towny, a. and n. colloq.
(ˈtaʊnɪ)
Also -ey, -ie. Cf. townee a. and n.
[f. town n. + -y.]
A. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the town; townish.
| 1837 New Monthly Mag. L. 248 His acquired habits were of the town, towny. 1857 E. M. Whitty Friends in Bohemia I. 211 Are you not weary of this towney life? 1908 Treasury Feb. 507 A house so towny and stylish, compared with our farm homesteads. |
B. n.
1. A town-bred man; spec. a Londoner.
| 1827 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 2) II. 227 If we could not say we had committed as many [robberies] as these townies, they would look upon us with contempt. Ibid. 230 Many surgeons find that by putting all the old townies into double irons whenever robberies begin to prevail, a cessation soon takes place. 1934 [see bushy n.]. 1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby i. 13 A sundowner's life was better than that of the ‘townie’ who had to work hard for a living and wear clean collars and shirts. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. iv. 62 The ‘towney’ touches the leaf gingerly. 1972 P. Lively Driftway vi. 85 He was a real townie, didn't care for walking at all. 1984 Times 13 Feb. 2/8 Farmers know and care far more about conservation than meddlesome townies. |
2. U.S. University slang. A townsman as distinct from a member of the university.
| 1852 Deseret News (Salt Lake City) 7 Aug. 1/1 ‘O, nothing,’ replied the ‘towney’. 1853 Yale Lit. Mag. XIX. 2 (Thornton) The genus by the German students denominated ‘Philistines’, by the Cantabs ignominiously called ‘Snobs’, and which custom here has named ‘Townies’. 1869 W. T. Washburne Fair Harvard 54 (ibid.) One beholds the conscious ‘towney’ on his evening promenade. |
b. N. Amer. Circus slang. A town-dweller, as opp. to a person travelling with a circus or carnival.
| 1937 [see Reub, Rube]. 1951 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 8 Apr. 7/5 A fight [of carnival workers] with the townies. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 19 Dec. 6/4 Everything had been set up for the show and tickets were being sold when several ‘townies’ attempted to crash the gate. |
3. A fellow-townsman or townswoman. slang.
| 1834 Knickerbocker IV. 279 Five or six fellows, whom I knew were friends and ‘townies’ of his. 1865 Morn. Star 18 July, She is a ‘towny’ (of the same town) of mine, and I want to see her safe home. 1869 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 347 Then you and me's ‘towneys’ it seems. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker xii, A townie of mine was lost down this way, in a coal-ship. |