▪ I. town, n.
(taʊn)
Forms: 1 tuun, 1–4 tūn, (4–5 tounne), 4–5, Sc. 6– toun, (4–5 ton, tone), 5–6 toune, (5 townne, 6 toen), 5–7 towne, 5– town, (8–9 Sc. toon (= tun)).
[OE. tuun, t{uacu}n m. = OFris., OS., MLG. tûn (MDu. tuun, Da. tuin, LG. tuun, tūn), OHG., MHG. zûn (Ger. zaun); ON. tûn neut. (Norw. dial. tūn farm-yard, older Da. tūn, Sw. dial. tūn, tōn hedge, fence):—OTeut. *tûno{supz}, -o{supm}, cogn. with Celtic dûn in -dūnum, OIr. dûn, W. dīn fortified place, castle, camp. The sense in OHG. was ‘fence, hedge’, as in Ger. zaun; in mod.Du. and LG. it has both the senses ‘fence or hedge’ and ‘enclosed place, garden’. In OE. the sense ‘fence, hedge’ does not occur, only that of ‘enclosed place’, as in sense 1, and its developments in senses 2 and 3, in which it was frequently used to render L. villa. The modern sense 4 is later than the Norman Conquest, and corresponds to F. ville ‘town, city’, as similarly developed from L. villa ‘farm, country-house’.]
† 1. a. An enclosed place or piece of ground, an enclosure; a field, garden, yard, court. Obs.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 546 Co[ho]rs, tuun. a 800 Erfurt Gloss. 281 Cors, tuun. c 870 O.E. Chron. an 867, His lic lið þær on tune. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 36 Ða cuomon ðe hælend mið him in tun ðe hata gezemani [Lat. villam; Gr. χωρίον; Wycl. toun; Tind., Geneva, 1611, place; Coverd. felde; Cranmer farme place; Rheims village]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark xv. 21 Simonem cireneum cumende of þam tune [Lind. cummende of lond; Rushw. cymende of londe; Lat. de villa; Gr. ἀπ' ἀγροῦ; Wycl. fro the toun; Tind. oute of the felde; Coverd. from the felde; Gen., Rheims, 1611, out of the countrey]. Ibid. Luke xiv. 18 Ic bohte ænne tun [Lind., Rushw. lond ic bohte; Lat. villam emi; Gr. ἀγρὸν ἠγόρασα; Wycl. a toun; Tind., Coverd. a ferme; 1611 a piece of ground]. Ibid. xv. 15 Ða sende he hine to his tune þæt he heolde his swyn [Lind. on lond his; Lat. in villam suam; Gr. εἰς τοὺς ἀγροὺς αὑτοῦ; Wycl. in to his toun; Tind. to the felde; Coverd. into his felde]. Ibid. John iv. 5 Neah þam tune [Lat. juxta prædium; Gr. πλησίον τοῦ χωρίου; Wycl. the manere, gloss or feeld, later vers. the place; Tind. the possession; Coverd. y⊇ pece of londe; Rheims the maner; 1611 the parcell of ground]. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 132 Harewyrt lytelu oftost weaxeþ on tune. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1114, And þæt ᵹehwær on wudan and on tunan ᵹecydde. 1388 Wyclif Matt. xxii. 5 But thei..wenten forth, oon in to his toun [1382 vyneȝerd; Lat. villam; Gr. ἀγρὸν; Ags. G. tune; Tind. ferme place; Coverd. huszbandrye; 1611 farme], anothir to his marchaundise. |
(
Cf. also the
OE. compounds
tûn-cressa garden cress,
t{uacu}n-melde,
Atriplex hortensis;
æppel-t{uacu}n apple orchard,
cyric-t{uacu}n churchyard,
déor-t{uacu}n deer-park,
gærs-t{uacu}n meadow,
l{iacu}c-t{uacu}n graveyard,
wyrt-t{uacu}n vegetable garden.)
† b. spec. The enclosed land surrounding or belonging to a single dwelling; a farm with its farmhouse (still
Sc. dial.); a manor, ‘an estate with a village community in villenage upon it under a lord's jurisdiction’; the enclosed land of a village community; sometimes also
= parish, when this was coextensive with a manor.
Obs.| 601–4 Laws Ethelbert c. 17 Ᵹif man in mannes tun ærest ᵹeirneþ, vi scillingum ᵹebete; se þe æfter irneþ, iii scillingas. 972 Charter Eadgar in Birch Cart. Sax. III. 586 Þis sind þara feower tuna lond ᵹemæra. a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) IX. 259 And ælcre tilðan timan ðe to tune belimpð. c 1200 Vices & Virt. 77 Uppe ða chirch-landes, oðer uppe tunes. c 1220 Bestiary 391 Fox is hire to name..Ðe coc & te capun Ȝe feccheð ofte in ðe tun. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxvii. (Machor) 93 He gaf of heritable rycht to godis seruice al þat ton In-to fre possessione. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 22 A man hadde a fermour, as keper of a toun. 1628 Coke On Litt. §1. 5 By the name of a towne, Villa, a mannor may passe. Ibid. §193. 125 b, If a matter be alledged in Parochia, it shall be intended in Law that it containeth no more Townes then one, vnlesse the party doth shew the contrary. 1785 J. Mill Diary (1889) 75 Some hill towns [= farms] had a good deal of corn on the ground to shear. |
2. The house or group of houses or buildings upon this enclosed land; the farmstead or homestead on a farm or holding. Now
esp. Sc.| c 890 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. xi. [xiv.] (1890) 140 Þes tun [villa] wæs forlæten..& oðer wæs fore þæm ᵹetimbred. Ibid. iii. xiv. [xvi.] 202 Aslat þa þa tunas ealle ymb þa burᵹ onwæᵹ. a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 9 June 92 Þa ongan se tun bernan..þa forburnon ealle þara monna hus þa on þæm tune wæron. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 134 Barouns and Burgeis and Bonde men of tounes [MS. U. towne]. c 1400 Plowman's Tale iii. 1043 Threshing and dyking fro town to town. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia i. (1895) 57 They whyche plucked downe fermes and townes of husbandrye. c 1689 Depred. Clan Campbell (1816) 42 Taken out of Achingoul..be Lochaber men, ten coues... Item, be them out of that toun, 30 sheep and goats. 1814 Scott Wav. ix, Waverley learned..from this colloquy that in Scotland a single house was called a town. 1815 ― Guy M. xxiii, Two or three low thatched houses, placed with their angles to each other, with a great contempt of regularity. This was the farm-steading of Charlie's Hope, or, in the language of the country, ‘the town’. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xlviii. 226 note, In Scotland (where it is pronounced ‘toon’) it still denotes the farmhouse and buildings. |
3. A (small) group or cluster of dwellings or buildings; a village or hamlet with little or no local organization. (Often
= L.
