought that fewer pupils were now staying after school-leaving age, but that was not so. 1972 Times 15 Jan. 2/5 Mrs Thatcher, Secretary of State for Education and Science, said in London last night that she had signed the order-in-council to raise school-leaving age to 16 in September. |
| 1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind v. 31 The institution of ‘*school mammas’ may secure a protector for each. |
| 1877 F. J. Gladman (title) *School method. 1917 Beresford & Richmond W. E. Ford ix. 194 A description of a typical staff-meeting discussion of school method. 1927 J. Adams Errors in School 35 School-method books. |
| 1934 Milk-in-Schools Scheme (Milk Marketing Board) 6 Communications should be addressed to the ‘*School Milk’ Dept., Thames House, Millbank. 1964 L. Lee Firstborn 11 I'd ask her to accept her faults..and not blame them..on..school-milk, or the British Railways. 1977 Times 10 May 4/3 Ministers will consider claiming an EEC grant worth 3p a pint on school milk. |
| 1826 Miss Mitford Village II. 30, I..provided myself with a *school-mother, a fine tall blooming girl. |
| 1753 *School pace [see school gait above]. |
| 1889 19th Cent. Oct. 741 The parents are to pay *schoolpence. |
| 1941 A. M. Johnson in Amer. Jrnl. Orthopsychiatry Oct. 702 The syndrome, often referred to as ‘*school phobia’, is recognizable by the intense terror associated with being at school. 1959 Times 24 Nov. 13/3 Wherein is school-phobia different from the traditional reluctance which was met by old-fashioned compulsion? 1980 Daily Tel. 19 Nov. 15/5 By that time, the more timid boy had been brought to the verge of school-phobia by it all. |
| 1977 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Oct. 28/7 A psychiatrist..said mothers of *school-phobic children are over-protective. 1981 Lancashire Life Jan. 25/2 We now have a new word for it... The ‘school-phobic’ says Lancashire Education Authority, is clearly intimidated by being required to attend school. |
| 1874 C. M. Yonge Lady Hester ix. 205 Feeling very happy over the best *school report of our boy we had ever had. 1958 J. Cannan And be a Villain iv. 109 As his school reports revealed..he was useless at games. 1975 T. Allbeury Palomino Blonde xi. 71 There were a few school reports showing that Kristina was doing average well. |
| 1882 E. L. Anderson School-training for Horses 75 A distinguished *school-rider, who gave me my first practical lessons in this movement. 1897 Ld. Ribblesdale The Queen's Hounds 264 He was probably not so good a school rider as the Prince Imperial. |
| 1881 E. L. Anderson How to Ride, etc. Introd. 6 *School-riding, in one form or another, is used in all armies, and, indeed, wherever the horse must be under command. |
| 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity v. iii, A *Schoole-rod keepes a child in awe. |
| a 1697 Aubrey Lives (1898) I. 328 At fourteen, he went away [from school] a good *schoole-scholar to Magdalen-hall in Oxford. a 1734 North Life Sir D. North (1744) 2 In the End, he came out a moderate School-scholar. |
| 1835 Indiana Mag. Hist. XXII. 438 This was an action brought by the Trustees of a *school Section for money due on two years rent. 1849 Rep. of Com. of Gen. Land Office (Bartlett 1860), School-section. 1881 Edmonton Bull. 5 Nov. 3/2 As the surveys in Manitoba are made it is found that sections which should be available for school sections are already occupied..by the Syndicate for station grounds and other purposes. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 37 A school section is a section of land..set apart by the Government for the purpose of raising funds for building and maintaining schools. |
| 1841 Southern Lit. Messenger VII. 7/2 The means of creating officers [for the navy]..are to be derived from the *school-ship. 1867 Longfellow in Life (1891) III. 89 We stopped near the school-ship, which was crowded with boys. |
| 1971 C. Storr Thursday viii. 92 ‘Heaps of people do say it [sc. ‘bloody’]. Even on television.’ ‘But not on *schools programmes.’ |
| 1973 Listener 31 May 707/1 Of the 30 channels in the system, three are to be made available..for *schools television. 1974 Schools television [see pip v.3 1 c]. |
| 1895 C. M. Yonge Long Vacation vii. 66 He had heard enough *school stories to be wary of boasting of his title. 1914 ‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life vi. 151 Whereas school stories were formerly written to be read by schoolboys, they are now written to be read..by grown-up persons. 1971 ‘S. Smith’ Grave Affair iv. 52 ‘Some boys from the Fifth. I don't know their names,’ he lied in the best tradition of school stories. |
| 1808 Scott Autobiog. in Lockhart Life (1839) I. 63 My greatest intimate from the days of my *school-tide was Mr. John Irving. |
| 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 191 Such Boys..will be at Liberty out of *School-time. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lvi, The introduction of crackers in school-time. 1890 Lancet 4 Oct. 708/1 Life here is but the school-time of eternity hereafter. |
| 1542 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 36 To finde John Fell meate and drinke, clothing, boks, and *scolewaige to goo to the scole..to he be xxvi yeares of aige. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. iii. IV. 30 He is now about to be taught several things;—and will have to pay his school-wages as he goes. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 669 Moral apothegms (e.g. My Favourite Hero or Procrastination is the Thief of Time) composed during *schoolyears. |
Add:
[I.] [3.] e. U.S. A course of training given by an organization to its staff.
