Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
City
Cit′y
(sĭt′y̆)
, Noun.
pl.
Cities
(sĭt′ĭz)
. [OE.
cite
, F. cité
, fr. L. civitas
citizenship, state, city, fr. civis
citizen; akin to Goth. heiwa
(in heiwa
frauja man of the house), AS. hīwan
, pl., members of a family, servants, hīred
family, G. heirath
marriage, prop., providing a house, E. hind
a peasant.] 1.
A large town.
2.
A corporate town; in the United States, a town or collective body of inhabitants, incorporated and governed by a mayor and aldermen or a city council consisting of a board of aldermen and a common council; in Great Britain, a town corporate, which is or has been the seat of a bishop, or the capital of his see.
A
city
is a town incorporated; which is, or has been, the see of a bishop; and though the bishopric has been dissolved, as at Westminster, it yet remaineth a city
. Blackstone
When Gorges constituted York a
city
, he of course meant it to be the seat of a bishop, for the word city
has no other meaning in English law. Palfrey
Syn. – See
Village
. Cit′y
,Adj.
Of or pertaining to a city.
Shak.
City council
. See under
– Council
. City court
, The municipal court of a city.
[U. S.]
– City ward
, a watchman, or the collective watchmen, of a city.
[Obs.]
Fairfax.
Webster 1828 Edition
City
CITY
, n.1.
In a general sense, a large town; a large number of houses and inhabitants, established in one place.2.
In a more appropriate sense, a corporate town; a town or collective body of inhabitants, incorporated and governed by particular officers, as a mayor and aldermen. This is the sense of the word in the United States. In Great Britain, a city is said to be a town corporate that has a bishop and a cathedral church; but this is not always the fact.3.
The collective body of citizens, or the inhabitants of a city; as when we say, the city voted to establish a market, and the city repealed the vote.CITY
,Adj.