# town

Pronunciation: say "TOWN" /taʊn/

## Noun

1. A settlement with residential areas, shops and amenities, and its own local government, especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city.
   - Simple: A place where people live and shop, bigger than a village but smaller than a city.
   - _The town grew quickly after the railroad arrived in the 1880s._
   - _Several nearby towns share a single volunteer fire department._
2. The town or city being talked about, especially the one where the speaker lives or is staying, whatever its official size. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The place, town or city, where you live or are now, as in 'new in town'.
   - _She's the best mechanic in town, and her schedule shows it._
   - _We're only in town until Sunday, so we're trying to see all the museums before we fly home._
3. A municipal corporation whose powers are set by the larger jurisdiction's laws; in parts of the US, especially New England, also the whole district it governs, which may include villages and open countryside.
   - Simple: A community's local government, set up by law, or in parts of the US the whole area it runs, including countryside.
   - _The town was sued over the condition of its sidewalks._
   - _Under state law, the town must hold a public hearing before borrowing money._
4. Any settlement more urbanized than the place from which it is viewed, such as the nearest larger center for people living in rural areas.
   - Simple: A bigger or busier place that people from smaller places travel to.
   - _After a month at the cabin, they drove into town for groceries and mail._
   - _For families on the surrounding farms, a trip to town meant the county seat, with its bank and feed store._
5. The residents of a town, taken together as a single community.
   - Simple: All the people who live in a town, thought of as one group.
   - _When the factory closed, the town rallied to help the families who had lost their jobs._
   - _Half the town turned out for the high school's homecoming game on Friday night._
6. The permanent residents of a university community, as opposed to the gown: the students and faculty.
   - Simple: The ordinary people of a college town, not the students or teachers.
   - _The dispute over noise pitted town against gown for an entire semester._
   - _Local shops depend on student spending, but the town often resents the rising rents the university brings._
7. In British history, a rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week. *(UK)*
   - Simple: Long ago in Britain, a country settlement where a market was held every week.
   - _By 1300 the village had grown into a town, its weekly market drawing traders from across the shire._
   - _The lord petitioned the king for a charter so the settlement could hold a market and rank as a town._
10. The bustling center of a town or city, where the bulk of its stores, offices, and businesses are located.
   - Simple: The busy middle part of a city or town, with most of its stores and offices.
   - _She lives in a quiet suburb but heads into town most Saturdays to shop and meet friends._
   - _Office workers pour into town every morning, and by seven in the evening its streets are empty again._
11. Urban, built-up places in general, together with the style of living found there, in contrast to the countryside.
   - Simple: Cities and other built-up places, and the kind of life people live there, not the countryside.
   - _The novel sets the gossip and hurry of the town against the slow seasons of the countryside._
   - _Many young couples trade the town for the country once they start a family._

## Noun

8. An enclosure surrounding the homestead or dwelling of the lord of a manor, and by extension the whole of the land making up the domain. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In the past, the fenced land around a lord's house, or all the land he controlled.
9. A farm or farmstead, or the court or yard attached to one. *(obsolete, Scotland, UK)*
   - Simple: In old country speech in Britain, a farm or the yard beside a farmhouse.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A townhouse: a multi-story home sharing one or more walls with adjacent units.

## Origin

It comes from Middle English toun, from Old English tūn ("enclosure, garden"), which goes back through Proto-Germanic *tūną ("fence, enclosure") to a Celtic origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ("to last"). It is related to Dutch tuin ("garden"), German Zaun ("fence"), and the Scandinavian tun ("yard"), and is a doublet of dun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/town (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).