vicus.) Now
dial. In
var. Eng. dials.,
the town is
spec. applied to the hamlet or cluster of houses contiguous to the church; more fully
the church-town.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 557 Conpetum, tuun, þrop. a 800 Erfurt Gloss. 307 Conpetum, tuun vel ðrop. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xxi. 2 Se ðeᵹn seðe uæs of Cana ðæm tuune on galilees meᵹð. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 54 ᵹifta wæron ᵹewordene on anum tune ðe is ᵹeciᵹed Chana. a 1067 Charter of Eadweard in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 203, .x. hyden lond on Waltham, and ðe cherche of ðan seluen tune. c 1200 Ormin 7016 Þatt tun wass nemmnedd Beþþ⁓leæm. a 1300 Cursor M. 14790 (Cott.) Þat es þe tun of bethleem. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 478 A poure Person of a toun [v.r. toune]..Wyd was his parisshe and houses fer a sonder..With hym ther was a Plowman was his brother. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 39 In Mon [Anglesey] beeþ þre hondred townes [villas] þre score and þre, and beeþ acounted for þre candredes, þat beeþ þre hundredes. 1483 Cath. Angl. 391/1 A Towne, pagus, pagulus, pagos grece, villa, villula. 1508 Dunbar Poems vii. 55 In euery cete, village, and in toune. 1526 Tindale John xi. 1 Lazarus of Bethania the toune of Mary and her sister Martha. 1576 E. Worsely Surv. Mannor of Felsted, Essex 129 (MS.) The highway leading from Felsted towards the town of Leighes. 1731 T. Boston Mem. vii. (1899) 112 The circumstances of my charge, all in one little town [i.e. the hamlet of Simprin], within a few paces from one end to the other. 1809 M. Edgeworth Absentee ix, He arrived at a village, or, as it was called, a town, which bore the name of Colambre. 1812 Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 119 Amongst the Americans, every assemblage of houses, no matter of how small a number, is denominated a town. 1887 Pall Mall G. 19 Aug. 11/1 Wretched villages, misnamed towns, scattered throughout Ireland. 1887 I. R. Lady's Ranche Life in Montana 12 We are only a mile from the town (eight houses and an hôtel); but only think, in this barbarous region, being only a mile from railway station, telegraph, and post-office! 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xlviii. 226 note, In parts of eastern England the chief cluster of houses in a parish is still often called ‘the town’. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Gloss., Town, a collection of houses... In all parts of the district the villages are called towns when the collection of houses is specially referred to. |
4. a. In general English use, commonly designating an inhabited place larger and more regularly built than a village, and having more complete and independent local government (
esp. one not created a city); applied historically not only to a ‘borough’,
i.e. a corporate town, and a ‘city’, a town of higher rank, but also to an ‘urban district’,
i.e. a non-corporate town having an ‘urban district council’ with powers of rating, paving, and sanitation more extensive than those possessed by a parish council or the administrative body (where such exists) of a village. Sometimes also applied to small inhabited places below the rank of an ‘urban district’ or its equivalent, which are not distinguishable from villages otherwise, perhaps, than by having a periodical market or fair (‘market town’), or by being historically ‘towns’.
The distinction between a small town which is not a municipal borough, and a village, is somewhat indefinite; there are also decayed towns, even municipal boroughs, which are surpassed in population by many villages.
| 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137. §3 (Laud MS.) Hi læiden ᵹæildes o þe tunes æure um wile... Þa þe uurecce men ne hadden nan more to gyuen, þa ræueden hi & brendon alle the tunes. c 1200 Ormin 8511 Fra land to land, fra tun to tun, Fra wic to wic i tune. c 1205 Lay. 14246 Ane burh he arerde muchele & mare..& for swulche gomen Þa tun [Lancaster] hafde þas þreo nomen. a 1225 Juliana 8, & tuhen him ȝont te tun from strete to strete. c 1275 Passion 70 in O.E. Misc. 39 As he com in-to þe bureh so rydinde Þe children of þe tune [Jerusalem] comen syngynde. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5249 Hii come, & londone, & kaunterbury, & oþer tounes nome. 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 138 Sum lugit without the townys In tentis and in palȝeowynys. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 7429 Thei dyed thikkere then men dryues gece To chepyng-toun for to selle. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) iv. 30 Joppa..is on of the oldest townes of the world. 1419 Munim. de Melros (Bann. Cl.) 502 All þe landis Tenementis and byggynnis..in þe said Towne of Edynburghe. 1472–3 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 33/2 The Chaunceler and Scolers of the Universite in your Toune of Oxonford. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 7 §2 And that in all other Cities, Borowes, and Townes.. the Maires, Bailiffes, or hede Officers, and Wardeyns to haue like Authoritie. And wher noo Wardeyns be, then the hede Officers or Governours of the same Cities, Borowes and Townes to appoynt certeyn persones..to make serche. Ibid. c. 19 §10 In Hundredes, Townes Corporate & nott corporate, parisshes & all other places. 1552 Huloet, Towne beynge walled, oppidum. Ibid., Towne incorporate, municipium. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions 10 Of Tounes, thei made cities, and of villages, Tounes. 1597 in Maitl. Cl. Misc. I. 89 Within the toune and citie of Glasgw. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xlviii. 39 Constantinopil..Eftir his name he callit the citie syn, Becaus he lovit it best of tounis all. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 497 This is the chiefe Towne of all this Shire. 1628 Coke On Litt. §171. 115 b, If a Towne be decayed so as no houses remayne, yet it is a Towne in Lawe... It cannot bee a Towne in Law, vnlesse it hath, or in time past hath had a Church and celebration of Diuine Seruice... It appeareth by Littleton, that a Towne is the genus, and a Borough is the species, for..euery Borough is a Towne, but euery Towne is not a Borough. 1649 Bp. Guthrie Mem. (1702) 80 A Wonder lasts but nine Nights in a Town (as we use to say). 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. Introd. iv. 114 The word town or vill is indeed..now become a generical term, comprehending under it the several species of cities, boroughs, and common towns. 1809 Kendall Trav. I. ii. 12 A collection of houses joining, or nearly joining each other, is the first requisite in the definition of town, though the word be taken in the loosest sense. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 44 The free towns of Lübeck, Bremen, and Hamburg. |
b. Without article, after prepositions and verbs, as
in town,
out of town,
to town,
to leave town, etc.:
i.e. the particular town under consideration, or that in or near which the speaker is at the moment; the town with which one has to do, the market-town, the chief town of the district or province, the capital; in England since
c 1700
spec. said of London.
