schools

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of school.

   The district's schools share a single sports facility.

   Coastal fishermen watch for schools of mackerel breaking the surface.

   Note

   A regular -s plural, and it appears only where school is countable. The uncountable use, as in going to school, has no plural at all. What schools takes in depends on the variety of English. In American and Canadian use it can cover any institution of learning, while British use keeps it to the years before college or university. It also counts departments, art movements and schools of thought.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular present of school.

   The trainer schools young horses to accept a saddle.

   He schools his apprentices in the older techniques of the trade.

   Note

   The -s form that agrees with he, she or it, and it nearly always takes a direct object. A trainer schools a horse, a victor schools a rival by beating him soundly, and someone anxious schools her face into calm. The exception is the intransitive use. A shoal of fish schools, forming or traveling together, and in that case there is no object at all.

   She schools her expression before answering the question.

   The herring schools near the surface at dawn.

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