GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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1.       
   Town (toun), n. [OE. toun, tun, AS. tun inclosure, fence, village, town; akin to D. tuin a garden, G. zaun a hadge, fence, OHG. zun, Icel. tun an inclosure, homestead, house, Ir. & Gael. dun a fortress, W. din.  Cf. Down, adv. & prep., Dune, tine to inclose.]
   1. Formerly: (a) An inclosure which surrounded the mere homestead or dwelling of the lord of the manor. [Obs.] (b) The whole of the land which constituted the domain. [Obs.] (c) A collection of houses inclosed by fences or walls. [Obs.]  Palsgrave.
   
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   2. Any number or collection of houses to which belongs a regular market, and which is not a city or the see of a bishop. [Eng.]  Johnson.
   
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   3. Any collection of houses larger than a village, and not incorporated as a city; also, loosely, any large, closely populated place, whether incorporated or not, in distinction from the country, or from rural communities.
   
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   God made the country, and man made the town. Cowper.
   
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   4. The body of inhabitants resident in a town; as, “the town voted to send two representatives to the legislature; the town voted to lay a tax for repairing the highways”.
   
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   5. A township; the whole territory within certain limits, less than those of a country. [U. S.]
   
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   6. The court end of London; -- commonly with the.
   
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   7. The metropolis or its inhabitants; as, “in winter the gentleman lives in town; in summer, in the country”.
   
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   Always hankering after the diversions of the town. Addison.
   
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   Stunned with his giddy larum half the town. Pope.
   
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   ☞ The same form of expressions is used in regard to other populous towns.
   
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   8. A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
   
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   ☞ Town is often used adjectively or in combination with other words; as, town clerk, or town-clerk; town-crier, or town crier; townhall, town-hall, or town hall; townhouse, town house, or town-house.
   
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   Syn. -- Village; hamlet. See Village.
   
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   Town clerk, an office who keeps the records of a town, and enters its official proceedings. See Clerk. -- Town cress (Bot.), the garden cress, or peppergrass. Dr. Prior. -- Town house. (a) A house in town, in distinction from a house in the country. (b) See Townhouse. -- Town meeting, a legal meeting of the inhabitants of a town entitled to vote, for the transaction of public bisiness. [U. S.] -- Town talk, the common talk of a place; the subject or topic of common conversation.
   
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