There are earlier uses referring to London, but only as said by persons living there.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2311 And quuan he weren ut tune went, Iosep haueð hem after sent. 13.. Cursor M. 3346 (Cott.) On morn wit godds beniscon Was mai rebecca lede o ton [Gött. of þe tun]. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 266 Alle Londoun..liketh wel my wafres... Þere was a carful comune whan no carte come to toune With bake bred fro stretforth. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 5 Be he in toun [London] oþer out of toun. 1431 Ibid. 275 If he be in towne [Cambridge] and comyth not. 1450 Rolls of Parlt. V. 182/2 The kyng sent for all his Lordes..thenne beyng in Towne [London]. 1618 Bolton Florus iv. i. (1636) 260 The ambassadours of the Allobroges (at that time, as it hapned, in town [Rome]) were dealt with. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 122 Strangers..as soone as they come to Towne [London], enquire for him first of all. 1645 Evelyn Diary 31 Oct., We invited all the English and Scotts in towne [Padua] to a feast. 1648 Commons' Jrnls. V. 545/1 That a Letter be directed to the Vice Admiral, to desire him to suffer Prince Philip, Brother to the Prince Elector, to come to Town. 1689 in Acts Parlt. Scotl. (1875) XII. 60/2 Þat the macers advertise such as are in towne [Edinburgh] That they be present accordingly. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 2 ¶1 When he is in Town, he lives in Soho-Square. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 127 Dr. Charlett went out of Town [Oxford] on purpose that he might not be present. 1739 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) II. 122, I shall come to town next Saturday. 1770 Foote Lame Lover i. Wks. 1799 II. 60 Well known about town. 1791 Gentl. Mag. Jan. 1/1 A friend of mine, who was lately in town, saw many of them in the shop-windows. 1815 Simond Tour Gt. Brit. I. 17 At Richmond..I set out by myself for town, as London is called par excellence. 1825 T. Cosnett Footman's Direct. 217 So necessary is it for footmen to know town. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxx, A stately relative..who was out of town. 1902 R. Hichens Londoners 17, I shall leave town at least by the first of July. |
c. spec. as distinct from or contrasted with
the country (
country 5).
| c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 194 And for she was of toune [v.rr. towne, tounne, town] he profreth meede, For some folk wol ben wonnen for richesse. 1712 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to W. Montagu 9 Dec., You say I love the town. 1715 Pope 2nd Ep. Miss Blount 2 As some fond Virgin, whom her mother's care Drags from the Town to wholesome Country air. 1780 Mirror No. 105 ¶2, I would beg of those who migrate from the city, not to carry too much of the town with them into the country. 1784 [see country 5]. 1909 Lloyd George in Daily News 30 Apr. 8 Land in the town seems to be let by the grain as if it was radium. |
d. In
ME., and later in ballad poetry, etc., often added after the name of a town, in apposition.
arch. (
Cf. OE. Rome-burh,
Lunden-burh, etc.)
| 13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 551 Whilom a riche burgeis was, And woned her in Rome toun. ? a 1700 Sir Patrick Spence i. in Percy Reliques (1845) 20/1 The king sits in Dumferling toune. ? a 1700 K. John & Abbot ii. ibid. 167/2 They rode poste..to fair London toune. 1703 Rowe Ulysses Prol. 8 Her husband..Left her.., to..battle for a harlot at Troy toun. 1782 Cowper John Gilpin i, A trainband captain eke was he Of famous London town. 18.. Rossetti (title) Troy Town. |
5. As a collective
sing. a. The community of a town in its corporate capacity; the corporation;
b. The inhabitants of a town, the townspeople;
c. spec. the fashionable society of London (or other leading city thought of); ‘society’.
arch.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 334 Þe toþer day on þe morn com þe Brus Roberd, Þe toun wist it beforn, þorgh spies þat þei herd. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 19 So he desirit the toune of Air to se His child with him. 1582 Allen Martyrd. Campion (1908) 96 All the towne loved him exceedingly. a 1616 Beaumont Let. to B. Jonson 50 Wit able enough to justify the Town For three days past! 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iv. i, 'Tis all the town talks. 1665 Pepys Diary 21 June, I find all the town almost going out of town. 1693 Dryden Persius' Sat. i. 5 That this vast universal Fool, the Town, Shou'd cry up Labeo's Stuff, and cry me down. 1713 Swift Frenzy J. Denny Wks. 1755 III. i. 144 That vile piece, that's foisted upon the town for a dramatick poem! 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 292 [He], all at once let down, Stunn'd with his giddy Larum half the town. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 405 His Absalom and Achitophel, the greatest satire of modern times, had amazed the town, had made its way..even into rural districts. |
d. absol. At Oxford and Cambridge: The civic community or body of citizens or townsmen as distinct from members of the university;
esp. in
phr. town and gown (often
attrib.);
cf. gown n. 5.
| a 1647 Pette in Archæologia XII. 218, I was forced,..my graces for Bachelor of Arts being passed both in house and town, to abandon the university. 1828 Sporting Mag. XXI. 428 Parties of five or six, both ‘gown’ and ‘town’, were parading abreast. a 1845 Hood Lament Toby xv, Farewell to ‘Town!’ farewell to ‘Gown!’ I've quite outgrown the latter. 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green ii. iv, The battle of Town and Gown was over. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xi, I wish..to disclaim..all sympathy with town and gown rows. 1912–13 Kelly's Oxford Directory 2/2 In 1354 a desperate Gown and Town riot began on St. Scholastica's day, February 10th, and lasted three days, during which 40 students and 60 townsmen lost their lives. |
6. U.S. A geographical division for local or state government.
a. A division of a county, which may contain one or more villages or towns (in sense 4); a township; also, the inhabitants of such a division as a corporate body. (Esp. in the New England states.)
b. A municipal corporation, having its own geographical boundaries (as distinct from a.), considered either in reference to its area or as a body politic.
| 1808 A. Wilson Poems & Lit. Prose (1876) I. 148 The people here make no distinction between town and town⁓ship, and travellers frequently asked the driver..‘What town are we now in?’ when perhaps we were on the top of a miserable barren mountain. 1809 Kendall Trav. I. ii. 12 In New England..a town is very commonly described as containing two or three villages. Ibid. 13 A town..in Connecticut, and the other parts of New England, is first a district, or geographical subdivision..; secondly, it is a body politic and corporate. Ibid. x. 113 The constitution of the towns appears to be..a mixture of those of the shire, hundred and parish. 1819 Boston Centinel 31 July (Thornton), The crops of hay in the lower towns were in all parts heavy. 1822 Z. Hawley Tour [in Ohio] 33 (ibid.) The timber of these towns is beech..and black walnut. 1882 W. D. Howells in Longm. Mag. I. 42 In New England the ‘town’ is the township, and there are some ‘towns’ in which there is no village at all. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. ii. xlviii. 226 The Town is..a rural, not an urban community... Its population is usually small. Ibid., note, In New England the word ‘town’ is the legal and usual one; in the rest of the country ‘township’. Ibid. 240 The words ‘town’ and ‘township’ signify [in Illinois, etc.] a territorial division of the county, incorporated for purposes of local government. 1890 Hosmer Anglo-Sax. Freed. 192 Each Massachusetts town sent a representative to a central assembly at Boston. 1906 W. Churchill Coniston i. v, The town of Coniston..was a tract of country about ten miles by ten, the most thickly settled portion of which was the village of Coniston, consisting of twelve houses. |
7. fig. and
transf. (from 4).
a. Something analogous to a town as being the home of many people.
| 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 75 The ship is a flying town, self-contained and independent of outside aid. 1898 Kipling in Daily News 7 Nov. 5/2 That which was a line has suddenly become a town on the waters. |
b. An assemblage of burrows of prairie-dogs, nests of penguins, etc.
| 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. ii. (1810) 156 note, The Wishtonwish of the Indians, prairie dogs of some travellers..reside on the prairies of Louisiana in towns or villages. 1812 Brackenridge Views Louisiana (1814) 58 The Prairie dog..lives in burrows, or as they are commonly called towns. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship xviii, These [penguins] were in myriads on some parts of the island, which, from the propinquity of their nests..went by the name of towns. 1890 W. P. Lett in Big Game N. Amer. 470 Danger occasioned by badger-holes and prairie-dog towns. |
8. Phrases. (See also 4 b.)
a. to come († go) to town, to make one's appearance, arrive, come in;
† to ‘come to stay’, to become common (
obs.).