| 1935 E. W. Williams Fire Fighting i. 7 Good energetic men..know that competition for higher positions is keen and that the instruction received in the school will better enable them to hold such positions. 1974 News & Press (Darlington, S. Carolina) 25 Apr. 1/5 Members of the Darlington, Hartsville, Timmonsville and Lamar police departments during an in-service school held last week at Lake Darpo. Also present for the school were members of the Darlington County Sheriff's Department. |
▸
school night n. † (a) a night devoted to school work (
obs. rare);
(b) a night before a morning on which one must get up for school or (
humorously) work.
| 1852 S. Osborn Stray Leaves from Arctic Jrnl. 169 If it was *school night, the voluntary pupils went to their tasks, the masters to their posts. 1931 J. K. Folsom Social Psychol. viii. 376 In the upper three years of high school the chief source [of friction] is the number of times they go out on school nights and the hour they get in at night. 1967 B. Cleary Mitch & Amy (1980) vi. 110 We are the only kids in the whole school who don't get to watch TV on school nights. 2001 K. Izzo & C. Marsh Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum 288 ‘OK, gang, it's a school night and I've got to get to bed’ is not rude. |
▪ II. school, n.2 (
skuːl)
Forms: 5
scoll, 5–7
scole,
scul(le, 6
skoole,
Sc. scuill, 6–7
skul,
skole, 6–9
scull,
skull, 7
skoule,
scoale,
schole, 7–9
scool, 8–9
schull, 9
dial. schule,
scholl, 9–
school.
[a. Du. school troop, multitude, ‘school’ of whales:—MDu. schole, OS. scola troop = OE. scolu:—OTeut. *skulā str. fem., perh. orig. ‘division’, f. *skel-, skal-, skul- to divide: see skill, shell.] 1. A shoal or large number of fish, porpoises, whales, etc. swimming together whilst feeding or migrating. Also
in a school,
in schools or
by schools.
| c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 14205 Thei falle thikkere than heryng fletes In-myddes the se In here scole. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 450/2 Sculle, of a fysshe (scul of fysh, S.), examen. 1486 Bk. St. Albans f vij, A scoll of ffysh. a 1552 Leland Itin. (1769) V. 70 They [bream] appere in May in mightti Sculles, so that sumtime they breke large Nettes. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 317 Thair come in our firth ane scuill of heirinng. c 1585 Janes in Hakluyt's Voy. (1600) III. 102 We saw to the West of those Isles three or foure whales in a skull. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 108 And this skole of fish continued with our ship for the space of fiue or sixe weekes. 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1891) 121 They swymme in great scooles together. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. v. 22 And there they flye or dye, like scaled sculs, Before the belching Whale. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 100 He saw at the mouth of Nilus..a scole of dolphins rushing up the river. 1641 S. Smith Herring Buss Trade 25 According to the conveniency of the Skoles and places of fishing. 1655 Walton Angler x. (1661) 173 Repaire to the River, where you have seen them to swim in skuls or shoales in the Summer time. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 402 Shoales of Fish that..Glide under the green Wave, in Sculles that oft Bank the mid Sea. 1673 H. Stubbe Further Justif. War Netherl. Apol., etc. 127 The latter should not fish within eighty miles of the Coast, least the Scholes of Herrings should be interrupted. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7) I. 380 A great Shoal, or, as they call it, a Scool of Pilchards, came swimming..into the Harbour. 1791 Lincoln in Belknap Hist. New-Hampsh. (1792) III. 456 These fish..take each schull its proper river. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 36 Great skulls o' haddock, cod and ling. 1839 Beale Sperm Whale 20 The groups, herds, or ‘schools’, which are formed by the sperm whale, are of two kinds. 1863 Pennell Angler-naturalist 285 The smolts assemble in sculls of from forty to seventy together. 1884 Leisure Hour Jan. 64/1 A ‘school’ of porpoises gambolling in mid ocean. |
2. transf. † a. A troop, crowd (of persons); a large number, mass (of inanimate things).
