dame-school

[ deym-skool ]

noun(formerly)

a school in which the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught to neighborhood children by a woman in her own home.

Origin of dame-school

First recorded in 1810–20

Words Nearby dame-school

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dame-school in a sentence

British soldiers in gay uniforms were seen about the roads, and Mistress Kent's dame school did not open as usual.
Maid Sally | Harriet A. Cheever
Our picture shows us a corner of a dame school where a naughty child is in a fit of temper.
Landseer | Estelle M. Hurll
It was like nothing so much as a dame school, even to the various tutors and governesses ordered her by the Czarina.
The Great Events by Famous Historians, v. 13 | Various
The dame-school, which was about a mile from the village, was a long, low house with a thatched roof.
Young Folks Treasury, Volume 3 (of 12) | Various
The mistress of a dame-school can hear spelling-lessons; and any hedge-schoolmaster can drill boys in the multiplication-table.
Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects | Herbert Spencer

British Dictionary definitions for dame school

dame school

noun

(formerly) a small school, often in a village, usually run by an elderly woman in her own home to teach young children to read and write

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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