Cf. to come to land (
land n.1 2 d).
Prob. the original notion was ‘come to our village, come to dwell with us, come to the dwellings of men’. In later times associated with the later sense of
town (4 b).
| a 1000 Menologium (Gr.) 8 Se kalendus cymeð..on þam ylcan dæᵹe us to tune. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 312/19 Lengten tima..gæð to tune on vii. id'. febr'. c 1200 Ormin 9160 Allse bidell birrþ beon sennd To ȝarrkenn & to greȝȝþenn Onnȝæn hiss Laferrd þær þær he Shall cumenn sket to tune. a 1275 Prov. ælfred 534 in O.E. Misc. 133 Elde cumið to tune mid fele unkeþe costes. a 1300 Cursor M. 14277 ‘Crist’, sco said, ‘es cummen to tun’. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 349 Folkis..Thankand God..Thair Lord was gane to toun. 1600 Newe Metamorphosis (MS.) (Farmer), This first was court-like, now 'tis come to towne; 'Tis common growne with every country clowne. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles ii. 11 I've been quite in the way of babies to-night,..young master's come to town. 1905 Daily Chron. 11 Mar. 4/6 This Thrums sketch proved to delighted Londoners that J. M. Barrie had ‘come to town’. |
b. man about town (also formerly
young fellow, youth, girl about town),
woman about town, one who is constantly seen at public and private assemblies in ‘town’; one who is in the round of social functions, fashionable dissipations, etc. (
cf. d. (
a)).
| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 94, I was a youth about the Town when he undertook that expedition. 1734 in 15th Rep. R. Comm. Hist. Manuscripts App. vi. 146 in Parl. Papers 1897 (C. 8551) LI. 1 Though being what is called an idle man about Town, I generally read all that is writ on both sides. 1749 Lady Luxborough Let. to Shenstone 28 Nov., Miss Jenny Hamilton, a pretty girl about town. 1752 M. W. Montagu Let. 16 Feb. (1967) III. 6 One of the most disagreable Fellows about Town, as odious in his outside as stupid in his conversation. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, I'll show you forty very dull fellows about town that live by it [authorship] in opulence. 1769 Chesterfield Let. to Godson 6 Sept., There are now two sorts of young fellows about Town, who call themselves Bucks and Bloods. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxvi, He was quite the man-about-town of the conversation. 1889 W. Roberts Hist. Eng. Bookselling 121 Wits, men-about-town, and fashionable notabilities. 1927 Manch. Guardian Weekly Jan. 75/1 Another surrender to the woman-about-town who wants a different kind of entertainment. 1979 ‘S. Kemp’ Goodbye, Pussy xii. 160 Zoë had been an ‘actress’. Actress, model, woman-about-town. |
c. man or woman (girl, lady) of the town: one belonging to the shady or ‘fast’ side of town life.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Man o' th' Town, a Lew'd Spark, or very Debaushe. a 1704 T. Brown Dial. Dead Wks. 1730 II. 313, I have been a man of the town..and admitted into the family of the rakehellonians. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, The lady was only a woman of the town. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Man of the town, a rake, a debauchee. Ibid., Woman of the town, or..of pleasure, a prostitute. 1817–18 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 239 Never is there seen in the streets what is called in England, a girl of the town. 1873 G. H. Lewes Diary 1 Jan. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1956) V. 357 Trollope came to lunch. Told me of his trouble with Harry wanting to marry a woman of the town. 1886 Lantern (New Orleans) 20 Oct. 2/2 Orders were issued to the police to remove all women-of-the-town. 1982 C. Castle Folies Bergère i. 37 At the back of the stalls..the notorious ‘ladies of the town’..plied their trade. |
d. on the town: (
a) in the swing of fashionable life, pleasure, or dissipation; (
b) getting a living by prostitution, thieving, or the like;
cf. on the streets; (
c) chargeable to the parish (
dial.). So
to come upon the town.
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 266 ¶2 This Creature is what they call newly come upon the Town. 1727 Gay Begg. Op. ii. iv, I han't been so long upon the Town. 1819 Metropolis I. 213 She had got with her a listening novice on town. Ibid. II. 167 We have a man looked up to to-day..in the Gazette in three months, and on the town again, brighter than ever. 1842 Egan Capt. Macheath, J. Flashman (Farmer), Jack long was on the town, a teazer; Could turn his fives to anything, Nap a reader, or filch a ring. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxvi. 333 Prostitutes who had been a long time on the town. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes x, Five-and-twenty years ago the young Earl of Kew came upon the town, which speedily rang with the feats of his Lordship. |
e. town and tower,
tower and town: see
tower n.1 9 a.
f. to go to town: to do something energetically, enthusiastically, or without restraint;
spec. to make a great fuss. Freq.
const. on.
colloq. (
orig. Jazz slang). See also sense 8 a.
| 1933 [see get v. 70 m]. 1940 E. S. Gardner Case of Silent Partner xii. 222 Chocolate creams are one of the fondest things I am of [sic]. I was feeling low, and I went to town. 1946 J. B. Priestley Bright Day viii. 252 He surveyed me with mock admiration. ‘The only writer who ever made..Gruman pay him a royalty on the gross... And did we go to town with it, I'll say we did.’ 1947 J. Bertram Shadow of War 238 ‘Skeleton's’ in a bad mood; he's going to town on 'em. 1958 A. Hocking Epitaph for Nurse ix. 159 The local papers naturally went to town over the murder of Sister Biggs. 1960 N. Hilliard Maori Girl ii. ix. 128 ‘It's funny as hell to see girls fight.’.. ‘They're really tough sorts, and boy! do they go to town. And swear! Punching and spitting and pulling hair.’ 1972 P. M. Hubbard Whisper in Glen vii. 67 Whoever had painted the thing, he had gone to town on his picture. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Mar. 290/2 Professor MacAndrew goes to town on this novel, deciphering the code which she believes Henry James to have set up. |
9. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib. passing into
adj. use (now usually without hyphen): Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the town (as distinct from some other place or community,
esp. the country); that is or lives in towns or the town; urban.