Obs. b. A flock, company (of animals).
| 1555 T. Phaer æneid ii. (1558) D ij b, About him ronnes of boyes & girles y⊇ skull [Lat. 238–9 Pueri circum innuptæque puellae Sacra canunt]. Ibid. ix. (1584) O vj, Go fisgigs, frisk your woods in double pype in skipping skooles [Lat. 617 Ite per alta Dindyma, ubi adsuetis biforem dat tibia cantum]. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 83/2 A scull of pictured boies did band, about that lothsome sight. Ibid. 85/1 The youth in skuls flocke and run togither. 1567 Drant Horace, Epist. To Rdr., So greate a scull of amarouse Pamphlets haue so preoccupyed the eyes, and eares of men, that [etc.]. 1592 Lyly Midas iv. iii, Ile warrant hee hath by this started a couey of Bucks, or roused a scull of Phesants. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. iii. (1848) 348 When we dip them [oysters] in Vinegar, we may, for sauce to one bit, devour alive a schole of little Animals. 1858 K. H. Digby Children's Bower II. 13 Sitting on their heels by the margin of a pond to feed what they call the school of ducks that gathers round them. 1861 P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xiii. 194 A school of hippopotami. 1880 Times 24 Nov. 10/3 The Macclesfield tipplers [pigeons], which fly in schools or ‘kits’ for hours against another school. 1894 R. Leighton Wreck Golden Fleece 189 Look at that school of gulls yonder. |
3. attrib.:
school-bass, the
Sciæna ocellata;
school-cod, a cod inhabiting the open sea, opposed to
shore-cod;
school-fish U.S., any fish which usually appears in schools or shoals; also one of a school of fish;
spec. the menhaden. So
school-schnapper,
-shark,
-whale.
| 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 372 The smaller fish of the species [Sciæna ocellata] are called simply ‘Bass’ or ‘*School Bass’. |
| Ibid. 201 Still another class of fish is known..as ‘Deep-water Cod’, ‘Bank Cod’, and ‘*School Cod’. |
| 1876 Goode Fishes of Bermudas 11 The smaller *school-fishes. |
| 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish N.S. Wales 40 The time of the appearance of the ‘*school schnapper’ is the early part of summer. |
| 1852 Mundy Antipodes viii. (1855) 198 The ‘*school-shark’ is dealt with as above. But if the ‘grey-nurse’ or old solitary shark be hooked, the cable is cut [etc.]. |
| 1840 F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. II. 176 A *School Whale, upon being attacked by the boats, rejected from her stomach a bony fish. |
▪ III. school, v.1 (
skuːl)
Forms: see
school n.1 [f. school n.1 Cf. G. schulen.] 1. a. trans. To put or send to school; to educate at school.
| 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. vii. 24 b in Holinshed, Schooled in the vniuersitie of Parise. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 173 Yet hee's gentle, neuer school'd, and yet learned, full of noble deuise. 1846 Eng. Rev. VI. 138 The number actually schooled in the State schools was no less than 2,021,421. 1850 Lynch Theo. Trinal xi. 211 How he was born, cradled, schooled, tailcoated, colleged, and the like. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. i, My father..being a great admirer of learning sent me to be schooled at Tiverton. 1884 G. Allen Philistia II. 13 Eight children to be washed and dressed and schooled daily. |
b. intr. To attend school.
rare.
