a·cad·e·my / əˈkadəmē/ • n. (pl. -mies) 1. a place of study or training in a special field: a police academy. ∎ hist. a place of study. ∎  a secondary school, typically a private one. ∎  (the Academy) the teaching school founded by Plato.2. a society or institution of distinguished scholars, artists, or scientists, that aims to promote and maintain standards in its particular field: the National Academy of Sciences. ∎  the community of scholars; academe.ORIGIN: late Middle English (denoting the garden where Plato taught): from French académie or Latin academia, from Greek akadēmeia, from Akadēmos, the hero after whom Plato's garden was named.

Academy School of philosophy founded (c.387 bc) by Plato. He met his pupils in a garden outside Athens, said to have belonged to a Greek hero called Academus. Much of the history of the Academy is uncertain, though we know its students included Aristotle, Epicurus and Zeno of Citium. In ad 529, it was closed by Emperor Justinian. See also Neoplatonism; scepticism; university

ACADEMY.
1. A school, college, or other educational institution.

2. A cultural institution for the maintenance or raising of standards in art, science, or language, such as the Académie française, founded in 1634. It made such a profound impression in 17c England that the issue of whether English should also have such an institution was discussed for many years. Nothing came of this discussion. When from time to time the question of the ‘missing’ English Academy is raised, authoritarians deplore and libertarians applaud its absence. See DEFOE, FRENCH, JOHNSON.

academy XVI. — F. académie or L. acadēmīa — Gr. akadēmíā and akadḗmeíā name of a gymnasium (called after the hero Academus) in the suburbs of Athens, where Plato taught, and hence applied to the Platonic school of philosophy; see -Y3.
So academic, academical XVI. academician XVIII. — F.

academy.
1. Garden of Akademos near Athens where Plato taught.

2. Place where the arts and sciences are taught, so an institution of higher learning.

3. Place of training in some special field, e.g. riding, etc.

4. Society or institution for the cultivation and promotion of some art or science, etc.