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单词 city
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cityn.

Brit. /ˈsɪti/, U.S. /ˈsɪdi/
Forms: Middle English cetee, Middle English cetie, Middle English scite, Middle English setis (plural), Middle English sitte, Middle English syte, Middle English syttey, Middle English–1500s cete, Middle English–1500s cety, Middle English–1500s cite, Middle English–1500s cyte, Middle English–1500s cytee, Middle English–1500s cytte, Middle English–1500s cytye, Middle English–1500s sete, Middle English–1500s site, Middle English–1500s syty, Middle English–1600s citee, Middle English–1600s citie, Middle English–1600s citte, Middle English–1600s cittee, Middle English–1600s cittie, Middle English–1600s citye, Middle English–1600s cytie, Middle English–1600s cyttye, Middle English–1600s cyty, Middle English–1700s citty, Middle English– city, 1500s ceite, 1500s cetye, 1500s ceytie, 1500s cietie, 1500s citey, 1500s cittey, 1500s cyttey, 1500s setye, 1500s sittey, 1500s syttye, 1500s zittie, 1500s–1600s cittye, 1500s–1600s cyttie, 1600s cettie, 1600s chittie, 1600s chitty, 1600s cytty; also Scottish pre-1700 ceite, pre-1700 ceitie, pre-1700 ceittie, pre-1700 cete, pre-1700 cetie, pre-1700 ciete, pre-1700 cietie, pre-1700 ciette, pre-1700 cietye, pre-1700 cite, pre-1700 citee, pre-1700 citie, pre-1700 citte, pre-1700 cittie, pre-1700 citty, pre-1700 cyete, pre-1700 cyte, pre-1700 scitie, pre-1700 1700s– city.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French cité.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman citee, citté, cittee, ceté, cetee, sité, sitté, scité, seté, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French cité (French cité ) a town, especially an important town (c1100; 10th cent. as ciutat ; mid 11th cent. as ciptet with reference to Rome; second half of the 12th cent. or earlier with reference to biblical places), the Judaeo-Christian heaven, regarded as a city (first half of the 12th cent., originally in cité de Deu : see City of God n.), the oldest or fortified part of a town (c1350), the inhabitants of a city collectively (although this meaning is apparently first attested later than in English: c1370), in Anglo-Norman also the historic central part of London (a1377 or earlier) < classical Latin cīvitāt- , cīvitās organized community, state, people living in a community, citizens of a state, state consisting of a city or of a city and surrounding district, town, rights of a citizen, citizenship, in post-classical Latin also Jerusalem (Vulgate), the Church, heaven (5th cent. in Augustine) < cīvis citizen (see civic adj.) + -tās (see -ty suffix1; compare -ity suffix). Compare Old Occitan ciptat , ciutat , cieutat (12th cent.), Catalan ciutat (c1200), Spanish ciudad (end of the 12th cent. as †cibdat , †cibdad ), Portuguese cidade (13th cent.), Italian città (mid 13th cent.; beginning of the 13th cent. as †citad ; also mid 13th cent. as †citade , †citate , †cittade ). Compare earlier town n. and borough n., and see discussion at those entries.Historical development of the concept and name. The original sense of classical Latin cīvitās was ‘citizenship, fact of being a citizen’, whence concretely ‘the body of citizens collectively, the community’. Subsequently (from the 1st cent. a.d.) the Latin word was used in the sense ‘the town or place occupied by the community’, i.e. as a partial synonym of urbs city, large town (see urban adj.). A development particularly significant for the later history of the word was that the Romans applied cīvitās to each of the independent states or tribes of Gaul, and (in later times) to the chief town of each of these states, which afterwards usually became the seat of both secular (civil government) and ecclesiastical (episcopal) authority. The Latin word was not borrowed into English during the Anglo-Saxon period. In Old English, the principal term used for major towns, which is frequently used to render Latin cīvitās , is burh borough n.; compare also ceaster chester n.1, sometimes specifically used with reference to Roman towns. Both in Anglo-Saxon and in post-Conquest British Latin sources, however, Latin cīvitās is frequently used with reference to major towns in Britain, in ways comparable to the use of the word in continental sources from Gaul. The English word city is first attested with reference to towns in general, frequently to biblical places (see sense 1), and from c1300 with reference to important English boroughs, e.g. Lincoln, Norwich, London (see sense 2a) as well as important foreign towns, e.g. Cologne (see sense 2b). Under the Norman kings of England, the episcopal sees, which were formerly sometimes established in villages, began to be moved to the chief borough or ‘city’ of the diocese, as in France; consequently, ‘city’ began to be taken as broadly synonymous with ‘cathedral town’. This identification was confirmed and legally countenanced when, on the establishment of six new bishoprics by Henry VIII, the boroughs in which they were set up were created ‘cities’; however, the two concepts are distinct, and the presence of a cathedral in a town has been neither necessary nor sufficient for the conferment of city status. In more recent times, the title of ‘city’ has been conferred on nearly all of the places which have been made Anglican episcopal sees since the 19th cent.; however, some of these only attained official city status many years after cathedrals were established in them (e.g. Chelmsford, which had been an episcopal see for most of the 20th cent., but was only granted city status in 2012). Reading, Berkshire, is an example of a large conurbation which (as of 2013) is an episcopal see without having city status. From the late 19th cent. onwards, the style and rank of ‘city’ have frequently been conferred by royal letters patent on large and important boroughs which are not episcopal sees; in England, the first town elevated to this rank was Birmingham, which