| 1468 Medulla Gram., Comedia, a toun song. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 160 The towne wiues, whan they go to here Masse, cary with them bokes of Latin prayers. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. ii. §3 One of the Towne-Ministers, that saw in what manner the people were bent for the reuocation of Caluine. 1673 Charac. Coffee-house (title-p.) The Symptomes of a Town-wit. 1693 J. Dunton Athenian Merc. 14 Nov., The ridiculous Folly of our Town-Sparks who make an Oath their Argument. 1702 Steele Funeral iii. i. 44 She has of a sudden left her Dayry, and sets up for a fine Town-Lady. 1710–11 Examiner No. 30 Lewdness and intemperance are not of so bad consequences in a town-rake as in a divine. 1753 World No. 3 ¶2 According to the town-acceptation of the term. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. iii. §2. 35 A neat ornamented, or town coach. 1844 Wardlaw Lect. Prov. (1869) II. 16 Town missions and country missions. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. Prel. Rem. (1876) 9 These [agricultural communities of ancient Europe]..were mostly small town-communities. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair v, He fought the town-boys. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 493 The difference..between a town divine and a country divine. 1867 H. Latham Black & White 100 Houses which look like the town-residences of well-to-do gentry. 1887 A. Jenks in Lippincott's Mag. Aug. 295 These performances were very attractive to old graduates and town-people. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 842 It is safer to take a lower standard for the average town inhabitant. |
b. attrib. in sense ‘of or belonging to a town as a community or place’, as
town armoury,
town back,
town bell,
town charge,
town church,
town clock,
town close,
town dike,
town drummer,
town father,
town field,
town folk,
town green,
town herd,
town loan (
loan n.2 2),
town mead,
town moor,
town mote (
moot n.1 2),
town piper,
town plate (
plate n. 18),
town pump,
town relief,
town seal,
town stocks,
town swineherd,
town wait,
town watch,
town wharf.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 47 An olde rusty sword tane out of the *Towne Armory. |
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 475/2 All their horsemen issued out of the *towne backe with certayne footemen. |
| 1483 Cely Papers (Camden) 137 To be redy in harnesse as sone as the *towne bell rynggyth. 1877 Green Hist. Eng. People I. 298 Its citizens mustered at the call of the town-bell at Saint Paul's. |
| 1619 Min. Archdeaconry of Colchester lf. 104 b (MS.), The some of viij d. toward a rate for *towne charge which the Churchwardens of Alresford haue layd out. |
| [1045 Will of Thurstan in Thorpe Charters 572 Þat [lond]..after here bothere day into þe *tunkirke, and þo men fre.] 1888 P. Schaff Hist. Chr. Ch. VI. xxvii. 136 He preached both in the Convent and in the town-church. |
| 1779 Mirror No. 41 ¶1 He..had been regulating his watch by our *town-clock. |
| 1716 Addison Drummer i. i, I verily believe I saw him last night in the *Town-close. |
| 1801 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 10 The horses, cattle, sheep, and swine..are not to be suffered to go loose within *town-dikes. |
| 1872 C. Gibbon For the King i, Bauldy Dodholm, the *town-drummer, at their head. |
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 15 June 6/1 At the station the *town-fathers [cf. father n. 10] offered her some refreshments. |
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1582 Þo wende vorþ þe *toun folc. 1907 ‘J. Halsham’ Lonewood Corner 33 Town-folk foundered in these drenched wood-paths. |
| 1641 N. Riding Rec. 212 A yeoman presented for an encroachment on the *towne-greene by building a barn to the damage of the inhabitants. |
| 1822 Galt Provost xxxvii, Tammy Tout, the *town-herd. |
| 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. i. lv, Hobbling in each *town-loan in awkward guise. |
| 1822 Galt Provost xlvi, A considerable portion of the *town moor. |
| 1879 Green Read. Eng. Hist. xiv. 67 The burgesses gathered in *town-mote when the bell swung out from St. Paul's. |
| 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3729/4 A *Town-plate of about 15l. value will be Run for at the same Place. |
| 1810 Crabbe Borough xxi. 171 For *town-relief the grieving man applied, And begg'd with tears, what some with scorn denied. |
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. ii. §5 By common consent of their whole Senate, and that under their *Towne-Seale. |
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. ii, To get your legs made acquainted with the *town-stocks. |
| 1825 ― Betrothed vii, He blows like a *town swineherd. |
| a 1805 A. Carlyle Autobiog. (1860) 75 His band..consisted of two dancing-school fiddlers and the *town-waits. |
| 1560 Rolland Seven Sag. 73 Gif I be heir now with the *toun watche found. |
| 1531 Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII, V. 184 Caryng of rubys out of the towne to the *towne wharffis. |
c. objective and
obj. genitive, as
town-builder,
town-taker;
town-destroying,
town-frequenting,
town-going,
town-keeping,
town-loving,
town-taking ns. and
adjs.; see also
town-planning; instrumental, etc., as
town-dotted,
town-flanked,
town-girdled,
town-sick,
town-stained adjs.; locative, similative, etc., as
town-bred,
town-cured,
town-dark,
town-imprisoned,
town-killed,
town-like,
town-looking,
town-pent,
town-spent,
town-tied,
town-trained adjs.; see also
town-born,
town-dweller.
| 1685 Bowles Theocritus' Idyllium xx. 43 in Dryden's Misc. ii. 390 How nice these *Town-bred Women are, how vain! 1869 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 396 Smart, active fellows, but thoroughly town-bred. |
| 1859 S. R. Stumbo Let. 11 Jan. in L. R. Hafen Colorado Gold Rush (1941) 214 The reports you see in the papers..are put in circulation by *town builders for speculative purposes. |
| 1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 26 Gay birds of the *town-dark sea. 1960 R. Williams Border Country 10 It was dark..town dark. |
| 1905 Daily News 14 Jan. 4 Painter of sea and shore and *town-flanked river. |
| 1895 Athenæum 27 Apr. 530/2 The Danes were a *town-frequenting people. |
| 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. iii. xxiv, Fife's *town-girdled shire. |
| 1838 M. Howitt Birds & Fl., Sunshine i, *Town-imprisoned men. |
| 1899 Daily News 23 May 4/6 For *town-keeping people the cart-horse parade was one of the prettiest sights of the day. |
| 1899 Q. Rev. Oct. 480 *Town-killed meat is a diminishing element. |
| c 1000 ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 127/15 Comedia, racu, *tun⁓lic spæc. 1876 A. Plummer tr. Döllinger's Hippolytus ii. 73 All that has any townlike appearance relates to Ostia. |
| 1849 J. Forbes Physic. Holiday v. (1850) 47 Waldshut is a neater and more *town-looking place than we had yet passed through. |
| 1900 F. W. Maitland Let. 18 Feb. (1965) 211 The Spaniard of the middle class is a *town-loving animal. 1941 Mind L. 396 A statement which no purely town-born, town-bred, town-loving person can..verify. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V cli, The *Towne-pent Rutters, willingly enlarge Their Quarters. |
| 1840 T. A. Trollope Summ. Brittany I. 71 As enchanting a cottage..as *town-sick mortal ever dreamed of. |
| 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 5 That antient Captaine, which the Greekes stiled the *Towntaker. |
| 1845 E. A. Poe in Broadway Jrnl. 13 Sept. 155 We poor *town-tied denizens..can revel in scenes which we may never be able to visit, and snuff up in imagination the incense of the flowers, which only bloom for us through the painter's art. 1849 J. Forbes Physic. Holiday i. (1850) 5 That..I may induce some of my town-tied friends to do as I have done. |
10. Special combs.:
† town-adjutant, formerly, a garrison officer, ranking as lieutenant, charged with certain routine duties;
cf. town-major;
town and country planning, the preparation and construction of plans in accordance with which the development of towns and countryside is to be regulated;
cf. town-planning n.;
town ball U.S., a game resembling baseball;
town belt N.Z., a belt of public land reserved chiefly for recreational purposes in or round a town;
town-bound a., (
a) bound or confined to town; (
b) townward bound;
town-box, the town chest; the public funds of a town;
town-bull, a bull formerly kept in turn by the cow-keepers of a village; hence
fig. of a man;
