(skl) noun
1. An educational institution.
2. The place in which formal instruction is given; also, the instruction itself.
3. A period or session of an educational institution; a course of study at a school: School begins tomorrow.
4. The pupils in an educational institution.
5. A subdivision of a university devoted to a special branch of higher education: a school of education, medicine, etc.
6. The prescribed drill, duties, instruction, and training of any branch of the army or navy: gunnery school, aviation school; also, the manual of such instruction.
7. A body of disciples of a teacher or system; a sect, etc.; also, the system, methods, or opinions characteristic of those thus associated: the Scottish school of philosophy, a painting of the Flemish school.
8. A general style of life, manners, etc.
9. In medieval times, specifically, a seminary of logic, metaphysics, and theology; in the plural, the seats of the scholastic philosophy.
10. Any sphere or means of instruction: the school of example.
—v.t.
1. To instruct in a school; train; educate.
2. To subject to rule or discipline. [OE scōl <L schola <Gk. scholē leisure or that which is done during leisure time, a school]
—common school
One of the free public elementary schools in the United States.
—consolidated school
A school, usually rural, consisting of several elementary schools and sometimes a high school, merged into one organization, for pupils from outlying districts.
—continuation school
Comprehensively, a school for the further education of persons already employed; specifically, a school for employed boys and girls below the legal age for leaving school, attended a few hours a week on the employers' time.
—dame school
An early form of school kept by a woman who drilled young children in their ABC's and the beginnings of reading.
—elementary school
A school giving a course of education of from six to nine years, pupils usually entering at about six years of age.
—finishing school
A school that prepares girls for entrance into society.
—grammar school
1. In graded public schools, the grades between primary and high school, grades one to eight inclusive.
2. Popularly, an elementary school.
3. Brit. A secondary school, often preparatory for college; originally for the teaching of Latin and Greek, but now offering broader curriculums.
—high school
The highest division of the common schools, typically comprising grades 9, 10, 11, and 12: often preparatory for college or the vocations.
—junior high school A school usually consisting of the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades, but sometimes of only 7th and 8th or 8th and 9th grades: also intermediate school.
—senior high school A corresponding division of the public schools, consisting usually of grades 10, 11, and 12.
—industrial school
1. An institute for the practical development of manual and industrial skills.
2. A school for the care and training of neglected children.
—parochial school
A school, usually elementary, supported by the parish of a church, especially by a Roman Catholic church.
—primary school
A school for the teaching of the youngest pupils; the first grades of common schools beyond kindergarten.
—private school
A school maintained under private or corporate management, usually for profit: in the United States, contradistinguished from public school.
—public school
1. A school maintained by public funds for the free education of the children of the community, usually covering elementary and secondary grades.
2. In England, a private or endowed school not run for profit; specifically, the exclusive endowed schools preparing students for the universities, as Eton, Harrow, etc.: so called because it serves the country at large, and not merely one community.
—secondary school
A high school or preparatory school intermediate between the grammar school and college.
—trade school
A vocational school designed to give a knowledge of processes and a skill of hand adequate for work in a specific trade.
—vocational school
In general, a school training in the practical application of knowledge to business, the professions, or the technical arts and crafts.

(skl) noun
A large number of fish, whales, etc., swimming together; shoal.
—v.i. To swim together in a school. [<Du., a crowd, school of fishes. Akin to SHOAL².]