finishing school
4
6.2
- noun
- /ˈfɪnɪʃɪŋ skuːl/
:
escuela de modales
- Becky had sent her to the best finishing school in the city and kept her well away from the customers—and for what?
- attended a finishing school
- went to finishing school
Examples
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At my finishing school, you will learn how to be a young lady, and you'll make many new friends.
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At my finishing school, you will learn how to be a young lady, and you'll make many new friends.
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Why were they going to send you to the finishing school?
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We were at finishing school together.
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It's the first thing I learned at finishing school.
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Did that finishing school teach you that?
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Eleven years ago I was still in finishing school.
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Amelia Felsenthal, whose older sisters had studied "feminine graces" at a finishing school, was the first in her family to go to college.
Academic text (2002) -
In ancient Greece, young women attended finishing schools to prepare for marriage.
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"I understand this academy of yours is a finishing school?"
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound links 'finishing' (the act of bringing something to a close) with 'school' (an educational institution), so a learner could plausibly infer it means a school that provides final or polishing instruction. However, the specific cultural sense — a private institution (historically for girls) that teaches social graces and etiquette — is a specialized, culturally conditioned meaning not fully predictable from the parts and thus requires prior exposure.
Etymology
Finishing school comes from the idea of giving a final 'finish' or polish to a young woman's education before she entered society, so finishing means the last touch and school is where it happened. They taught manners and social skills, so the phrase now means 'a school that prepares young women for society'.