town-bushel, a local standard bushel measure;
cf. bushel n.1 1;
town car U.S., a four-door motor car having a passenger compartment which is permanently enclosed and a driver's compartment which is not;
town centre, a place or a collection of buildings forming a central point in a town (see
centre n. 6 a);
† town-child, a child born in the town (where a school is founded, and thus sometimes entitled to be a free scholar);
town clown U.S. slang, a policeman working in a village or small town;
town-council, the elective deliberative and administrative body of a town:
cf. council 10; hence
town-councillor, a member of a town-council;
town-crier, a public crier;
= crier 2 b;
town-cross, the market cross of a town;
town-dab (
local), the lemon-sole;
town-foot, the lower end of a town or village;
town gas, gas manufactured and supplied for domestic or commercial use, based on coal gas;
town-guard, (
a)
Sc. Hist., the military or quasi-military guard of a town; (
b) the guard policing a garrison-town; also
attrib.;
town-head, the upper end of a town or village;
townhithe rare—1, a haven or landing-place in a town;
townhome U.S. = town-house, town house 2 b;
† town-husband (
local): see
quot.;
town-life, life in a town;
spec. the social life of a town;
town-liver, one who lives in a town;
town-living, town-life; also an ecclesiastical benefice in a town (
living vbl. n. 5 );
town-miss, a young woman who lives in a town:
spec. a prostitute;
town-mouse,
fig. a dweller in a town,
esp. as unfamiliar with country life (in allusion to æsop's fable);
town-officer, (
a) an officer (of excise) posted in a town; (
b) in New England, a selectman; (
c)
Sc. an officer charged with keeping public order (
cf. town-major,
town-guard);
town-park: see
park n. 3 a; also
attrib.;
town-piece [
piece n. 13], a token issued by or current in a town;
town-place (
dial.): see
quots.;
town-plat,
town-plot (
U.S.), a plan of a township:
cf. plat n.3 2,
plot n. 3;
town-reeve (now
Hist.), the bailiff or steward of a
t{uacu}n;
town-row, the sequence of houses in a town, or of homesteads in a parish or manor; also
fig. the roll of townsmen: see
quots. and
cf. house-row;
† town-side, the land close beside a town;
town-site, the site of a town;
spec. in
U.S. and Canada, a tract of land set apart by legal authority to be occupied by a town, and (usually) surveyed and laid out with streets, etc.;
town-skip, a jocular name for a city urchin;
town-taking, the taking of a town; hence
town-taking day at Hull, the anniversary of the day on which that city was secured for William of Orange;
town-tallow, English, as distinct from continental tallow;
† town-top, a whipping-top kept for public use:
= parish-top (
parish n. 7);
town trail, a route through a town for tourists or walkers linking features of interest, which are described and interpreted by explanatory notices, printed leaflets, or a guide;
town-traveller, a commercial traveller whose operations are confined to the town which is his employer's place of business;
town twinning, the establishment of regular contacts between two towns in different countries;
cf. twin v.
2 2;
town-way, the way to the town;
town-weed, a name for Dog's Mercury;
† town-widow, ? a widow supported by public charity;
town-woman, a woman of the town, a prostitute. See also
town book, -clerk,
-gate,
hall, etc.
| 1737 *Town-Adjutant [see town-major]. 1801 Brit. Mil. Libr. II. s.v., The Town-Adjutant is an assistant to the Town-Major. |
| 1933 P. Abercrombie (title) *Town & country planning. 1941 J. S. Huxley in Times Educ. Suppl. 6 Dec. 581/2 It is here that adult education, enlightened town and country planning, and deliberate encouragement by the State and local authorities of living art, music, drama and all other branches of cultural life, must be called on to do most of the bridging of the gap. 1972 Whitaker's Almanack 1973 1177/2 The Town and Country Planning Act 1971 (consolidating earlier Acts) contains very far-reaching provisions affecting the liberty of an owner of land to develop and use it as he will. |
| 1852 California Dispatch 18 Jan. 2/4 A game of ‘*town ball’ which was had on the Plaza during the week, reminded us of other days and other scenes. 1909 Collier's 8 May 12/1 In America the corresponding game generally went under the name of ‘rounders’, and because it was played at the time of town meetings, ‘townball’. 1975 E. Wigginton Foxfire 3 466 We'd go out and play town ball. |
| 1851 E. Ward Jrnl. 3 Jan. (1951) 98 We afterwards went on to the *Town Belt and Riccarton. 1889 W. Davidson Stories N.Z. Life 61 The native bush which covers a large portion of the ‘town belt’. |
| 1858 A. Macmillan Lett. (1908) 3 Poor *town-bound mechanics and shopmen. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 17 Oct. 7/1 There was a breakdown in the Town-bound trams at Balham. |
| 1659 Gauden Tears Ch. **ij, Upon the confiscation of them to their *Town-box or Exchequer. |
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 172 A Kinswoman of my Masters... Euen such Kin, as the Parish Heyfors are to the *Towne-Bull? 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Bannier, Taureau bannier, a common, or town, bull. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 55. 2/2 As dull as a Dormouse at hom, but a vary toun Bull abroad. |
| 1647 Fuller Gd. Th. in Worse T. (1841) 136 As the *town-bushel is the standard both to measure corn and other bushels by. |
| 1907 Horseless Age 16 Oct. 589/3 There will be [from Ford Motor Co.] an enclosed *town car, which is to be an exact copy..of the Renault town car. 1929 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Mar. 89 (caption) The Blackhawk, a smaller and lower edition of the Stutz, is represented here by a town car of dignified proportions. 1968 G. N. Georgano Compl. Encycl. Motorcars 621 Coupé de ville,..Some ‘de ville’ bodies had folding rear quarters as in the landaulette. In America they were more often known as town cars. |
| 1932 T. Sharp Town & Countryside x. 203 But even if the naturalistic style could be quite perfectly carried out in the perfect replica of a romantic natural scene, what..is the purpose of such a scene in a sensibly-sized town, when..genuine countryside [is] accessible within a few minutes' walk of the *town centre. 1966 Guardian 10 Sept. 14/1 A recently started town-centre housing scheme. 1980 P. Lively Judgement Day iii. 26 The street plan of the town centre, an elongated triangle enclosing an open space. |
| 1886 Dict. Nat. Biog. VIII. 277/1 Entered at Christ's Hospital, probably as a ‘*town child’ or ‘free scholar’. |
| 1927 Amer. Speech II. 387/1 The *town clown's badge is called a tomato can. 1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route i. 20 There should always be some retreat, preferably a thicket, into which the hobos can flee, should they receive an unwelcome visit from the ‘town clown’, or the law enforcer of the community. |
| 1681 Acts Parlt. Scotl. VIII. 411/2 Ane Act of the *Town Council of the Burgh of Dumbartan in favors of the trades therof. 1775 A. Burnaby Trav. 75 note, Each township is managed by a town-council. 1851, 1863 [see council 10]. 1874 Green Short Hist. iv. §4. 188 Their merchant-gild..acted, in fact, pretty much the same part as a town-council of to-day. |
| 1850 J. Wilson Annals of Hawick an. 1727, Walter Scott, *town councillor, is degraded as such by the council..in respect of his twice breaking prison, after being convict by the bailies of a riot. |
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 4, I had as liue the *Town-Cryer had spoke my Lines. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lix. 166 Her secret had been published, as it were, by the town-crier. |
| 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 222 [Lemon, or Smooth Dab] is taken on the Sussex coast, where it is known by the name of *Town-Dab. |
| 1908 F. E. Junge Gas Power ii. 31 The price for *town gas has been gradually reduced during this period. 1958 B.S.I. News Aug. 16 Flexible tubing and connector ends for appliances burning town gas. 1973 C. Callow Power from Sea iv. 85 The number of people who have been inconvenienced is small compared with the total number converted from town gas to natural gas. |
| 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. I. 107 To raise, for the defence of the city [Edinburgh], a corps of no fewer than 126 men,..which is called the *town-guard. 1811 Gen. Regul. & Ord. Army 101 An Adjutant of the Day is to be furnished from the Regiment which gives the Town Guard, or the Commander in Chief's Guard. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. v[i], There was a sentinel upon guard, who, that one town-guard soldier might do his duty.., presented his piece, and desired the foremost of the rioters to stand off. 1905 Blackw. Mag. July 100 Not far from the Tolbooth stood the Town Guard House. |
