A collection, body, or society of persons engaged in common pursuits, or having common duties and interests, and sometimes, by charter, peculiar rights and privileges; as, a college of heralds; a college of electors; a college of bishops. [1913 Webster]
"The college of the cardinals." [1913 Webster]

"Then they made colleges of sufferers; persons who, to secure their inheritance in the world to come, did cut off all their portion in this." [1913 Webster]
A society of scholars or friends of learning, incorporated for study or instruction, esp. in the higher branches of knowledge; as, the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and many American colleges. [1913 Webster]
" In France and some other parts of continental Europe, college is used to include schools occupied with rudimentary studies, and receiving children as pupils." [1913 Webster]
A building, or number of buildings, used by a college. Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
Fig.: A community. [1913 Webster]
"Thick as the college of the bees in May." [1913 Webster]

College of justice, a term applied in Scotland to the supreme civil courts and their principal officers. -- The sacred college, the college or cardinals at Rome.

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

college, n.
1 an establishment for further or higher education, sometimes part of a university.
2 an establishment for specialized professional education (business college; college of music; naval college).
3 the buildings or premises of a college (lived in college).
4 the students and teachers in a college.
5 Brit. a public school.
6 an organized body of persons with shared functions and privileges (College of Physicians).

Idiom

College of Arms (in the UK) a corporation recording lineage and granting arms. college of education Brit. a training college for schoolteachers. college pudding Brit. a small baked or steamed suet pudding with dried fruit.

Derivative

collegial adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF college or L collegium f. collega (as COLLEAGUE)

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THESAURUS

college

Bund, Rochdale cooperative, academe, academia, alliance, alma mater, assemblage, association, axis, band, bloc, body, caboose, can, chokey, coalition, college of engineering, combination, combine, common market, community college, confederacy, confederation, consumer cooperative, cooperative, cooperative society, corps, council, credit union, customs union, degree-granting institution, economic community, federation, four-year college, free trade area, gang, graduate school, group, grouping, hoosegow, institute of technology, ivied halls, journalism school, jug, junior college, law school, league, lockup, machine, medical school, mob, multiversity, normal, normal school, partnership, political machine, postgraduate school, prison, ring, rock pile, school of communications, school of education, society, stir, two-year college, union, university, university college, varsity

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ROGET THESAURUS

college

School

N school, academy, university, alma mater, college, seminary, Lyceum, institute, institution, palaestra, Gymnasium, class, seminar, day school, boarding school, preparatory school, primary school, infant school, dame's school, grammar school, middle class school, Board school, denominational school, National school, British and Foreign school, collegiate school, art school, continuation school, convent school, County Council school, government school, grant-in-aid school, high school, higher grade school, military school, missionary school, naval school, naval academy, state-aided school, technical school, voluntary school, school, school of art, kindergarten, nursery, creche, reformatory, pulpit, lectern, soap box desk, reading desk, ambo, lecture room, theater, auditorium, amphitheater, forum, state, rostrum, platform, hustings, tribune, school book, horn book, text book, grammar, primer, abecedary, rudiments, manual, vade mecum, encyclopedia, cyclopedia, Lindley Murray, Cocker, dictionary, lexicon, professorship, lectureship, readership, fellowship, tutorship, chair, School Board Council of Education, Board of Education, Board of Studies, Prefect of Studies, Textbook Committee, propaganda, scholastic, academic, collegiate, educational, ex cathedra.

Also see definition of "college" in Bible Study Dictionaries

For further exploring for "college" in Webster Dictionary Online