city
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
city
n 1: a large and densely populated urban area; may include
several independent administrative districts; "Ancient Troy
was a great city" [syn: {city}, {metropolis}, {urban
center}]
2: an incorporated administrative district established by state
charter; "the city raised the tax rate"
3: people living in a large densely populated municipality; "the
city voted for Republicans in 1994" [syn: {city},
{metropolis}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
City \Cit"y\ (s[i^]t"[y^]), n.; pl. {Cities} (s[i^]t"[i^]z).
[OE. cite, F. cit['e], fr. L. civitas citizenship, state,
city, fr. civis citizen; akin to Goth. heiwa (in heiwafrauja
man of the house), AS. h[imac]wan, pl., members of a family,
servants, h[imac]red family, G. heirath marriage, prop.,
providing a house, E. hind a peasant.]
1. A large town.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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
[1913 Webster]
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
[1913 Webster]
3. The collective body of citizens, or inhabitants of a city.
"What is the city but the people?" --Shak.
Syn: See {Village}.
[1913 Webster]
from
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
City
The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which
was built by Cain (Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues,
the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Next, we have a record of the cities of the Canaanites, Sidon,
Gaza, Sodom, etc. (10:12, 19; 11:3, 9; 36:31-39). The earliest
description of a city is that of Sodom (19:1-22). Damascus is
said to be the oldest existing city in the world. Before the
time of Abraham there were cities in Egypt (Num. 13:22). The
Israelites in Egypt were employed in building the "treasure
cities" of Pithom and Raamses (Ex. 1:11); but it does not seem
that they had any cities of their own in Goshen (Gen. 46:34;
47:1-11). In the kingdom of Og in Bashan there were sixty "great
cities with walls," and twenty-three cities in Gilead partly
rebuilt by the tribes on the east of Jordan (Num. 21:21, 32, 33,
35; 32:1-3, 34-42; Deut. 3:4, 5, 14; 1 Kings 4:13). On the west
of Jordan were thirty-one "royal cities" (Josh. 12), besides
many others spoken of in the history of Israel.
A fenced city was a city surrounded by fortifications and high
walls, with watch-towers upon them (2 Chr. 11:11; Deut. 3:5).
There was also within the city generally a tower to which the
citizens might flee when danger threatened them (Judg. 9:46-52).
A city with suburbs was a city surrounded with open
pasture-grounds, such as the forty-eight cities which were given
to the Levites (Num. 35:2-7). There were six cities of refuge,
three on each side of Jordan, namely, Kadesh, Shechem, Hebron,
on the west of Jordan; and on the east, Bezer, Ramoth-gilead,
and Golan. The cities on each side of the river were nearly
opposite each other. The regulations concerning these cities are
given in Num. 35:9-34; Deut. 19:1-13; Ex. 21:12-14.
When David reduced the fortress of the Jebusites which stood
on Mount Zion, he built on the site of it a palace and a city,
which he called by his own name (1 Chr. 11:5), the city of
David. Bethlehem is also so called as being David's native town
(Luke 2:4).
Jerusalem is called the Holy City, the holiness of the temple
being regarded as extending in some measure over the whole city
(Neh. 11:1).
Pithom and Raamses, built by the Israelites as "treasure
cities," were not places where royal treasures were kept, but
were fortified towns where merchants might store their goods and
transact their business in safety, or cities in which munitions
of war were stored. (See {PITHOM}.)
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
CITY, government. A town incorporated by that name. Originally, this word
did not signify a town, but a portion of mankind who lived under the same
government: what the Romans called civitas, and, the Greeks polis; whence
the word politeia, civitas seu reipublicae status et administratio. Toull.
Dr. Civ. Fr. 1. 1, t. 1, n. 202; Henrion de Pansey, Pouvoir Municipal, pp.
36, 37.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
112 Moby Thesaurus words for "city":
Bowery, Chinatown, East End, East Side, Kreis, Little Hungary,
Little Italy, Stadt, West End, West Side, archbishopric,
archdiocese, arrondissement, bailiwick, banlieue, barrio,
bishopric, black ghetto, blighted area, boom town, borough, bourg,
burg, burgh, burghal, business district, canton, central city,
citified, city center, civic, commune, congressional district,
constablewick, conurbation, core, county, departement, diocese,
district, downtown, duchy, electoral district, electorate, exurb,
exurbia, faubourg, ghetto, ghost town, government, greater city,
greenbelt, hamlet, hundred, inner city, interurban, magistracy,
market town, megalopolis, metropolis, metropolitan,
metropolitan area, midtown, municipal, municipality, oblast, okrug,
oppidan, outskirts, parish, polis, precinct, principality,
province, red-light district, region, residential district, riding,
run-down neighborhood, see, sheriffalty, sheriffwick, shire,
shopping center, shrievalty, skid road, skid row, slum, slums,
soke, spread city, stake, state, suburb, suburban, suburbia,
suburbs, tenderloin, tenement district, territory, town, township,
uptown, urban, urban blight, urban complex, urban sprawl, urbs,
village, ville, wapentake, ward
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