city
(ˈsɪtɪ)
Forms: 3–6 cyte, cite, (3 scite), 4 cety, 4–5 cytee, site, 4–6 citee, cete, 5 cetie, sete, 5–7 citie, 6 cittie, citte, cytte, syttey, sittey; also Sc. ciete, cyete, scitie, 6–7 citty, (7 chitty), 6– city.
[ME. cite, a. OF. cité, earlier citet, corresp. to Pr. ciptat, It. città, earlier cittade, Romanic *civ'tade:—L. cīvitāt-em. By another phonetic process the Romanic type gave Pr. and Cat. ciutat, Sp. ciudad, Pg. cidade. L. cīvitās, -tātem was n. of state or condition f. cīvis citizen: its primary sense was therefore ‘citizenship’; thence concretely ‘the body of citizens, the community’; only in later times was the word taken as = urbs, the town or place occupied by the community. The historical relation between the Roman cīvitās and cīvis was thus the reverse of that between our city and citizen, which however is that of the Gr. πόλις and πολίτης.]
The name civitas was applied by the Romans to each of the independent states or tribes of Gaul; in later times it adhered to the chief town of each of these states, which usually became afterwards the seat of civil government and of episcopal authority. Though there were civitates in Britain also in Roman times, the word was not adopted by the Angles and Saxons, who applied the name burh to all towns alike. In later times civitas may be found as a Latin equivalent of burh, and, in Domesday, it is frequently applied to the larger and more important byriȝ, burȝes, or boroughs, which were the centres of districts, and had in some cases municipal autonomy, and thus corresponded in character to the cités of France. As an English word, cité is found early in the 13th c., applied, both to foreign, and particularly ancient cities, where it is probably due to translation from Latin or French, and also to important English boroughs, such as London and Lincoln. Under the Norman kings, the episcopal sees, which were formerly often established in villages, began to be removed to the chief borough or ‘city’ of the diocese, as in France; and as the bishops thus went to the cities, there grew up a notion of identification between ‘city’ and ‘cathedral town’; which was confirmed and legally countenanced when, on the establishment of the new bishoprics by Henry VIII, the boroughs in which they were set up were created ‘cities’. The same title has been conferred on all (or nearly all) the places to which new bishoprics have been assigned in the 19th c. Historians and legal antiquaries have, however, always pointed out that there is no necessary connexion of ‘city’ with ‘cathedral town’, and in recent times the style and rank of ‘city’ have begun to be conferred by royal authority on large and important boroughs which are not episcopal seats, Birmingham being the first so distinguished in England. (See Freeman in Macmillan's Mag., May 1889.)
In Scotland, the style of civitas appears to have been introduced from England, after the association of the word with the episcopal seats. Here, it appears to have had no relation to the size, civil importance, or municipal standing of the place, but was freely applied in charters from the time of David I (12th c.) to every bishop's seat, even when a mere hamlet; it was only at much later dates that some of these civitates attained sufficient importance to be raised to the rank of burghs, while others remained villages. In later times, perh. not before the Reformation, civitas is found applied to Perth and Edinburgh, which were not episcopal seats, but ancient royal burghs, and seats of royalty. The vernacular form ‘city’ is found in the 15th c. applied to some of the burghs which were civitates, and it gradually came to be commonly used of certain of the larger of these, notably Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, and Aberdeen. In this sense, the royal burgh of Dundee was also created a ‘city’ by Royal Charter in 1889. Some of the other burghs which were formerly bishop's seats, or can show civitas in their early charters, have in recent times claimed or assumed the style of ‘city’, though not generally so regarded.
The history of the word in Ireland is somewhat parallel. Probably all or most of the places having bishops have been styled on some occasion civitas; but some of these are mere hamlets, and the term ‘city’ is currently applied only to a few of them which are ancient and important boroughs. Thom's Directory applies it to Dublin, Cork, Londonderry, Limerick (‘City of the violated treaty’), Kilkenny, and Waterford; also to Armagh and Cashel, but not to Tuam or Galway (though the latter is often called ‘the City of the Tribes’). Belfast was, in 1888, created a ‘city’ by Royal Letters Patent.
In other lands now or formerly under British rule, ‘city’ is used sometimes more loosely, but often with more exact legal definition than in England. In North America it usually connotes municipal autonomy or organization of a more complete or higher kind than ‘town’. See 2 d, e. In India it is applied titularly to the three Presidency capitals, and to all great towns of historic importance or note, as the seats of dynasties, etc., e.g. Benares, Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Indore, Peshawur, etc.
The distinction is unknown to other Teutonic and (now) also to Romanic languages: Ger. stadt, F. ville, It. citta, Sp. ciudade, etc., translate both town and city.
