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charity school

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noun U.S. History.
  1. an elementary school, usually funded by charitable persons or organizations, for those unable to pay: a forerunner of the public-school system.
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Origin of charity school

First recorded in 1675–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for charity school

Historical Examples

  • It is now a charity-school, a lighthouse, and a life-saving station.

    England, Picturesque and Descriptive

    Joel Cook

  • You are not well at all: youre as pale and peaked as a charity-school girl!

    Dust

    Julian Hawthorne

  • No one could expect much from a charity-school in the fifteenth century.

  • Eton, at its foundation, was a charity-school for seventy boys.

  • Then, on the other side of my bed, I saw an open cloister, and presently I saw that it was lined with charity-school children.