n. 1 a the study or rules of a language's inflections or other means of showing the relation between words, including its phonetic system. b a body of form and usages in a specified language (Latin grammar). 2 a person's manner or quality of observance or application of the rules of grammar (bad grammar). 3 a book on grammar. 4 the elements or rudiments of an art or science. 5 Brit. colloq. = grammar school. grammar school 1 Brit. esp. hist. a selective State secondary school with a mainly academic curriculum. 2 Brit. hist. a school founded in or before the 16th c. for teaching Latin, later becoming a secondary school teaching academic subjects. 3 US a school intermediate between primary and high school. grammarless adj.
[ ME f. AF gramere, OF gramaire f. L grammatica f. Gk grammatike (tekhne) (art) of letters f. gramma -atos letter of the alphabet ]