| 1805 G. McIndoe Poems & Songs 62 Some b―h frae the *town head has stown't. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 379 Once her in *townhithe meeting he to her bow had not doffed. |
| 1976 Washington Post 19 Apr. c18/2 (Advt.), Rockshire *Townhome w/3 bedrms., 2½ baths, English pub rec.rm., den, show well. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 22 July h4/1 Accordingly, when what used to be called ‘row houses’—attached houses—became economically desirable, they were at first called ‘town houses’ and are now in the process of being renamed ‘town homes’. |
| 1847–78 Halliwell, *Town-husband, an officer of a parish who collects the moneys from the parents of illegitimate children for the maintenance of the latter. East. |
| 1693 Humours Town 103 You have none of these in your *Town-life. 1779 Mirror No. 58 ¶5 Emilia had acquired a stronger attachment to the pleasures of a town life, than was..right in itself. |
| 1620 E. Blount Horæ Subs. 153 Riding, Shooting,..some *towne-liuers, sometimes make hard shift to practise. |
| 1832 J. J. Blunt Sk. Reform. Eng. iv. 65 Thus it came to pass that *town livings (contrary to all reason) are at present, of all others, the poorest. 1863 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 290, I suppose Town-living makes one alive to such a Change. |
| 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman Pleasure II. 98, I was not at all out of figure to pass for a modest girl. I had neither the feathers, nor fumet of a tawdry *town-miss. 1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia vi. 245 Two town-misses in fur coats. |
| 1750 Student 31 May 190 *Town-mice, he knew, luxurious were. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, Here's Arthur, a regular young town-mouse with a natural taste for the woods. 1887 Ld. Churchill in Times (weekly ed.) 24 June 9/1 What I shall call a town mouse like myself. |
| 1737 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. (ed. 33) 84 Chief Examiner of *Town-Officers Books for London Brewery. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng. (1821) I. 243 On the refusal, death, or removal, of a Town-Officer, a meeting is to be holden for..choosing another. 1864 A. M{supc}Kay Hist. Kilmarnock (1880) 235 The procession was headed by Mr. Paton, town-officer, on a gallant charger. |
| 1870 Act 33–4 Vict. c. 46 §15 Any demesne land, or any holding ordinarily termed ‘*townparks’ adjoining or near to any city or town. 1887 Act 50–1 Vict. c. 33 §9 A holding shall not be deemed to constitute a town park, though within the definition of the expression ‘Town parks’,.. if it is let and used as an ordinary agricultural farm. 1887 in Pall Mall G. 24 Mar. 13/2 To secure the just rights of the town park holders. |
| 1805 Brathwait's Barnabees Jrnl. Introd. (1818) 42 A Harrington was a *town piece, tradesman's token, or other small coin current in the early part of the seventeenth century. |
| 1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss., *Town-place, a farm-yard. Cornw. 1867 R. S. Hawker Prose Wks. (1893) 109 There dwelt in scattered villages, or town-places.., the bold and hardy Keltic people. 1880 Couch E. Cornw. Words, Town, Town-place, applied to the smallest hamlet, and even to a farm-yard. |
| 1656 Public Rec. Colony of Connecticut (1850) I. 282 Thos persons that cohabitt in the *towne platte. 1723 Proprietors' Rec. Waterbury, Connecticut (1911) 121 To settle the old Town platt Lotts. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 335 The town-plat is originally distributed into lots, containing from two to ten acres. |
| 1714 in Hist. Northfield, Mass. (1875) 134 That the *Town-Plot be stated in the old place, in such form and measure as the Committee can allow it, according to the Court's order. |
| c 890 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. xi. [x.] (1890) 416 Þa onfoeng hio se *tunᵹerefa. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xvi. 18 Ða herede se hlaford þære unrihtwisness tunᵹerefan. 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 100 A few adventurers even sailed to Dorchester, 787 a.d., and slew the town-reeve when he sought to call them to account. |
| 1610 Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists §52 To bee ranged in the same *Towne-rowes with Iewes, Arrians, Anabaptists. 1825 Jamieson, Toun-raw, used to denote the privileges of a Town-ship. To thraw one's self out o' a toun-raw, to forfeit the privileges enjoyed in a small community. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v. Town-row, By Town-row, or by House-row, was the term for the old plan for keeping men off the parish when work was scarce, by finding them so many days' work at each farm in turn. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §10 If it be very ranke grounde, as is moche at euery *towne syde, where catel doth resort. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden cxxxi, The fifth groweth..by hedge sides and path wayes, in fields and town-sides. |
| 1821 Canad. Courant 17 Jan. 1/2 There are about fourteen acres cleared for a *Town site but not a single house in a finished state. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 170 The Silver State Mining Company..have located a town-site—Crystal City..—on the old Salt Lake route. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 445 The improvement of town-sites. 1896 Wrenn in Critic (U.S.) 31 Oct. 270/1 We have made a plan of Trilby Townsite, Pasco Co., Fl[orid]a. |
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxvi, ‘Well, young *townskip’, said Sam, ‘how's mother?’ |
| 1788 G. Hadley Hist. Kingston-upon-Hull xxi. 277 Thus by the spirited conduct of the Protestant officers, was Hull preserved, on the 4th of December, 1688; which is still observed as a holiday, under the appellation of *Town Taking Day. 1866 J. J. Sleahan Hist. Hull (ed. 2) 188. |
| 1912 Times 19 Dec. 20/4 To-day's ‘Market Letter’ quotes—*town tallow, 33s. 6d. per cwt. |
| 1623–33 Fletcher & Shirley Night-Walker i. iii, He..dances like a *town-top, and reels and hobbles. 1670 Evelyn Sylva xx. 92 For the Turner, Kyele-pins, great Town-Topps. a 1780 Blackstone Note on Shaks.'s Twel. N. i. iii. 44 To sleep like a town-top. |
| 1973 Nature 11 May 105/2 The local College of Education has sponsored the idea of ‘*town trails’ in Leicester. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVIII. 303/1 Its 140 pages of practical advice on..town trails, heritage centres and other ‘media’ are not aimed at the general reader. |
| 1850 Dickens Dav. Copp. xi. 114 He was a sort of *town traveller for a number of miscellaneous houses. 1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace x. 59 A town-traveller in tinned comestibles. |
| 1960 Sunday Express 16 Oct. 9/6 *Town twinning between cities of highly developed and under-developed countries. 1981 Times 23 Mar. 4/4 The question of Dundee's association with Nablus would be raised with the Scottish Town Twinning Association. |
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. i. 7 Euans. Which way haue you look'd..? Sim... Euery way but the *Towne-way. |
| 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 3 Perennial or Dog's Mercury... From the growth of the plant in towns and town gardens, it is sometimes called *Town-weed. |
| 1632 Brome North. Lasse i. i, [She] has been the *Town-widow these Three years. |
| 1675 Wycherley Country Wife ii. i, What! you would have her as impudent as yourself?..a mere notorious *town-woman? 1710 Addison Tatler No. 260 ¶ 11 To regard every Town-Woman as a particular Kind of Siren. |
11. Combinations with
town's, as
townschildren,
townsfolk,
town's-hall,
town's-piper;
town's-bairn, a native of the (or one's own) town (
Sc.); so
town's-boy,
town's-fellow, in similar sense;
† town's husband,
obs. title of a borough official having charge of the accounts, etc.:
cf. husband n. 4;
† town's-like (
† towneslike)
a., townish, townly;
town's-money, the public funds of a town;
townswoman, a woman inhabitant of a town; with possessive, a woman of the same town;
Townswomen's Guild, an urban organization of women, engaging in educational and social activities. See also
town's-book (
Sc. townis buk)
s.v. town book,
town's-end s.v. town-end,
townsman,
townspeople.
