public school (UK)—prestigious fee-paying independent secondary school, usually boarding:
- They called that kind of school a public school, which in England was the name for a private school which your parents have to pay quite a lot of money to send you to.
public school (U.S.)—non-fee-paying school supported by public funds and controlled by a local governmental authority:
- The rates have been lowered and the town people had been wooed to send their sons to Gilford instead of to public school.
See also: private school (UK) / private school (U.S.).