town

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See also: Town

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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From Middle English town, toun, from Old English tūn (“enclosure, garden”), from Proto-Germanic *tūną (“fence”) (compare West Frisian tún, Dutch tuin (“garden”), German Zaun, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tun), from Gaulish dunum (“hill, hillfort”) (compare Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“fortress”)), from Proto-Celtic *dūnom, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to finish, come full circle”). See also -ton.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /taʊn/, [tʰaʊ̯n]
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊn

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

town (countable and uncountable, plural towns)

  1. A settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city.
    This town is really dangerous because these youngsters have Beretta handguns.
  2. Any more urbanized center than the place of reference.
    I'll be in Yonkers, then I'm driving into town to see the Knicks at the Garden tonight.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
  3. (UK, historical) A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.
  4. The residents (as opposed to gown: the students, faculty, etc.) of a community which is the site of a university.
  5. (colloquial) Used to refer to a town or similar entity under discussion.
    Call me when you get to town.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
      I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting […] , and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
  6. (law) A municipal organization, such as a corporation, defined by the laws of the entity of which it is a part.
  7. (obsolete) An enclosure which surrounded the mere homestead or dwelling of the lord of the manor.
  8. (obsolete) The whole of the land which constituted the domain.
  9. (obsolete) A collection of houses enclosed by fences or walls.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Palsgrave to this entry?)
  10. (UK, Scotland, dialect, obsolete) A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard.

Usage notes

An urban city is typically larger than a rural town, which in turn is typically larger than a village. In rural areas, a town may be considered urban. In urban areas, a town can be considered suburban; a village in the suburbs. The distinctions are fluid and dependent on subjective perception.

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Place names derived from town

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

town

  1. Alternative form of toun
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