- A garden or grove near Athens (so named from the hero
Academus), where Plato and his followers held their philosophical
conferences; hence, the school of philosophy of which Plato was head. - An institution for the study of higher learning; a college
or a university. Popularly, a school, or seminary of learning, holding
a rank between a college and a common school. - A place of training; a school. - A society of learned men united for the advancement of the
arts and sciences, and literature, or some particular art or science;
as, the French Academy; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences;
academies of literature and philology. - A school or place of training in which some special art is
taught; as, the military academy at West Point; a riding academy; the
Academy of Music.