I. † 1. orig. A town or other inhabited place. Not a native designation, but app. at first a somewhat grandiose title, used instead of the OE. burh, borough. Frequently applied (after civitas of the Vulgate = πόλις of N.T. & LXX.) to places mentioned in the Bible which were really mere villages, e.g. Nazareth, Nain, Bethlehem; here, as a literalism of translation, it still stands in Bible versions.
The earlier Wyclifite version had regularly burȝ toun, borow toun; for this the later version (Purvey's) substituted citee. Only in Esther ix. 19 do we find borow townes, and in Gen. xiii. 12 townes retained.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 228 Þe tur nis nout asailed, ne þe castel, ne þe cite hwon heo beoð biwunnen. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2669 Memphin ðat riche cite. c 1250 Kentish Serm. in O.E. Misc. 26 Þe cite of bethleem. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvi. 12 Fforthkastand me out of þe cite. 1388 Wyclif Deut. xii. 21 Thou schalt ete in thi citees [1382 burȝtouns]. ― Joshua vii. 2 The citee [1382 burȝtown] Bethel. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 293 All the laif that duelt into that schire, With euerie scitie that wes neir besyde. 1611 Bible Luke vii. 11 He went into a citie called Nain. |
2. spec. A title ranking above that of ‘town’.
a. used vaguely, or of ancient or foreign places of note, as capitals, or the like.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 283 Be it castel, burgh, outher Cite. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiv. ii. (1495) 486 The erthe is aournyd wyth so many grete cytees and borughes. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxv. 93 (Harl. MS.) Plebeius was Emperoure Regning in the cete of Rome. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. iv. 68 An yle named Probane wherin ben founded ten cytees and plente of other townes. 1535 Coverdale Hab. ii. 12 Wo vnto him, y{supt} buyldeth y⊇ towne with bloude, and maynteneth y⊇ cite with vnrightuousnes [so Bps'. Bible and 1611; Wyclif citee..cytee]. 1555 Fardle Facions Pref. 10 Of Tounes, thei made cities, and of villages, Tounes. 1568 Bible (Bishops') 1 Sam. xxvii. 5 Let them geue me a place in some towne in the countrey..for why shoulde thy seruant dwel in the head citie of the kingdome. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 45 Look on fertile France, And see the Cities and the Townes defac't. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 69 The delightsome pleasures of Rome-citie. 1709 Berkeley Ess. Vision §109 Many houses go to the making of one city. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. v, They saw a lake..encompassed with large towns, and discovered the capital city [Mexico] rising upon an island in the middle. 1844 Kinglake Eöthen xviii, Cairo and Plague! During the whole time of my stay the Plague was master of the city. 1860 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 302 A city in size and social advantages; quite so, indeed, if eighty thousand people make a city. 1871 Ruskin Munera P. (1880) Pref. 8 The city of Paris..supposed itself..infinitely richer. |
b. In England (see the historical sketch above).
The title appears to be properly relative to ‘town’, not to ‘borough’. ‘Cities’ and ‘towns’, possessing a municipal corporation and local autonomy, are alike ‘boroughs’, though those boroughs which are also cities may take precedence of those which are not.
| c 1300 Beket 1129 He wende fram Gra[nt]ham; fyve and tuenti myle also To the cite of Lincolne. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 160, I haue ysein segges, quod he, in þe cite of london Beren biȝes ful briȝte. 1393 Ibid. C. i. 177 Ich haue yseie grete syres in Cytees and in tounes. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 27 A bretherhode of barbres in þe site of Norwyche. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. 2 And graunted to many cyteis and tounes new fraunschesses. 1552–3 Inv. Ch. Goods Staffs. in Ann. Lichfield IV. 68 Solde by the bayles and cominalte of the sayd syttey of Lychefeld. 1641 Termes de la Ley 60 That place is commonly called Civitas, which hath a Bishop. Yet Master Crompton in his Jurisdictions, where he reckoneth up all the Cities, leaveth out Elie, although it hath a Bishop and a Cathedral Church, and putteth in Westminster, notwithstanding that now it hath no Bishop. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 65 note, My Lord Coke's Observation, that every City is, or was, a Bishop's See, is not very exact; for Leicester which is called there a City, never had a Bishop; nor had Gloucester at that time any Bishop, tho' it is called a City in Domesday-book. 1889 Freeman in Macm. Mag. May 29 A little time back..Birmingham and Dundee, hitherto merely boroughs, were raised to the rank of cities. Ibid. 30 A city does not seem to have any rights or powers as a city which are not equally shared by every corporate town. |
c. In Scotland and Ireland (see the historical sketch above).
