# school

Pronunciation: say "SKOOL" /skuːl/

## Noun

1. An institution where children and young people receive primary or secondary education; in the US and Canada, also any place of education, including a college or university.
   - Simple: A place where children go to learn. In the US and Canada, it can also mean a college or university.
   - _Our daughter walks to school with her friends every morning._
   - _Most British schools require pupils to wear a uniform._
2. The hours during which classes are held at a school or other place of education.
   - Simple: The time when classes are happening and students are learning.
   - _School lets out at three in the afternoon._
   - _He overslept and missed the first hour of school._
3. An establishment offering instruction in a specialized skill, such as driving, cooking, or coding.
   - Simple: A place that teaches one special skill, like driving or cooking.
   - _The coding school promises job placement after graduation._
   - _He enrolled in a flight school to earn his pilot's license._
4. A division within a larger institution, such as a department or institute, devoted to one subject area.
   - Simple: A part of a university that teaches one subject, like law or medicine.
   - _He was admitted to the school of law this fall._
   - _The university merged two schools into a single faculty._
5. A group of thinkers, writers, or artists who share the same ideas, methods, or style, or the tradition they form.
   - Simple: A group of thinkers or artists who share the same ideas or the same style.
   - _The behaviorist school dominated psychology for decades._
   - _Two rival schools of interpretation argued for centuries over the ancient text._
7. A group of fish, or of marine mammals such as dolphins or whales, moving together.
   - Simple: A large group of fish or sea animals swimming together.
   - _A school of herring darted away from the circling shark._
   - _Fishermen spotted several schools moving along the coast._
8. All the pupils and teachers of an educational institution, considered together as a single group.
   - Simple: All the students and teachers at a place of learning, thought of as one group.
   - _The entire school gathered in the gym for a moment of silence._
   - _News of the coach's retirement spread through the school by lunchtime._
11. A great number of people or things gathered together; a multitude.
   - Simple: A very large number of people or things.
12. The body of accepted opinion, rules, or practice approved by the authority of a particular class or period.
   - Simple: The accepted rules and opinions that an age or group treats as correct.
   - _She was a teacher of the old school, strict but always fair._
   - _Her taste in furniture is very much of the old school: dark wood, lace, and nothing plastic._

## Verb

6. To educate, teach, or train someone, whether or not in a formal institution.
   - Simple: To teach or train someone in a skill or subject.
   - _Her grandmother schooled her in the old family recipes over many summers._
   - _Experienced mentors school new recruits in the basics of the trade._
9. To defeat someone decisively, teaching them a harsh lesson. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To beat someone badly in a game or contest.
   - _The champion schooled his challenger in three quick rounds._
   - _Veteran players school rookies who underestimate them._
10. To gather into or move together as a group, as fish or marine mammals do.
   - Simple: To swim together in a large group, as fish do.
   - _Herring school in vast numbers off the coast each spring._
   - _The young tuna began schooling shortly after dawn._
13. To control or compose one's facial expression, voice, or feelings.
   - Simple: To control your face, voice or feelings so that others cannot see what you feel.
   - _He schooled his features into a polite smile._
   - _Diplomats learn to school their expressions during tense talks._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Any one teaching period in the Eton College timetable.
- (noun) At English universities, the hall or room in which degree and honors examinations are taken.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6, 8–9, 12–13** — 'School' comes from Middle English scole and Old English scōl, 'a place of education', which goes back through Proto-West Germanic to Late Latin schola ('lecture, learned discussion, school') and ultimately to Ancient Greek skholḗ ('spare time, leisure'), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to hold, have, possess'. It is related to Dutch school and German Schule, and some of its senses were influenced by a Middle English word meaning 'group of persons'.
**Meanings 7, 10–11** — In the sense of a group of fish, 'school' comes from Middle English scole ('multitude, host, school of fish'), from Middle Dutch scole ('troop of people, swarm of animals'), tracing back through Old Dutch and Proto-West Germanic *skulu ('troop, group') to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'crowd, people'. It is a doublet of 'shoal'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/school (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).