| 1808 J. Mayne Siller Gun iii. xvi, M'Ghee, our ain *town's-bairn. 1822 Scott Nigel iii, He was a kindly Scot himsell, and, what is more, a town's-bairn o' the gude town. |
| 1764 Mem. G. Psalmanazar 90 Having acquainted four or five of our clan that were my *townsboys with my design. 1857 Gladstone in Westm. Gaz. 20 May (1898) 3/3 [Mr. Gladstone gave an address to the assembled pupils in the large lecture-hall, and invented a new phrase by addressing us as] ‘fellow townsboys’. |
| 1837 Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar i. (1844) 23 He found them in the yard, where they were absolutely beset by townsmen, townswomen, and *townschildren. 1906 Academy 7 Apr. 328/1 Townschildren and nurses are often woefully ignorant on the subject of edible berries. |
| 1850 Allingham Poems, Dream ii, On they passed,..*Townsfellows all from first to last. |
| 1737 Swift Let. to Richardson 30 Apr., That the *townsfolks and tenants of the estate round Colrane would be content to double the rent. 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. i, The new banker..could not know so much of the characters of the townsfolks as he who had lived among them. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxvii. 653 Some common market in which the agent for the townsfolk purchased country produce. |
| 1812 J. Bigland Beauties Eng. & Wales XVI. 412 A large room, now used as a *town's hall. |
| 1757 in N. & Q. 7th Ser. VIII. 447/2 James Mihill, *Town's Husband [buried at Beverley]. 1795 Hull Advertiser 8 Aug. ibid. 496/1 Wanted by the Corporation of this Town, a proper person for the office of Town's Husband, or Common Officer. 1833 [see husband n. 4]. |
| 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. 296 The good *towneslike craftsman, needes no daughter in lawe that can fril and paint hirselfe. |
| c 1600 Maldon MS. Records in Essex Herald 9 May (1905) 7/5 [One of Cade's charges against the authorities was] spending of *towne's-money against their lawful preacher. |
| 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd i. (1827) 7 The *town's piper, wi' a blatter. |
| 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 73 And this..is one of my *Towns-Women. 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xx. (1857) 292 Well-known resorts of his townswomen. 1837 [see townschildren above]. |
| 1929 Times 26 Nov. 19/4 Lady Cynthia Colville, the president of the *Townswomen's Guild Appeal..spoke of the great need there was in small towns and residential suburbs for the new Townswomen's Guilds, which are to fulfil a role similar to that played by the women's institutes in the rural areas. 1933 Ludlow Advertiser 25 Feb. 6/4 The Townswomen's Guild held a whist drive on Monday night in the Guild Room in Broad Street. 1960 J. Stroud Shorn Lamb vii. 79 Miss Dashforth stumped the whole area addressing Mothers' Unions, Townswomen's Guilds, Parent-Teacher Associations and so on. 1977 Belfast Telegraph 19 Jan. 3/5 Bloomfield Collegiate School—Knock Townswomen's Guild, talk on community relations, 7.45 pm. |
Hence (
nonce-wds.)
ˈtowneen [with Irish
dim. suffix],
towˈnette,
ˈtownikin [after G.
städtchen], diminutives of
town;
ˈtownhood, the condition or status of a town.
| 1893 J. A. Barry S. Brown's Bunyip, etc. 120 An' thin..Jillibeejee is as ructious a *towneen as is on God's earth. |
| 1839 Lady Lytton Cheveley (ed. 2) II. i. 5 Though not quite a town, it was something more than a village: the French call those mule-like domiciles, between a house and a bandbox, maisonnettes, and I don't see why Blichingly should not be called a *townette. 1880 J. B. Harwood Yng. Ld. Penrith xiii, It would be unreasonable to expect a tiny townette such as I report to engage as the chief of its police a man of tact as well as energy. |
| 1865 E. Burritt Walk Land's End 203 The first centuries of its *townhood..mellow off under the horizon of the past. 1891 K. Field Washington IV. 383/1 At the time of my visit, L― had just attained the dignity of townhood. |
| 1863 H. Mayhew Germ. Life & Mann. (1864) I. 5 The little village..lying far away on the moors..from which the *townikin..is said to derive its name. |
▸
town bike n. slang (
orig. Austral.) (
derogatory) a notoriously promiscuous woman; (also,
N.Z.) a local prostitute;
cf. bike n.2| 1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. 123 A willing girl is sometimes described as an office bike, a *town bike, etc. 1964 R. H. Morrieson Came Hot Friday (1981) 164 Why don't you tell the old tit you're the town bike. 2000 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 25 June (Seven Days section) 5/2 One young man said people probably wouldn't believe ‘the town bike’ if she reported being raped. |
▪ II. town, v. rare.
(Only in
pa. pple. towned.)
[f. prec. n.] trans. a. To furnish with towns.
b. To make into or constitute (a community) a town.
| 1585 R. Lane Let. in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 254 The continent is of an huge and vnknowen greatnesse, and very well peopled and towned. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. ii. xv, With many a citie grac't, and fairly town'd. 1897 I. O. Reichel in Trans. Devon. Assoc. XXIX. 458 There were reeves of various kinds..the town-reeve in a ‘towned’ village. |
▪ III. town obs. form of
tun.