studies

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
study/ˈstʌdi/

▶noun (pl. studies)

• 1 the devotion of time and attention to acquiring knowledge, especially from books.

  ■ (studies) work done by a person to acquire knowledge.

  ■ (studies) used in the title of an academic subject: a course in transport studies.

• 2 a detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation.

  ■ archaic a thing that is or deserves to be investigated.

• 3 a room for reading, writing, or academic work.

• 4 a piece of work, especially a drawing, done for practice or as an experiment.

  ■ a musical composition designed to develop a player's technical skill.

• 5 (a study in) a good example of (a quality or emotion): he perched on the bed, a study in misery.

• 6 theatrical slang a person who memorizes a role at a specified speed. See also quick study.

▶verb (studies, studying, studied)

• 1 acquire knowledge about.

  ■ make a study of.

  ■ apply oneself to study.

  ■ (study up) US learn intensively about something, especially in preparation for a test.

  ■ (of an actor) try to learn (the words of one's role).

• 2 look at closely in order to observe or read.

• 3 (as adj. studied) done with deliberate and careful effort.

– phrases
in a brown study absorbed in one's thoughts. [appar. orig. from brown in the sense ‘gloomy’.]

– derivatives
studiedly adverb,
studiedness noun.

– origin ME: shortening of OFr. estudie (n.), estudier (v.), both based on L. studium ‘zeal, painstaking application’.