What does "college" mean?
College: A society of scholars or friends of learning, incorporated for study or instruction, esp. in the higher branches of knowledge; as, the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and many American colleges. Note: In France and some other parts of continental Europe, college is used to include schools occupied with rudimentary studies, and receiving children as pupils.
Additional senses
- 2.A building, or number of buildings, used by a college. "The gate of Trinity College." Macaulay.
- 3.Fig.: A community. [R.] Thick as the college of the bees in May. Dryden. College of justice, a term applied in Scotland to the supreme civil courts and their principal officers. -- The sacred college, the college or cardinals at Rome.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/answers/what-does-college-mean
- Steward: Jason Burns
- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00