public school boyn.
/ˌpʌblɪk ˈskuːl ˌbɔɪ/, U.S. /ˈpəblɪk ˈskul ˌbɔɪ/ Chiefly in the sense of public school n. 1. A boy who attends a public school; a man who attended a public school as a boy, and who displays the characteristics associated with a public school education.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > pupils of other types of school
softa1603
gymnasiast1828
Philanthropinist1842
public school boy1844
minder1864
lycéen1883
polytechnician1904
comprehensive1947
outward-bounder1961
1844 Catholic World Sept. 756 ‘If you talk about Mass you'll shock the respectable element, and they'll begin to say you don't love the public-school system.’ ‘But I do!’ cried Cornelius. ‘I'm a public-school boy myself.’
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. v. 100 Tom by this time began..to luxuriate in the realized ambition of being a public-school boy at last.
1875 B. H. Becker Sci. London xiv. 333 With..enlightened public spirit, the Royal Geographical Society offered..gold and bronze medals to be competed for by public schoolboys.
1897 Daily News 3 June 7/2 Sneaking, in the ethics of public school boys, is the unpardonable sin.
1933 Granta 26 Apr. 370/1 It is a movement for unemployed graduates and Public School boys.
1971 G. Steiner In Bluebeard's Castle iv. 85 The Victorian public-school boy, the Gymnasiast or lycéen.
2000 J. Williams Cardiff Dead (2001) vii. 94 The guy..was the usual long-haired public schoolboy with a Mick Jagger mockney accent.
Derivatives
public-ˈschoolboyish adj. [after schoolboyish adj.] characteristic or suggestive of a public school boy.
ΚΠ
1941 W. Lewis Vulgar Streak xv. 135 They were all silent, cowed by..the Public Schoolboyish delivery—by the command of master-class accent displayed.
1997 Independent (Nexis) 5 Aug. 6 He looks a couple of stone thinner,..but the effect..—the mop of hair as public-schoolboyish as ever—can, at moments, seem one of spectral rejuvenation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1844