| 1454 (18 Dec.) Munimenta Fr. Pred. de Glasgu. 32 (Maitl. Cl.) 176 Johne Steuart, the first provest that wes in the Cite of Glasgow. 1477 (27 Jan.) Reg. Episc. Glasg. No. 453 Hed Court of the Burgh and Cite of Glasgow. 1581 Acts Parl. Sc. 29 Nov. cap. 60 (18..) III. 239 The provest, baillies, counsall, and communitie of the cietie of Sanctandrois. Ibid. 24 Oct. 121 Jas. VI (1597) Barronnes alsweil within Regalitie as Royaltie, and their Baillies to Landwart, and the Provestes and Baillies of all Burrowes and Cities. 1814 Scott Wav. xxxix, He approached the ancient palace of Holyrood, without having entered the walls of the city. 1828 ― F.M. Perth i, The city was often the residence of our monarchs..although they had no palace at Perth. Ibid. vii, The citizens of the town, or, as they loved better to call it, the Fair City of Perth. 1840 Lever H. Lorrequer i, We were dined by the citizens of Cork..a harder drinking set of gentlemen no city need boast. 1884 Gladstone in Standard 29 Feb. 2/4 These works were within the precincts of the city of Glasgow. 1889 Crown Charter, Dundee, We..ordain..that our said Burgh of Dundee shall henceforth and forever hereafter be a City, and shall be called and styled the City of Dundee, and shall have all such rank, liberties, privileges, and immunities as are incident to a City. ― Resol. of Town Council Dundee 5, That the Chief Magistrate of the City shall hereafter resume and assume the style and title of Lord Provost. |
d. in
U.S.: ‘A town or collective body of inhabitants incorporated and governed by a mayor and aldermen’ (Webster); but applied, in the newer States, much more loosely (see
quots.), and often given in anticipation.
The legal characteristics of a city vary in different states. In some,
e.g. Iowa, there are ‘cities of the first class’ with above 15,000 inhabitants, ‘cities of the second class’ with above 2,000, and ‘incorporated towns’, differing respectively in the complexity of their municipal organization, division into wards, and extent of municipal powers.
| 1843 Marryat M. Violet xxxii, It is strange that the name of city should be given to an unfinished log-house, but such is the case in Texas! every individual possessing three hundred acres of land, calls his lot a city. 1867 Dixon New Amer. I. 36 In a couple of hours..we are at Junction City; a city of six wooden shanties where we alight. Ibid. xi. 125 At the head of these rolling prairies stands Denver, City of the Plains. A few months ago (time runs swiftly in these western towns) Denver was a wifeless city. 1882 Freeman in Longm. Mag. I. 89 In America a ‘city’ means what we should call a corporate town or municipal borough. 1883 J. Lawrence Silverland 68 (Hoppe) We reached Alta city—all mining camps are cities hereabouts. 1887 J. Macy (Iowa) Our Governmt. 51 The characteristic officers of a city are a mayor, councilmen, police judges, and a marshall. Mod. On a visit to New York city. |
e. In the dominion of Canada: a municipality of the highest class.
Variously used in different provinces. In Ontario, a village, on its population exceeding 2,000, has a right to be made a ‘town’, with Mayor and Councillors; a town, on reaching 15,000, has a right to be erected into a ‘city’, whereby it is separated from the jurisdiction of the County Council, and has a Mayor and Aldermen (instead of Councillors); but towns of smaller population have also been erected into cities, by special acts of the legislature. In Quebec ‘town’ (
= F.
ville) is the normal title for a place with municipal autonomy, but six places have been incorporated by the legislature as ‘cities’, and have Aldermen, in addition to their Mayor and Councillors. In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the term appears to be titular, and conferred by special charter. In Manitoba it does not exist, ‘town’ (
= F.
ville) being alone recognized. In British Columbia, on the other hand, there are no ‘towns’, only ‘city’ and ‘township or district’ being legally recognized, the former having a Mayor, the latter a Reeve.
| 1876 Statutes of Quebec 38 Vict. c. 76 §5 There shall be elected..four competent persons who shall be called..aldermen of the city of Three Rivers. 1881 Stat. Br. Columbia c. 16 §10 In every municipality being a city a Mayor shall be elected, and in every municipality being a township or district a Reeve shall be elected. 1887 Revised Stat. of Ontario c. 184 §19 In case it appears by the census returns..that a town contains over 15,000 inhabitants, the town may be erected into a city. Ibid. §68 The council of every city shall consist of the Mayor..and three aldermen for every ward. |
f. City of Refuge, in the Mosaic dispensation, a walled town set apart for the protection of those who had accidentally committed manslaughter.
Holy City, Jerusalem,
esp. in connexion with pilgrims and crusaders.
