normal school

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
normal school
    n 1: a two-year school for training elementary teachers [syn:
         {normal school}, {teachers college}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
School \School\, n. [OE. scole, AS. sc?lu, L. schola, Gr. ?
   leisure, that in which leisure is employed, disputation,
   lecture, a school, probably from the same root as ?, the
   original sense being perhaps, a stopping, a resting. See
   {Scheme}.]
   1. A place for learned intercourse and instruction; an
      institution for learning; an educational establishment; a
      place for acquiring knowledge and mental training; as, the
      school of the prophets.
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            Disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
                                                  --Acts xix. 9.
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   2. A place of primary instruction; an establishment for the
      instruction of children; as, a primary school; a common
      school; a grammar school.
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            As he sat in the school at his primer. --Chaucer.
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   3. A session of an institution of instruction.
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            How now, Sir Hugh! No school to-day?  --Shak.
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   4. One of the seminaries for teaching logic, metaphysics, and
      theology, which were formed in the Middle Ages, and which
      were characterized by academical disputations and
      subtilties of reasoning.
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            At Cambridge the philosophy of Descartes was still
            dominant in the schools.              --Macaulay.
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   5. The room or hall in English universities where the
      examinations for degrees and honors are held.
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   6. An assemblage of scholars; those who attend upon
      instruction in a school of any kind; a body of pupils.
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            What is the great community of Christians, but one
            of the innumerable schools in the vast plan which
            God has instituted for the education of various
            intelligences?                        --Buckminster.
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   7. The disciples or followers of a teacher; those who hold a
      common doctrine, or accept the same teachings; a sect or
      denomination in philosophy, theology, science, medicine,
      politics, etc.
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            Let no man be less confident in his faith . . . by
            reason of any difference in the several schools of
            Christians.                           --Jer. Taylor.
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   8. The canons, precepts, or body of opinion or practice,
      sanctioned by the authority of a particular class or age;
      as, he was a gentleman of the old school.
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            His face pale but striking, though not handsome
            after the schools.                    --A. S. Hardy.
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   9. Figuratively, any means of knowledge or discipline; as,
      the school of experience.
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   {Boarding school}, {Common school}, {District school},
   {Normal school}, etc. See under {Boarding}, {Common},
      {District}, etc.

   {High school}, a free public school nearest the rank of a
      college. [U. S.]

   {School board}, a corporation established by law in every
      borough or parish in England, and elected by the burgesses
      or ratepayers, with the duty of providing public school
      accommodation for all children in their district.

   {School committee}, {School board}, an elected committee of
      citizens having charge and care of the public schools in
      any district, town, or city, and responsible for control
      of the money appropriated for school purposes. [U. S.]

   {School days}, the period in which youth are sent to school.
      

   {School district}, a division of a town or city for
      establishing and conducting schools. [U.S.]

   {Sunday school}, or {Sabbath school}, a school held on Sunday
      for study of the Bible and for religious instruction; the
      pupils, or the teachers and pupils, of such a school,
      collectively.
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from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Normal \Nor"mal\ (n[^o]r"mal), a. [L. normalis, fr. norma rule,
   pattern, carpenter's square; prob. akin to noscere to know;
   cf. Gr. gnw`rimos well known, gnw`mwn gnomon, also,
   carpenter's square: cf. F. normal. See {Known}, and cf.
   {Abnormal}, {Enormous}.]
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   1. According to an established norm, rule, or principle;
      conformed to a type, standard, or regular form; performing
      the proper functions; not abnormal; regular; natural;
      analogical.
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            Deviations from the normal type.      --Hallam.
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   2. (Geom.) According to a square or rule; perpendicular;
      forming a right angle; as, a line normal to the base.
      Specifically: Of or pertaining to a normal.
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   3. (Chem.) Standard; original; exact; typical. Specifically:
      (a) (Quantitative Analysis) Denoting a solution of such
          strength that every cubic centimeter contains the same
          number of milligrams of the element in question as the
          number of its molecular weight.
      (b) (Chem.) Denoting certain hypothetical compounds, as
          acids from which the real acids are obtained by
          dehydration; thus, normal sulphuric acid and normal
          nitric acid are respectively {S(OH)6}, and {N(OH)5}.
      (c) (Organ. Chem.) Denoting that series of hydrocarbons in
          which no carbon atom is bound to more than two other
          carbon atoms; as, normal pentane, hexane, etc. Cf.
          {Iso-}.
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   {Normal equations} (Method of Least Squares), a set of
      equations of the first degree equal in number to the
      number of unknown quantities, and derived from the
      observations by a specified process. The solution of the
      normal equations gives the most probable values of the
      unknown quantities.

   {Normal group} (Geol.), a group of rocks taken as a standard.
      --Lyell.

   {Normal place} (of a planet or comet) (Astron.), the apparent
      place in the heavens of a planet or comet at a specified
      time, the place having been determined by a considerable
      number of observations, extending perhaps over many days,
      and so combined that the accidental errors of observation
      have largely balanced each other.

   {Normal school}, a school whose methods of instruction are to
      serve as a model for imitation; an institution for the
      training of teachers.
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   Syn: {Normal}, {Regular}, {Ordinary}.

   Usage: Regular and ordinary are popular terms of well-known
          signification; normal has now a more specific sense,
          arising out of its use in science. A thing is normal,
          or in its normal state, when strictly conformed to
          those principles of its constitution which mark its
          species or to the standard of a healthy and natural
          condition. It is {abnormal} when it departs from those
          principles.
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from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
24 Moby Thesaurus words for "normal school":
      academe, academia, alma mater, college, college of engineering,
      community college, degree-granting institution, four-year college,
      graduate school, institute of technology, ivied halls,
      journalism school, junior college, law school, medical school,
      multiversity, normal, postgraduate school,
      school of communications, school of education, two-year college,
      university, university college, varsity

    

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