| 1934 in Webster. 1972 Straits Times 23 Nov. 15/4 ‘It's incredible,’ says the amiable 32-year-old Globe Silk Store proprietor who has schooled in England. |
† 2. To have as a member of one's school or sect.
| c 1570 L. Gibson in Collect. B.L. Ball. & Broadsides (1867) 115 It seemes, by your doynges, that Cressed doth scoole ye,—Penelopeys vertues are cleane out of thought. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 73 This man was first schooled by Valentinus. |
3. a. ‘To teach with superiority, to tutor’ (J.);
† in early use, to ‘lecture’, admonish reprimand.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 10 This is the wai that thes fellonli men have taken to school and coole me, silli soul. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. l. v, Mildly the good, God schooleth in this wise. 1592 in Fowler Hist. C.C.C. (O.H.S.) 160 She [Q. Eliz.] schooled Dr. John Rainolds for his obstinate preciseness. 1606 J. Carpenter Solomon's Solace xxii. 91 He hearkened to..his mother when shee schooled him. c 1610 Heywood & Rowley Fortune by Land & Sea i. i, Nay school us not old man, some of us are too old to learn. 1622 Fletcher Span. Curate i. i, Arsen. Fy upon thee. This is prophane. Mil. Good Doctor, doe not schoole me, For a fault you are not free from. 1624 Visibility of True Ch. 91 He schooleth and lessoneth the Pope plainly. a 1657 R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 272 That's my Landlord's fault, for which I shall school him. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 306 It now remains for you to school your child, And ask why God's anointed he reviled. 1691 ― K. Arthur iii. ii, My former Lord, Grim Osmond, walks the Round: Calls o'er the Names, and Schools the tardy Sprights. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, I school'd him, I chid him severely. 1710 Congreve Poems, Of Pleasing Wks. 1720 II. 426 So Macer and Mundungus school the Times, And write in rugged Prose the Rules of softer Rhymes. 1746 Smollett Rod. Rand. xlv, The doctor..was infinitely surprized to find himself schooled by one of my appearance; and..cried, ‘Upon my word! you are in the right, Sir! 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, ‘I ken a' that as weel as—I mean to say,’ he resumed, checking the irritation he felt at being schooled,—a discipline of the mind, which those most ready to bestow it on others, do themselves most reluctantly submit to receive. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi Introd. 13 Many will prefer to draw their own conclusions from them rather than to be schooled by us. |
† b. To give a lesson to (a person) by punishment; to chastise.
Obs.| a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, iii. ii, I say thou art too presumptuous, and the officers shall schoole thee. 1595 Locrine iii. iii. 25 Then wil we schoole you, ere you and we part hence. [They fight.] 1628 Ford Lovers Melancholy v. i, Take hence the wag, and school him for't. |
4. a. To educate, train (a person, his mind, powers, tastes, etc.); to render wise, skilful, or tractable by training or discipline. Often
transf., said of God, the experiences of life, surrounding influences, etc.
| a 1591 H. Smith Serm. (1594) 385 Now, Salomon, full of wisdome, and schooled with experience, is licensed to giue his sentence of the whole world. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 855 For he was school'd by kinde in all the skill Of close conveyance. 1657 J. Watts Dipper Sprinkled 59 Visited of God with sickness, and so scholed, and enlightned by him therein and thereby. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 169 A teacher of the Gentiles, schooled by Heaven, and whose professor and master was Jesus Christ himself. 1762 Goldsm. Nash 174 A mind neither schooled by philosophy, nor encouraged by conscious innocence. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. i, Having schooled his intellect in the Universities of two nations. 1838 Lytton Leila i. iv, Leila, thou hast been nurtured with tenderness, and schooled with care. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. vii. 229 They were too well schooled in the tricks of reservation. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 114 Among these was Xanthippus,..one who had been well schooled in war by the admirable training which the Spartan discipline still gave. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. xcv. III. 337 But the ambition of American statesmen has been schooled to flow in constitutional channels. |
b. To discipline, bring under control, correct (oneself, one's mind, feelings, thoughts, etc.).
