town

Meaning

Noun

• A settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city, historically enclosed by a fence or walls.
• Any more urbanized center than the place of reference.
• A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.
• The residents (as opposed to gown: the students, faculty, etc.) of a community which is the site of a university.
• A major city, especially one where the speaker is located.
• A municipal organization, such as a corporation, defined by the laws of the entity of which it is a part.
• An enclosure which surrounded the mere homestead or dwelling of the lord of the manor; by extension, the whole of the land which constituted the domain.
• A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard.
• London, especially central London.

Related

Broader meaning words

• settlement

Origin

• From Middle English town, toun, from Old English tūn ("enclosure, garden"), from Proto-Germanic *tūną ("fence") (compare West Frisian tún, Dutch tuin ("garden"), German Zaun, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tun), from Gaulish dunom ("hill, hillfort"), from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (compare archaic Welsh din ("hill"), Irish dún ("fortress")), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ("to finish, come full circle"). dun. See also -ton and tine.