Eternal City,
City of the Seven Hills, Rome: so with many similar epithets, for which see their alphabetical places.
| 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxvii. 53 Thei..camen in to the holy citee. 1388 ― Joshua xxi. 13 Ebron, a citee of refuyt [1382 fliȝt]. c 1400 Mandeville vii. 73 For to speke of Jerusalem, the Holy Cytee..it stont full faire betwene Hilles. 1611 Bible Joshua xx. 2 Appoint out for you cities of refuge. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 286 Leave the man-slayer no city of refuge. 1844 Kinglake Eöthen xvi, The Pilgrims..make their way as well as they can to the Holy City. |
3. a. transf. and
fig. from 1 and 2.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 6275 Thou, hooly chirche, thou maist be wailed! Sith that thy citee is assayled. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 138 The capitaynes and knyghtes by whose dylygence grace byldeth & holdeth these citees in mannes soule. 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 176 Long upon these terms I held my city Till thus he gan besiege me. 1843 Marryat M. Violet xi, The [prairie] dogs never locate their towns or cities except where it [grass] grows in abundance. 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. i. 19 The canoe of the savage has grown into the floating city of nations. |
b. Often applied to Paradise or the dwelling of God and the beatified, as in
Celestial City,
Heavenly City,
Holy City,
City of God, the last (
civitas Dei) being also the title of a famous work of
St. Augustine describing ‘an ideal city in the heavens’.
| 1382 Wyclif Ps. xlvi. 4 [xlv. 5] The bure of the flod gladith the cite of God. ― Rev. xxi. 2 The holy citee Jerusalem, newe, comynge doun fro heuen of God. 1610 Healey (title) St. Augustine of the City of God. 1669 Bunyan (title), Holy Citie, or New Jerusalem. 1678 ― Pilgr. i. 122 Now the way to the Cœlestial City lyes just thorow this Town [of Vanity], where this lusty Fair is kept. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 186 Such an ideal of a city in the heavens has always hovered over the Christian world, and is embodied in St. Augustine's ‘De Civitate Dei’. |
c. [
Cf. -ville.] Used as a suffix or final element designating a person, situation, etc., as described by the preceding
n. or
adj. U.S. slang.| 1960 L. Buckley Hiparama of Classics 49 With that wild incense flyin' all over the place and that Buddha-headed moon pale Jazzmin colored flippin' the scene. It was Romance City. 1972 Time 17 Jan. 32/2 In a CBS-TV special called Funny Papers..it turned out that Daddy Warbucks is straight city, but Carroll O'Connor is pretty sexy. 1979 Rolling Stone 11 Jan. 86 All my life I'm taught by my family to keep it going, don't get boring at the dinner table. When I learned I could do that by just being honest, whole vistas of trouble opened up. I get on a talk show, I get talking and whoa! Trouble city! |
4. The community of the inhabitants of a city.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. iv. 13 That man after that he is goon yn, toolde to the cytee, and al the citee ȝellide. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon (1885) 136 Whan the cyte vnderstode this, she began to be sore moeved. 1513 More Edw. V (1641) 135 To frame the Citty to their appetite. |
5. a. the City: short for
the City of London, that part of London situated within the ancient boundaries, including the liberties, or the districts into which the municipal franchises and privileges extend, which is under the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor and Corporation. Also the corporation and citizens.
| 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 14 Prestes, freeres, and other sage men of the cytte. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. i. 67 Know you not the Citie fauours them? 1660 Evelyn Diary 10 Feb., Now were the Gates of the Citty broken down by General Monke which exceedingly exasperated the Citty. 1722 De Foe Plague (1754) 7 There died but three, of which not one within the whole City or Liberties. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 110 London, in the large sense of the term, comprehends the City of London, within and without the walls, the city of Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and the newly-created parliamentary boroughs of Finsbury, St. Mary-le-bone, the Tower Hamlets, and Lambeth. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 351 The City is no longer regarded by the wealthiest traders with that attachment which every man naturally feels for his home..Lombard Street and Threadneedle Street are merely places where men toil and accumulate. They go elsewhere to enjoy and to expend. 1884 B. Scott Lond. Roll Fame 11 Within a few months he received the Freedom of the City. |
b. More particularly, the business part of this, in the neighbourhood of the Exchange and Bank of England, the centre of financial and commercial activity. Hence, the commercial and business community here located.