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse, etc. To Gentlew. Citizens (Arb.) 58, I haue seene many of you whiche were wont to sporte your selues at Theaters, when you perceiued the abuse of those places, schoole your selues, and of your owne accorde abhorre Playes. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. ii. 15 My deerest Cooz, I pray you schoole your selfe. 1657 Trapp Comm. Ps. xlii. 6 Though before he had schooled himself out of his distempers. 1813 Scott Rokeby iv. xiv, Now must Matilda stray apart, To school her disobedient heart. 1837 Disraeli Venetia v. v, She had too long and too fondly schooled herself to look upon the outraged wife as the only victim. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xxi. 326 After the first half hour I so far schooled myself to this new exercise [riding a dromedary] that [etc.]. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. x, Clara schooled herself into a resolution to bear it with good humour. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. vi. xlviii, No wonder that Deronda now marked some hardening in a look and manner which were schooled daily to the suppression of feeling. |
c. With
advs. to school away: to remove by instruction or discipline (
rare).
to school down: to subdue by training.
| 1833 Chalmers Const. Man i. v. (1834) I. 194 It may at least school away those prepossessions of the fancy or of the taste that would lead us to resist or to dislike such evidence when offered. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (ed. 3) II. ii. 63 Lord Raglan..was so schooled down by long years of flat office labour that it shocked him to see a man bearing no uniform, yet warlike, and armed to the teeth. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lii. 90 At home she had schooled herself down into quiescence. |
d. pass. To be educated
in (certain beliefs, sentiments, habits). Also
const. inf.| 1841 Miall in Nonconf. I. 529 We..have been so schooled in modern ecclesiastical phraseology that we cease to regard it as singular. 1862 Lytton Str. Story 10 Their seniors are cramped by the dogmas they were schooled to believe when the world was some decades the younger. |
5. To instruct or inform (a person) how to act; to teach (a person) his part.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 227 So schooled the Gate [goat] her wanton sonne, That answerd his mother, all should be done. 1587 Hooker Ir. Hist. 79/1 in Holinshed, Wherefore it was blazed in Ireland, that the king [Hen. VII]..had schooled a boie to take vpon him the earle of Warwikes name. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iv. 9 But sir here comes your boy, Twere good he were school'd. 1874 H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. vii. 440 Herodias schooled Salome in the part she was to play. 1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect II. 271 Schooled by my guide, it was not difficult to realise the scene [etc.]. |
6. a. To train or exercise (a horse) in movements.
| 1869 ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O.V.H. xix, The way you had schooled him [a horse]. 1890 Daily News 23 Dec. 2/4 Some well-known horses on the flat are being schooled for hurdle jumping. 1881 E. L. Anderson How to Ride, etc. 60 Part 11, How to School a Horse. The Early Education of the Horse. |
b. intr. To ride straight across country.
| 1885 Field 4 Apr. 428/2 We schooled back to the Poor⁓house Gorse, and a couple of fences of the order intricate had to be jumped, under the penalty of a long round. 1892 Ibid. 9 Apr. 512/2 Let me draw a discreet veil over sundry acts of renaging and recusancy on the part of good hunters and good riders, for in every country it will be found that some few celebrities of the hunting field have a rooted antipathy to ‘schooling’. |
7. trans. To rear (a plant) in a nursery.
| 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 122 The young osiers..should be taken from a nursery in which they have been ‘schooled’ for one year. |
8. intr. To gamble in a ‘school’ (
cf. school n.1 6 a).
slang.| 1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down i. ii. 17 Some colliers..that made up the gambling school in ordinary times—squatted upon their hunkers against the wall. They were not schoolin' now, they had no coppers for schoolin'. |
▪ IV. school, v.2 (
skuːl)
Forms: see
school n.2 [f. school n.2] intr. To collect or swim together in ‘schools’ or shoals (of fish).
to school up: to collect or crowd close together at or near the surface of the water, said of fishes.
| 1597 Breton Wits Trenchmour (Grosart) 10/1 The Herings seldom scull, but on a thick misty morning. 1606 S. Gardiner Bk. Angling 45 Fishes of each kind skull togeather. 1725 Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 264 Let the Wind blow which Way it will, that Way they [sc. dead whales] will scull a Head, tho' right in the Eye of the Wind. 1873– [see schooling ppl. a.2 and vbl. n.2]. 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 375 Yellow-tails..do not school, but swim singly or in pairs. 1891 Century Dict. s.v., Menhaden do not school up until the beginning of the summer. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. viii. 154 The caplin schooled once more at twilight. |