dame school

noun

A school for children, run by a woman.

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Meanings

noundame school (plural dame schools)

plural dame schools · alternative dame's school

  1. historicalA school for children, run by a woman.

    Young Williams knew nothing more at the age of 18 than what a twopenny Dame's School in the village could teach him.

    1793, Jane Austen, ‘The Generous Curate’, Juvenilia
    1 more example

    He […] was dispatched to a dame school and then to the local grammar school where he first encountered the sacred mysteries of Greek and Latin.

    2016, Peter Ackroyd, Revolution, Pan Macmillan, page 189
Cite this entry
APA

dame school. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dame%20school

MLA

“dame school.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dame%20school. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dame school,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dame%20school.

Source: dame school on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.