▪ I. † ville1 Anat. Obs.
[ad. L. villus villus.]
= villus2. (Only in pl.)
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 30 Þe corde whanne he entriþ into þe brawn is departid into many smale þredis, & þei ben clepid villes [v.r. vylles]—þat is to seie wrappingis. & þese villes ben of iij. manner. 1541 Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. lj b, Of what villes is the stomacke composed? 1562 W. Bullein Bulwarke, Dial. Sorenes & Chir. 26 Iskyng [= yexing] procedyng of driyng of the villes of the stomacke. |
▪ II. † ville2 etc.,
varr. fille1, chervil. Obs.
| c 1265 Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 557 Cerfolium, i. cerfoil, i. villen. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 15 Cerfolium, i. villes. Ibid. 43 Ville, cerefolium. |
▪ III. ville3 slang (now U.S.).
(vɪl, vaɪl)
Also 9 vile.
[a. F. ville town.]
A town or village.
| 1837 L. C. Boynton Jrnl. 11 Sept. in Proc. Amer. Antiquarian Soc. (1933) XLIII. 336 Amherst [Mass.] is a very pleasant little ville, but still and inactive. 1859 Hotten Dict. Slang 114 Ville, or vile, a town or village,—pronounced phial, or vial. French. 1891 ‘F. W. Carew’ No. 747 xxxv. 416 We made a long round back to vile. 1939 Joyce Finnegans Wake 130 The brick of the viled ville of Barnehulme. 1977 M. Herr Dispatches 10 Once we fanned over a little ville that had just been airstruck. |
▪ IV. ville
obs. f. vill; var. fille2 Obs.