schoolmaster

American  

[skool-mas-ter, -mah-ster] / ˈskulˌmæs tər, -ˌmɑ stər /

noun

1. a man who presides over or teaches in a school.

2. anything that teaches or directs.

   Life can be a harsh schoolmaster.

3. a snapper, Lutjanus apodus, a food fish found in Florida, the West Indies, etc.

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verb (used with or without object)

1. to teach or direct in the capacity of schoolmaster.

schoolmaster British  

/ ˈskuːlˌmɑːstə /

noun

1. a man who teaches in or runs a school

2. a person or thing that acts as an instructor

3. a food fish, Lutjanus apodus, of the warm waters of the Caribbean and Atlantic: family Lutjanidae (snappers)

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verb

1. to be a schoolmaster

Other Word Forms

• schoolmastering noun
• schoolmasterish adjective
• schoolmasterly adjective
• schoolmastership noun

Etymology

Origin of schoolmaster

First recorded in 1175–1225, schoolmaster is from the Middle English word scolemaister. See school ¹, master

Example Sentences

The Post likened him to Ichabod Crane, the fictional schoolmaster in the Washington Irving short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

From The Wall Street Journal

He’s presenting as one of those British schoolmaster guys, he’s playing up to that type.

From Los Angeles Times

He frisked him to make sure he was unarmed and, like a schoolmaster taking a disobedient student by the collar, marched him away from the barn.

From Literature

Her mother was born the daughter of a Methodist schoolmaster but was orphaned and taken in by a Muslim man who prayed five times a day.

From New York Times

He conceived the “The Wall,” a narrative rock opera released in 1979, that would foreground his anti-authority reflexes, from schoolmasters to heads of state; he has performed it against the backdrop of the Berlin Wall.

From New York Times