public school

1. An elementary or secondary school in the United States supported by public funds and providing free education for children of a community or district.

2. A private boarding school in Great Britain for pupils between the ages of 13 and 18.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

public school

1. (Education) (in England and Wales) a private independent fee-paying secondary school

2. (Education) (in the US) any school that is part of a free local educational system

3. (Education) in certain Canadian provinces, a public elementary school as distinguished from a separate school

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pub′lic school`

1. (in the U.S.) a school, usu. for primary or secondary grades, that is maintained at public expense.

2. (in England) any of a number of endowed secondary boarding schools that prepare students chiefly for the universities or for public service.

[1570–80]

public school

In England and Wales, a public school is a private school that provides secondary education which parents have to pay special fees for.

He then won a scholarship to a local public school.

In Scotland and the United States, a public school is a school that is supported financially by the government. In England and Wales, this kind of school is called a state school.

...a government-operated public school.

Our state schools are doing nothing to address that problem.

Oxford still enrols the lowest percentage of state-school pupils of all UK universities.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

public school

In the United States, any local primary or secondary school that is open to all; in the United Kingdom, a private, fee-paying, secondary school.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	public school - a tuition free school in the United States supported by taxes and controlled by a school board school - an educational institution; "the school was founded in 1900" charter school - an experimental public school for kindergarten through grade 12; created and organized by teachers and parents and community leaders; operates independently of other schools
	2.	public school - private independent secondary school in Great Britain supported by endowment and tuition Gymnasium, lycee, lyceum, middle school, secondary school - a school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12 Eton College - a public school for boys founded in 1440; located in Berkshire Winchester College - the oldest English public school; located in Winchester Britain, Great Britain, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; `Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom

Translations

مَدْرَسَةٌ خَاصَّة

soukromé gymnázium

privat kostskole

Privatschule

ιδιωτικό σχολείο

colegio público

kouluperuskoulusisäoppilaitosyksityiskouluyleinen

école privée

privatna škola

scuola privata scuola statale

パブリックスクール

사립 중고교

particuliere kostschool

offentlig skole

szkoła prywatna

escola particular escola pública

privatskola

โรงเรียนเอกชน

devlet koleji

trường công

私立学校

public school

n (Brit) → scuola superiore privata (Am) → scuola statale

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

public school

→ مَدْرَسَةٌ خَاصَّة soukromé gymnázium privat kostskole Privatschule ιδιωτικό σχολείο colegio público sisäoppilaitos école privée privatna škola scuola privata パブリックスクール 사립 중고교 particuliere kostschool offentlig skole szkoła prywatna escola particular, escola pública частная независимая платная средняя школа privatskola โรงเรียนเอกชน devlet koleji trường công 私立学校

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The young gentleman, moreover, soon perceived how extremely grateful all those panegyrics on his instructors were to Mr Allworthy himself, as they so loudly resounded the praise of that singular plan of education which he had laid down; for this worthy man having observed the imperfect institution of our public schools, and the many vices which boys were there liable to learn, had resolved to educate his nephew, as well as the other lad, whom he had in a manner adopted, in his own house; where he thought their morals would escape all that danger of being corrupted to which they would be unavoidably exposed in any public school or university.

View in context

Tom imbibed a fair amount of Latin and Greek at the school, but somehow, on the whole, it didn't suit him, or he it, and in the holidays he was constantly working the Squire to send him at once to a public school. Great was his joy then, when in the middle of his third half-year, in October 183-, a fever broke out in the village, and the master having himself slightly sickened of it, the whole of the boys were sent off at a day's notice to their respective homes.

View in context

You're the very first I've not had to argue with as to what is and what is not a public school. Expelled?"

View in context

Palmer, the teacher of the public school, all men of consequence and repute.

View in context

Why they WERE different, Robert exclaimed to her himself in the course of a quarter of an hour's conversation; for, talking of his brother, and lamenting the extreme GAUCHERIE which he really believed kept him from mixing in proper society, he candidly and generously attributed it much less to any natural deficiency, than to the misfortune of a private education; while he himself, though probably without any particular, any material superiority by nature, merely from the advantage of a public school, was as well fitted to mix in the world as any other man.

View in context

Cuff, and down came the wicket again on the child's hand.--Don't be horrified, ladies, every boy at a public school has done it.

View in context

Willie, the eighteen-year-old son, who attends the New York public school, is absorbed in the weekly article describing how to make over an old skirt, for he hopes to take a prize in sewing on graduation day.

View in context

To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze; but as those who read between the lines must already have guessed, he had been at a famous public school; and its traditions still clung to him like garments, with which indeed they are largely concerned.

View in context

The children of the traitors were persecuted by the children of the workers who had been betrayed, until it was impossible for the former to play on the streets or to attend the public schools. Also, the wives and families of the traitors were ostracized, while the corner groceryman who sold provisions to them was boycotted.

View in context

If my father had consulted his means, I should have been sent to a cheap commercial academy; but he had to consult his relationship to Lady Malkinshaw; so I was sent to one of the most fashionable and famous of the great public schools. I will not mention it by name, because I don't think the masters would be proud of my connection with it.

View in context

He was their show-boy, and they remembered now bitterly their fear that he would try to get some scholarship at one of the larger public schools and so pass out of their hands.

View in context

We spend four times as much on our public schools, and we put four times as much in the savings bank.

View in context