Scholar, n.
Etymology: [OE. scoler, AS. scolere, fr. L. scholaris belonging to a school, fr. schola a school. See School.]
1. One who attends a school; one who learns of a teacher; one under the tuition of a preceptor; a pupil; a disciple; a learner; a student. I am no breeching scholar in the schools. Shak.
2. One engaged in the pursuits of learning; a learned person; one versed in many branches, of knowledge; a person of high literary or scientific attainments; a savant. Shak. Locke.
3. A man of books. Bacon.
4. In English universities, an undergraduate who belongs to the foundation of a college, and receives support in part from its revenues.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Pupil; learner; disciple. -- Scholar, Pupil. Scholar refers to the instruction, and pupil to the care and government, of a teacher. A scholar is one who is under instruction; a pupil is one who is under the immediate and personal care of an instructor; hence we speak of a bright scholar, and an obedient pupil.
Shades of meaning
The primary sense of a scholar is one who is being schooled; thence the word passes to denote one who is apt in school work, and finally one who is thoroughly schooled, master of what the schools can teach, an erudite, accomplished person: when used without qualification, the word is generally understood in this latter sense; as, he is manifestly a scholar. Pupil signifies one under the close personal supervision or instruction of a teacher or tutor. Those under instruction in schools below the academic grade are technically and officially termed pupils. The word pupil is uniformly so used in the Reports of the Commissioner of Education of the United States, but popular American usage prefers scholar in the original sense; as, teachers and scholars enjoyed a holiday. Those under instruction in Sunday-schools are uniformly designated as Sunday-school scholars. Student is applied to those in the higher grades or courses of study, as the academic, collegiate, scientific, etc. Student suggests less proficiency than scholar in the highest sense, the student being one who is learning, the scholar one who has learned. On the other hand, student suggests less of personal supervision than pupil; thus, the college student often becomes the private pupil of some instructor in special studies. For disciple, etc., compare synonyms for adherent.