| 1621 in W. Notestein et al. Commons Debates (1935) II. 447 Though money be wanting in the country yet it is in the City. Ibid. VI. 321 They of the Citty to lay the riches downe. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. xcvii, An order for thirty pounds upon the what-d'ye-call'em in the city. 1823 Lamb Elia i, Blind to the deadness of things (as they call them in the city). 1865 Bright Sp. on Canada 13 Mar. (1868) 67 It is said that ‘the City’ joins in this feeling..Well, I never knew the City to be right. c 1875 Mrs. Alexander Wooin' o't xxxiv, Garret and Oldham are going to smash..They are something in the City, are they not? |
c. city and guilds: applied
attrib. and in the possessive to examinations set or qualifications awarded in technical subjects by the City and Guilds of London Institute (constituted 1878; now part of Imperial College, London); also
absol. as n.| 1939 British Baker 5 May 5/2 The City and Guilds' written and practical bread-making and confectionery examinations are taking place. 1976 Daily Times (Lagos) 27 Aug. 16/1 (Advt.), Supervisors: Minimum qualifications—City and Guilds. 1977 Western Mail (Cardiff) 5 Mar. 11/1 (Advt.), Ideally the successful applicants will..have completed the city and guilds radio and TV mechanic's course. |
6. As the equivalent of
Gr. πόλις, L.
civitas, in the original sense of a self-governing city or state with its dependencies.
| 1540–1 Elyot Image Gou. 44 Aristotle, in definyng, what is a Citee, doeth not call it a place builded with houses, and enuironed with wals, but saieth that it is a companie, whiche hath sufficiencie of liuyng, and is constitute or assembled to the entent to liue well. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 199 What is the Citie, but the People? True, the People are the Citie. 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. v. §9 Union thus made is called a City, or Civill Society, and also a civill Person. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., City, in speaking of antiquity, signifies a state, or people, with all its dependencies constituting a particular republic.—Such as are, still, several Cities of the empire, and the Swiss cantons. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 69 The ædui, one of the most powerful and civilized tribes or cities of Gaul. 1847 Grote Greece ii. ix. (1849) III. 31 The restoration of a government of personal will in place of that systematic arrangement known as the City. 1873 Morley Rousseau II. 101 We seem to be reading over again the history of a Greek city. |
II. attrib. and
Comb. (Frequently with special reference to London.)
7. attrib. Of, belonging, or pertaining to a city or the City. (Often hyphened, as in next.)
| c 1300 K. Alis. 7543 They rideth dale and doune, That heo syghen a cite towne. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 7 W{supt} oute þe cite townes ende. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. x. 31, I am attended at the Cyprus groue..'Tis South the City Mils. ― Timon iii. vi. 75 Make not a Citie Feast of it. c 1611 2nd Maiden's Trag. iv. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley X. 449 A great city-pie brought to a table. 1644 Bulwer Chiron. 105 The Citie-people accustomed..to approve the gesture of the Player. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch. Hen. V, cclxiv, While Cittie-Liveries..resolve it to their Cost. a 1704 T. Brown Pleasant Ep. Wks. 1730 I. 111 Confirm our City-youth in the true principles of their ancestors. 1725 Swift Drapier's Lett. v, Let me have..good city security against this pestilent coinage. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 96 What City Swans once sung within the walls. 1787 Sir J. Hawkins Life Johnson Wks. I. 434 To this person, as to a city-friend, Mr. Garrick held himself obliged. 1847 Tennyson Princ. Concl. 101 The city-roar that hails Premier or king! 1864 ― Sea Dreams 5 Her clear germander eye Droopt in the giant-factoried city-gloom. c 1875 Mrs. Alexander Wooin' o't xxxiv, The Bank rate is a sort of index to the state of City affairs. |
