Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

School \School\, n. [OE. scole, AS. sc?lu, L. schola, Gr. ?
   leisure, that in which leisure is employed, disputation,
   lecture, a school, probably from the same root as ?, the
   original sense being perhaps, a stopping, a resting. See
   {Scheme}.]
   1. A place for learned intercourse and instruction; an
      institution for learning; an educational establishment; a
      place for acquiring knowledge and mental training; as, the
      school of the prophets.

            Disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
                                                  --Acts xix. 9.

   2. A place of primary instruction; an establishment for the
      instruction of children; as, a primary school; a common
      school; a grammar school.

            As he sat in the school at his primer. --Chaucer.

   3. A session of an institution of instruction.

            How now, Sir Hugh! No school to-day?  --Shak.

   4. One of the seminaries for teaching logic, metaphysics, and
      theology, which were formed in the Middle Ages, and which
      were characterized by academical disputations and
      subtilties of reasoning.

            At Cambridge the philosophy of Descartes was still
            dominant in the schools.              --Macaulay.

   5. The room or hall in English universities where the
      examinations for degrees and honors are held.

   6. An assemblage of scholars; those who attend upon
      instruction in a school of any kind; a body of pupils.

            What is the great community of Christians, but one
            of the innumerable schools in the vast plan which
            God has instituted for the education of various
            intelligences?                        --Buckminster.

   7. The disciples or followers of a teacher; those who hold a
      common doctrine, or accept the same teachings; a sect or
      denomination in philosophy, theology, science, medicine,
      politics, etc.

            Let no man be less confident in his faith . . . by
            reason of any difference in the several schools of
            Christians.                           --Jer. Taylor.

   8. The canons, precepts, or body of opinion or practice,
      sanctioned by the authority of a particular class or age;
      as, he was a gentleman of the old school.

            His face pale but striking, though not handsome
            after the schools.                    --A. S. Hardy.

   9. Figuratively, any means of knowledge or discipline; as,
      the school of experience.

   {Boarding school}, {Common school}, {District school},
   {Normal school}, etc. See under {Boarding}, {Common},
      {District}, etc.

   {High school}, a free public school nearest the rank of a
      college. [U. S.]

   {School board}, a corporation established by law in every
      borough or parish in England, and elected by the burgesses
      or ratepayers, with the duty of providing public school
      accommodation for all children in their district.

   {School committee}, {School board}, an elected committee of
      citizens having charge and care of the public schools in
      any district, town, or city, and responsible for control
      of the money appropriated for school purposes. [U. S.]

Common \Com"mon\, a. [Compar. {Commoner}; superl. {Commonest}.]
   [OE. commun, comon, OF. comun, F. commun, fr. L. communis;
   com- + munis ready to be of service; cf. Skr. mi to make
   fast, set up, build, Goth. gamains common, G. gemein, and E.
   mean low, common. Cf. {Immunity}, {Commune}, n. & v.]
   1. Belonging or relating equally, or similarly, to more than
      one; as, you and I have a common interest in the property.

            Though life and sense be common to men and brutes.
                                                  --Sir M. Hale.

   2. Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the
      members of a class, considered together; general; public;
      as, properties common to all plants; the common schools;
      the Book of Common Prayer.

            Such actions as the common good requireth. --Hooker.

            The common enemy of man.              --Shak.

   3. Often met with; usual; frequent; customary.

            Grief more than common grief.         --Shak.

   4. Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary;
      plebeian; -- often in a depreciatory sense.

            The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life.
                                                  --W. Irving.

            This fact was infamous And ill beseeming any common
            man, Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
                                                  --Shak.

            Above the vulgar flight of common souls. --A.
                                                  Murphy.

   5. Profane; polluted. [Obs.]

            What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
                                                  --Acts x. 15.

   6. Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute.

            A dame who herself was common.        --L'Estrange.

   {Common bar} (Law) Same as {Blank bar}, under {Blank}.

   {Common barrator} (Law), one who makes a business of
      instigating litigation.

   {Common Bench}, a name sometimes given to the English Court
      of Common Pleas.

   {Common brawler} (Law), one addicted to public brawling and
      quarreling. See {Brawler}.

   {Common carrier} (Law), one who undertakes the office of
      carrying (goods or persons) for hire. Such a carrier is
      bound to carry in all cases when he has accommodation, and
      when his fixed price is tendered, and he is liable for all
      losses and injuries to the goods, except those which
      happen in consequence of the act of God, or of the enemies
      of the country, or of the owner of the property himself.
      

   {Common chord} (Mus.), a chord consisting of the fundamental
      tone, with its third and fifth.

   {Common council}, the representative (legislative) body, or
      the lower branch of the representative body, of a city or
      other municipal corporation.

   {Common crier}, the crier of a town or city.

   {Common divisor} (Math.), a number or quantity that divides
      two or more numbers or quantities without a remainder; a
      common measure.

   {Common gender} (Gram.), the gender comprising words that may
      be of either the masculine or the feminine gender.

   {Common law}, a system of jurisprudence developing under the
      guidance of the courts so as to apply a consistent and
      reasonable rule to each litigated case. It may be
      superseded by statute, but unless superseded it controls.
      --Wharton.

   Note: It is by others defined as the unwritten law
         (especially of England), the law that receives its
         binding force from immemorial usage and universal
         reception, as ascertained and expressed in the
         judgments of the courts. This term is often used in
         contradistinction from {statute law}. Many use it to
         designate a law common to the whole country. It is also
         used to designate the whole body of English (or other)
         law, as distinguished from its subdivisions, local,
         civil, admiralty, equity, etc. See {Law}.

   {Common lawyer}, one versed in common law.

   {Common lewdness} (Law), the habitual performance of lewd
      acts in public.

   {Common multiple} (Arith.) See under {Multiple}.

   {Common noun} (Gram.), the name of any one of a class of
      objects, as distinguished from a proper noun (the name of
      a particular person or thing).

   {Common nuisance} (Law), that which is deleterious to the
      health or comfort or sense of decency of the community at
      large.

   {Common pleas}, one of the three superior courts of common
      law at Westminster, presided over by a chief justice and
      four puisne judges. Its jurisdiction is confined to civil
      matters. Courts bearing this title exist in several of the
      United States, having, however, in some cases, both civil
      and criminal jurisdiction extending over the whole State.
      In other States the jurisdiction of the common pleas is
      limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a {county
      court}. Its powers are generally defined by statute.

   {Common prayer}, the liturgy of the Church of England, or of
      the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States,
      which all its clergy are enjoined to use. It is contained
      in the Book of Common Prayer.

   {Common school}, a school maintained at the public expense,
      and open to all.

   {Common scold} (Law), a woman addicted to scolding
      indiscriminately, in public.

   {Common seal}, a seal adopted and used by a corporation.

   {Common sense}.
      (a) A supposed sense which was held to be the common bond
          of all the others. [Obs.] --Trench.
      (b) Sound judgment. See under {Sense}.

   {Common time} (Mus.), that variety of time in which the
      measure consists of two or of four equal portions.

   {In common}, equally with another, or with others; owned,
      shared, or used, in community with others; affecting or
      affected equally.

   {Out of the common}, uncommon; extraordinary.

   {Tenant in common}, one holding real or personal property in
      common with others, having distinct but undivided
      interests. See {Joint tenant}, under {Joint}.

   {To make common cause with}, to join or ally one's self with.

   Syn: General; public; popular; national; universal; frequent;
        ordinary; customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar;
        mean; trite; stale; threadbare; commonplace. See
        {Mutual}, {Ordinary}, {General}.