Academy \A*cad"e*my\, n.; pl. Academies. [F. acad['e]mie, L. academia. Cf. Academe.]

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. A place of training; a school. ``Academies of fanaticism.'' --Hume.

4. 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.

5. 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.

Academy figure (Paint.), a drawing usually half life-size, in crayon or pencil, after a nude model.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)