8. General comb.
a. attributive, as
city-bounds,
city-clerk,
† city-colony,
city-community,
city-cross,
city-dame,
city-gate,
city-government,
city-knight,
city-moat,
city-soldier,
city-solicitor,
city-wall,
city-way,
city-woman,
city-work;
b. objective, as
city-builder,
city-burner,
city-founder,
city-razer;
c. instr. and locative, as
city-born,
city-bound,
city-bred,
city-crested,
city-dubbed,
city-planted,
adjs.| 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. viii. (1622) 14 A multitude of *citie-borne bondmen, and after made free. |
| 1866 Yates Land at Last II. 113 (Hoppe) *City-bound clerks. |
| 1735 Thomson Liberty i. 213 Within the *City-bounds the desert see. |
| 1885 L'pool Daily Post 30 June 4/6 A *city-bred child. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, ‘If this other wench,’ said the *city-clerk, ‘can speak to her sister’. 1864 Tennyson Sea Dreams 1 A city clerk, but gently born and bred. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 413 As men go to the *city-colony erected by Sylla. |
| 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. Prel. Remarks (1876) 10 The whole of these *city-communities were either conquerors or conquered. |
| 1598 Marston Pygmal. Sat. x. 125 The subtile *Citty-dame. |
| 1636 Massinger Bashful Lover iv. i, Five-hundred *City-dubbed Madams. |
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God. 542 The humanists cannot agree about the first *City-founder. |
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 252 Come, Ile conuey thee through the *City-gate. |
| 1656 J. Harrington Oceana (1771) 158 (Jod.) This alteration of *city-government. |
| 1701 De Foe True-born Engl. i. 364 Innumerable *City-knights we know. 1761 Colman & Garrick Clandestine Marr. i. ii (Hoppe), I have no patience with the pride of your city knight's ladies. |
| 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 295 The dutchess's garden lies near the *city-moat. |
| 1787 Sir J. Hawkins Life Johnson Wks. I. 433 Mr. Paterson, the *city-solicitor. |
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 428 ¶1 Every great shop within the *City-walls. |
| 1850 Mrs. Browning My Doves xi, To move Along the *city-ways. |
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 75 The *City woman beares The cost of Princes on vnworthy shoulders. |
9. Special comb., as
city-arab (see
Arab 3);
City-article, the editorial article or summary of financial and commercial news in a London (or other) newspaper;
city-avens, book-name for the plant
Geum urbanum;
city centre (see
centre n. 6 a);
City Company, one of the corporations that historically represent the ancient trade guilds of London: see
company;
City-commissioners, officials who superintend the sewerage of the City;
city-court, a judicial court held in a city by the city magistrates; in
U.S. the municipal court of a city, consisting of the mayor or recorder and aldermen (Webster);
city desk U.S., the department in a city newspaper office which deals with local news;
City-editor, the editor of the City article and City news in a journal; also
U.S., the editor who superintends the collection and classification of local news;
city father, (
a) (
poet.), a civic ruler; (
b)
pl. (
orig. U.S.) [
cf. father n. 10], those responsible for the administration of a city; also
transf.;
city gent colloq. = city-man (b);
city hall chiefly
N. Amer., the chief municipal offices of a city; hence, the municipal officers collectively;
city limits N. Amer., the boundaries of a city;
city-lot U.S., a piece of ground lying within city bounds;
city-man, (
a) a citizen; a man of the (same) city (
cf. townsman); (
b) (also
City-man) one engaged in ‘the City’ (sense 5) or in mercantile pursuits;
city-mission, a religious and benevolent mission to the poor and abandoned classes of great cities; so
city-missionary;
city page, the page of a newspaper which deals with financial and business matters;
† city-poet, a poet appointed by the citizens of London (see
quots.);
city-republic, a city constituted as a republic;
city slicker orig. U.S. [
cf. slick a.], a smart and plausible rogue, of a kind
usu. found in cities; a smartly dressed or sophisticated city-dweller;
city-state, a city which is also an independent sovereign state;
city-marshal,
city-remembrancer,
city-ward, etc.: see
marshal,
remembrancer,
ward, etc.
| 1884 J. E. Taylor Sagacity & Morality Plants 181 The *city Arabs who sell fusees in the streets. |
| 1904 G. B. Shaw Common Sense Munic. Trading viii. 73 In *city centres..the [housing] schemes are commercially hopeless. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top xxx. 244 The maze of side-streets off the city centre. 1958 Daily Express 11 Mar. 1/4 A city centre café. |
| 1903 J. Ralph Making of Journalist xiii. 153 Around the walls are the desks..the *city desks, the suburban desk,..and that of the managing editor. 1969 H. Nielsen Darkest Hour vi. 69 We had a great paper, Charley,..and largely because you were on the city desk. |
| 1834 Chambers's Jrnl. III. 390/1 Employed upon each are an editor; a sub-editor (in some also a *city editor). 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, City Editor, the employee of a daily or weekly London journal, whose special duty it is to report upon the prices of public securities, the state of the money market, and other matters of commerce and finance. 1870 A. Maverick Raymond & N.Y. Press 326 The City Editor, directs the work performed by the reporters, whose duty is to gather all the local intelligence of the day. 1902 E. Banks Autobiogr. Newsp. Girl ii. 9 You might try it on the city editor; but, mind you, I can't promise that he'll print it. 1969 ‘D. Rutherford’ Gilt-Edged Cockpit x. 167 Often comment by the City Editors precipitated a run on shares. |
