pupil-lessadj.2
/ˈpjuːpl̩ləs/, U.S. /ˈpjupə(l)ləs/ Of a teacher, school, etc.: that has no pupils.
ΚΠ
1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iii. x. 95 Sometimes accompanied by his hopeful pupil; oftener, pupil-less.
1935 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 5 Jan. 4/7 None of the school children entered the building today as the pickets paraded around, but the teachers remained in their pupil-less classrooms until closing time at 3 o'clock.
1948 Bradford (Pa.) Era 30 Apr. 10/3 Underpaid teachers will envy Mrs. Betty Wilkes, 20-year-old pupil-less teacher..who ‘works’ hardly five minutes a day.
2003 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 4 Apr. 70 Strapping lacrosse players..spilt tears on their Burberry luggage at the station. Once Rannoch Moor [School] was merely headless. Now it is pupil-less too.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.21865- phyllocyanin
- phyllocyst
- phyllocystic
- phyllode
- phyllodes
- phyllodia
- phyllodial
- phyllodialer
- phyllodialest
- phyllodialler
- phyllodiallest
- phyllodineous
- phyllodiniation
- phyllodinous
- phyllodium
- phyllody
- phyllogen
- phyllogenetic
- phyllogenous
- phylloid
- phylloidal
- phylloideous
- phylloids
- phyllomania
- phyllomaniac