1 [skool]
an institution for instruction in a particular skill or field.
a college or university.
a regular course of meetings of a teacher or teachers and students for instruction; program of instruction: summer school.
the activity or process of learning under instruction, especially at a school for the young: As a child, I never liked school.
a building housing a school.
any group of persons having common attitudes or beliefs.
Military, Navy. parts of close-order drill applying to the individual (school of the soldier) the squad (school of the squad) or the like.
Australian and New Zealand Informal. a group of people gathered together, especially for gambling or drinking.
schools, Archaic. the faculties of a university.
Obsolete. the schoolmen in a medieval university.
of or connected with a school or schools.
Obsolete. of the schoolmen.
verb (used with object)
to educate in or as if in a school; teach; train.
Archaic. to reprimand.

before 900; Middle English scole (noun), Old English scōl < Latin schola < Greek scholḗ leisure employed in learning

schoolable, adjective
schoolless, adjective
schoollike, adjective Unabridged
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World English Dictionary
school1 (skuːl)
1.  a.  an institution or building at which children and young people usually under 19 receive education
 b.  (as modifier): school bus; school day
 c.  (in combination): schoolroom; schoolwork
2.  any educational institution or building
3.  a faculty, institution, or department specializing in a particular subject: a law school
4.  the staff and pupils of a school
5.  the period of instruction in a school or one session of this: he stayed after school to do extra work
6.  meetings held occasionally for members of a profession, etc
7.  a place or sphere of activity that instructs: the school of hard knocks
8.  a body of people or pupils adhering to a certain set of principles, doctrines, or methods
9.  a group of artists, writers, etc, linked by the same style, teachers, or aims: the Venetian school of painting
10.  a style of life: a gentleman of the old school
11.  informal a group assembled for a common purpose, esp gambling or drinking
12.  to train or educate in or as in a school
13.  to discipline or control
14.  an archaic word for reprimand
[Old English scōl, from Latin schola school, from Greek skholē leisure spent in the pursuit of knowledge]

school2 (skuːl)
1.  a group of porpoises or similar aquatic animals that swim together
2.  (intr) to form such a group
[Old English scolushoal²]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Word Origin & History

"place of instruction," O.E. scol, from L. schola, from Gk. skhole "school, lecture, discussion," also "leisure, spare time," originally "a holding back, a keeping clear," from skhein "to get" + -ole by analogy with bole "a throw," stole "outfit," etc. The original notion is "leisure," which passed
to "otiose discussion," then "place for such." The PIE base is *segh- "to hold, hold in one's power, to have" (see scheme). The L. word was widely borrowed, cf. O.Fr. escole, Fr. école, Sp. escuela, It. scuola, O.H.G. scuola, Ger. Schule, Swed. skola, Gael. sgiol, Welsh ysgol, Rus. shkola. Replaced O.E. larhus "lore house." Meaning "students attending a school" is attested from c.1300; sense of "school building" is first recorded c.1590. Sense of "people united by a general similarity of principles and methods" is from 1612; hence school of thought (1864). The verb is attested from 1573. School of hard knocks "rough experience in life" is recorded from 1912 (in George Ade); to tell tales out of school "betray damaging secrets" is from 1546. Schoolmarm is attested from 1831, U.S. colloquial; used figuratively for "patronizingly and priggishly instructing" from 1887.

"group of fish," c.1400, from M.Du. schole "group of fish or other animals," cognate with O.E. scolu "band, troop, school of fish," from W.Gmc. *skulo- (see shoal (2)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

school (so) definition

  1. tv.
    to teach someone something, usually as a demonstration of power. (As in I'll teach you a thing or two which suggests violence.) : Am I gonna have to school you in how to act?
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw-Hill Education.
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