| 1845 St. Louis Reveille 19 Jan. 2/4 Allow me to call the attention of our ‘*City Fathers’ to the importance of erecting public hydrants on the Levee. 1962 Listener 10 May 820/2 Kline, de Kooning, and the other present City Fathers of American painting. |
| 1785 *City gent [see gent n.]. 1844 Thackeray New Monthly Mag. July 421 Once..I heard a city ‘gent’ speak..slightingly of a glass of very excellent brown sherry. 1941 V. Woolf Between Acts 60 Not a dapper city gent, but a cricketer. |
| 1675 E. Andross in J. Easton Narr. Causes Indian War (1858) 106 There was at the *City Hall an Order of the last Gen[er]all Court of Assizes. 1754 in E. Singleton Social N.Y. under Georges (1902) 339 The books..are placed for the present, by leave of the Corporation, in their Library room in the City Hall. 1833 E. T. Coke Subaltern's Furlough iv, Of the public buildings, the City Hall, containing the supreme court, mayor's court, and various public offices,..is the most remarkable. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 319 What did those tinkers in the cityhall..decide about the Irish language? 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel v. 388 He slept on a bench in front of the City Hall. 1967 Listener 22 June 811/2 A month passes and City Hall makes an announcement. |
| 1841 Louisville Jrnl. 6 May 2/1 There are in the city proper but ten watchmen, and one in Portland, making in all eleven for the *city limits. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 16 July 1/5 One house was destroyed and the flames were within a short distance of the city limits. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 50/9 (Advt.), Stouffville is situated 12 miles north of metropolitan Toronto city limits. |
| 1683 W. Penn Let. to Free Soc. Traders, The *city-lot [is conveniently posted] for a dock. 1829 R. C. Sands Writings (1834) II. 169 The latter sat pensive and silent, while Miss Violet discoursed..about western lands and city lots. 1844 Lee & Frost Oregon vi. 79 The..gentleman..was selling off small city lots at one hundred dollars a piece. a 1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) i. 6 They had been speculating in..city lots. |
| c 1300 K. Alis. 1618 The *cite-men weoren wel wyght. 1662 Fuller Worthies, Devon 271 Being intimate with his City-man..Baldwin of Devonshire. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz, Lond. Recreations, The regular city man, who leaves Lloyd's at five o'clock, and drives home to Hackney, Clapton, Stamford Hill, or elsewhere. 1875 T. W. Higginson Eng. Statesmen iii. xvii. 350 He had made his mark in the mercantile world as a thoroughly representative City-man. |
| 1632 Massinger City Madam iv. ii, The *City Marshall!.. And the Sheriff! I know him. 1714 Lond. Gaz. No. 5261/3 The two City Marshals on Horseback, with their Men on Foot to make Way. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 346 (Hoppe) The *City-Mission..might be made productive of real and extensive good. |
| Ibid. I. 23 They respect the *City Missionaries, because they read to them. |
| 1966 ‘C. Aird’ Religious Body ix. 55 One of the largest private companies in the country... They're always getting write-ups in the *City pages suggesting they will be going public but they never do. 1967 P. M. Hubbard Custom of Country (1969) iv. 51 There was some sports news, a city page of surprising sophistication and a sprinkling of..foreign news. |
| 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 88 note, The Pageants..being..at length abolish'd, the employment of *City-Poet ceas'd. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Dryden Wks. II. 348 Settle was..made the city poet, whose annual office was to describe the glories of the Mayor's day. Of these bards he was the last. |
| 1853 J. S. Mill in Edin. Rev. XCVIII. 439 Her people obstinately rejected the merging of the single *city-republic in any larger unity. 1933 A. N. Whitehead Adv. Ideas iii. 37 The Governments of the provincial regions..and City-Republics. |
| 1924 Cosmopolitan Nov. 104/2 You reckon I'm a goin' tew give that *city slicker back his option money? 1938 Wodehouse Summer Moonshine viii. 92 It was a brooch or a sunburst from this city slicker in the background. 1953 X. Fielding Stronghold iii. 45 The two city-slickers were travelling on business. 1959 Manch. Guardian 13 July 5/7 He was dressed like a city slicker, pointed brown shoes, trilby..cut-away waistcoat. |
| 1893 W. W. Fowler (title) The *City-State of the Greeks and Romans. 1906 Daily Chron. 25 Nov. 2/5 Athens, a city-state that could always give rise to great men. 1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings iii. iv. 254 Northwards they had their city state of Novgorod and their base at Staraja Ladoga. |
Hence
nonce-wds. ˈcitycism, city manners, etc.;
ˈcitydom, a domain or state constituted by a city;
ˈcityish, smacking of the city;
ˈcityness, city quality;
ˈcityship, a city with its territory;
cf. township.
| 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. iv, Transform'd from his original Citycism. 1862 R. Patterson Ess. Hist. & Art 460 The early Aryans..resembled the Hellenic race..in being split up into a number of small States or citydoms. 1881 Mrs. J. H. Riddell Palace Gardens xxi. 194 Delightful people..not cityish or snobbish. 1662 Fuller Worthies, Devon (1811) I. 290 (D.) They take exception at the very Title thereof, ‘Ecclesiastical Politie,’ as if unequally yoked; Church with some mixture of Citynesse. 1870 R. Black tr. Guizot's Hist. France (1872) I. v. 77 Lugdunum..became..the favourite cityship and ordinary abiding-place of the emperors when they visited Gaul. |
______________________________
Add:
[II.] [9.] city farm, (
a)
U.S., any of various kinds of penal institution which also function as a farm.
