Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to gamble in a group. [school n. (1b)].

1935

A.J. Cronin Stars look Down 17: Some colliers [...] that made up the gambling school in ordinary times – squatted upon their hunkers against the wall. They were not schoolin’ now, they had no coppers for schoolin’. , they were just crookin their houghs.

2. (orig. US black) to explain a situation or a plan to someone else, to teach.

[c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: I Shcool’d [sic] him, I chid him severely].
[1893		J. Walsh [perf. Vesta Tilley] Fairly knocked the Yankees in Chicago 🎵 [H]e gave me such a schooling on their waste of time Home-Ruling, / Which he said was simply fooling].
1938		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 12 Mar. 17: She’s been schooled right.
1940		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 27 Apr. 7/6: Stay hep and school those donnies.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 225: Maybe they were schooling themselves in a kind of eloquence they wouldn’t aim for on their own.
1953		L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 3: He can solid cool you and school you with some frantic issues.
1965		(con. 1940s) Malcolm X Autobiog. (1968) 178: It was these working prostitutes who schooled me.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 214: ‘I know your old lady’s waiting.’ ‘She’s schooled to my ways.’.
1981		E. Bunker Little Boy Blue (1995) 82: It’s good you fuckin’ with me and Floyd ’n’ gettin’ schooled.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] Thought I’d schooled Rex the last time. Easier to train a horse.
1998		Source Nov. 106: My brother Floyd schooled him on the basics of being a DJ.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Schooled: Taught in the ways of prison life.
2003		Simon & Burns ‘Hard Cases’ Wire ser. 2 ep. 4 [TV script] I’m tryin’ to school you here.
2012		IOL Cape Western News (SA) 15 Feb. 🌐 Dumb hi-jackers from the south [...] We will school your wet behind the ears ass on how to scoop and melt an automobile.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] ‘This shit is business, son, straight up,’ Sincere schooled him.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 131: Boz had schooled her about where to show up for work on Monday.

3. (US campus) to defeat (in a game).

1984		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 6: school – to be so much better than the opposition that they learn from you.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 25: Schooled: To win or do something decisively over someone else. I schooled you in that game of pool earlier.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 155: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Schoolin kids. Breakin ankles.