school¹ / skoōl/ • n. 1. an institution for educating children. ∎  the buildings used by such an institution: the cost of building a new school. ∎  [treated as pl.] the students and staff of a school: the principal was addressing the whole school. ∎  a day's work at school; lessons: school started at 7 a.m. ∎  fig. used to describe the type of circumstances in which someone was brought up: I was brought up in a hard school and I don't forget it.2. any institution at which instruction is given in a particular discipline: a dancing school. ∎ inf. another term for university. ∎  a department or faculty of a college concerned with a particular subject of study: the School of Dental Medicine.3. a group of people, particularly writers, artists, or philosophers, sharing the same or similar ideas, methods, or style: the Frankfurt school of critical theory. ∎  a style, approach, or method of a specified character: filmmakers are tired of the skin-deep school of cinema.• v. [tr.] chiefly formal send to school; educate: a scientist born in Taiwan and schooled in California. ∎  train or discipline (someone) in a particular skill or activity: he schooled her in horsemanship.PHRASES: leave school discontinue one's education: he left school at 16.school of thought a particular way of thinking, typically one disputed by the speaker: a school of thought that calls into question the constitutional foundations of this country.school² • n. a large group of fish or sea mammals.• v. [intr.] (of fish or sea mammals) form a large group.