| 1910 B. Flexner in H. H. Hart Preventive Treatm. Neglected Children xviii. 289 The probation officer keeps in touch with boys paroled from the City Farm School and Boys' Industrial School and girls released from the Convent of the Good Shepherd. 1912 in Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Crim. Law & Criminol. (1927) XVII. 636 (title) First City farm for inebriates. 1977 Washington Post 8 Jan. e4/3 Martin escaped from a minimum security city farm in Martinsville, Va., in 1973, two days after pleading guilty to two charges of possession of marijuana with intent to sell. |
(
b) a farm established within an urban area for educational purposes, as a museum, etc.
| 1981 N.Y. Times 27 Aug. c12/1 Since 1976 one such group..has maintained a thriving city farm called El Sol Brillante Community Garden. 1990 Times 15 Feb. 35/1 Salford has a city farm and part of the county arboretum within its borders, and 27 miles of rural footpaths through its urban heartland. |
______________________________
▸
city boy n. (a) a boy or man who is a native or inhabitant of a city, or who prefers city life;
(b) Brit. colloq. (with capital initial(s)) a man who works in the financial sector,
esp. (
depreciative) one characterized as materialistic, arrogant, or ill-mannered;
cf. sense 5b.
| 1623Let. 4 Apr. in S. M. Kingsbury Recs. Virginia Company (1935) IV. 99 What ys donne Concerninge ye duty boyes, the *Cyttie boys, and the Cyttie maides, Mr Threasurer will informe you. 1682 A. Behn Roundheads 44 Rogues, the City-Boys are up in Arms; brave Boys, all for the King now! 1789 W. Barrett Hist. & Antiq. Bristol xi. 379 Poor city boys were sent to occupy the said ancient school at St. Bartholomew's. 1852 Kenosha (Wisconsin) Democrat 6 Mar. 1/3 City boys being ‘smarter’ dressed, were sometimes preferred by the Dutch girls. 1943 D. B. W. Lewis Let. 26 Jan. (1963) 343 This war..should have demonstrated that ‘the metal’ as the City boys call it is anything but indispensable. 1998 R. Newman Manners 189 A tiny hardening of the heart in a towel-flicking City boy as he gang-bangs the currency. 2001 B. Rai (Un)arranged Marriage xviii. 143 I'm a city boy through and through... Living in a village just wasn't my thing at all. |
______________________________
▸
city break Brit. a short holiday spent in a city.
| 1973 Times 11 Aug. 10 (advt.) Get away this winter on a Golden Wing *city break. 1995 M. Lewis Singapore: Rough Guide 3/2 There's an increasing number of package holidays available, including fly-drive deals and city breaks. |
______________________________
▸
city girl n. a girl or woman who is a native or inhabitant of a city, or who prefers city life.
| 1690 Advice to Young Gentlemen 1/2 Let no *City-Girl your Freedom beguile. 1763 F. Brooke Hist. Lady Julia Mandeville i. 75 Really these city girls are so rapid in their amours, they won't give a man time to breathe. 1895 News (Frederick, Maryland) 15 Mar. 2/2 City girls are all right when it comes to dressing and going to the theatre, but my experience is that a country girl has a better idea of domestic happiness. 1999 T. Parsons Man & Boy (2000) ix. 67 My mum didn't much mind the changes—she was a city girl, and I can remember her complaining about our little town's lack of shops and a cinema when I was a kid. |
______________________________
▸
city technology college n. (also with capital initials)
Brit. Educ. any of a number of secondary education colleges which specialize in mathematics, science, and technology, established in urban areas with funding from central government and sponsorship from industry, and intended to promote high standards in technical and vocational education; abbreviated
CTC.
| 1986 Guardian 8 Oct. 1/2 More than 15,000 children will compete for places in a network of 20 state-funded ‘*city technology colleges’ announced yesterday by Mr Kenneth Baker..at the Conservative conference. 1992G. Walford in P. W. Cookson et al. Internat. Handbk. Educ. Reform xii. 216 The City Technology Colleges represent the most obvious moves to diversify the range of schools available and to support and extend the private sector of education and the gradual privatization of the maintained sector. 2000 Econ. Affairs 20 57/3 The principal of an outstanding City Technology College in a working-class town..told me how parents from far-flung wealthy suburbs..were now first trying to get their students into his school. |