became a city in 1889, but was only later (in 1905) created an Anglican episcopal see. In Scotland, the style of civitas appears to have been introduced from England, after the association of the word with episcopal sees, and apparently bore no relation to the size, civil importance, or municipal standing of the place, but was freely applied in charters from the time of David I (reigned 1121–34) to every bishop's seat, regardless of its size (for instance, Brechin is referred to as civitas Brechenensis in a charter of 1321). Some of these civitates only attained sufficient importance to be raised to the rank of burghs (see burgh n.) at much later dates, while others remained villages. In later times, perhaps not before the Reformation, civitas is found applied to Perth and Edinburgh, which were not episcopal seats, but ancient royal burghs, and seats of royalty. In Older Scots, the English word is from at least the early 15th cent. applied to pre-Reformation diocesan sees which were styled civitates in Latin, e.g. St Andrews, Glasgow, and Brechin, and it gradually came to be used commonly of certain of the larger of these, notably Glasgow, Perth, and Aberdeen. Edinburgh, which was created an episcopal see by King Charles I in 1633, is called a ‘city’ in Scottish sources from at least the late 17th cent. In this sense, the royal burgh of Dundee was also created a ‘city’ by royal charter in 1889. Some of the other burghs which were formerly bishop's seats, or can show civitas in their early charters, have claimed or assumed the style of ‘city’, although they are not generally or officially regarded as such. In Ireland, most of the places which are bishop's sees appear to have been styled on some occasion civitas ; Limerick, for instance, is so called in a charter of 1199. As in Scotland, some episcopal sees had a very small population (which is still the case for several Roman Catholic episcopal sees in Ireland). After the Act of Union of 1800, the term ‘city’ was applied only to a few of them which are ancient and important boroughs. The five most ancient cities in Ireland which currently still have city status are all in the Republic and were granted this status between 1172 and 1383: Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Kilkenny. In Northern Ireland, Derry (also called Londonderry) is the oldest city which still retains this status (1604). More recent creations are Belfast (1888, by royal letters patent), and (in the late 20th and early 21st centuries) Galway, Armagh (which had previously enjoyed city status from a1226 until 1840), Newry, and Lisburn. In other English-speaking countries, and in countries where English is an official language, the official and general uses of the term city vary greatly (see also the note at sense 2a). In the United States and Canada, the requirements for the granting of city status vary widely from one state or province to another, although in those states or provinces which make an official distinction between city and town , the former usually connotes municipal autonomy or organization of a more complete or higher kind than the latter. Some Canadian provinces have altogether abolished separate city status. During the period of British rule in India, city was applied titularly to the three Presidency capitals, and to all great towns of historic importance or note (e.g. the seats of dynasties), e.g. to Benares (now Varanasi), Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Indore, Peshawar, etc. The lexical distinction between ‘town’ and ‘city’ found in modern English (as described at sense 2a) is not exactly paralleled in any of the other modern Germanic or Romance languages, in most of which a single word (e.g. Dutch stad , German Stadt , French ville , Italian città ) normally denotes municipalities that would be distinguished as either ‘town’ or ‘city’ in English. Specific senses. In sense 1 in biblical contexts after post-classical Latin use of classical Latin cīvitās (Vulgate), rendering Hebrew ʿīr town, city (in the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures) and Hellenistic Greek πόλις polis n.2 (in the New Testament and Septuagint). With sense 4c compare -ville comb. form. In sense 5 ultimately after ancient Greek πόλις polis n.2
†1. Esp. with reference to biblical places, as Nain, Bethlehem, etc.: a town or other inhabited place. Obsolete.In early use apparently used as a somewhat elevated term instead of Old English burh borough n. Regular usages of burȝ toun or borow toun in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible were replaced in the later version by citee (all except borow townes in Esther 9:19, and townes in Genesis 13:12); cf. quots. a14251, a14252.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town > [noun]
boroughc893
towneOE
portOE
city?c1225
bourg1536
burgh1798
voil1821
nagar1921
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 168 Þe tur nis naut asaillet ne castel ne cite hwen ha bið iwunnen.
c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 214 (MED) Ure louerd godalmichti i bore was..i þe cite of bethleem.
c1300 St. Kenelm (Laud) l. 292 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 353 (MED) Of þe cite of wynchecumbe and of þe contreie þare-bi-side.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2669 Memphin, dat riche cite.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Josh. vii. 2 The citee [E.V. burȝ town; L. oppidi] Bethel.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Deut. xii. 21 Thou schalt ete in thi citees [E.V. burȝtouns; L. oppidis].
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xvi. §12. 57 Fforthkastand me out of the cite.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 293 All the laif that duelt into that schire, With euerie scitie that wes neir besyde.
1611 Bible (King James) Luke vii. 11 He went into a citie called Nain. View more context for this quotation
2. A large or important municipality.
a. With reference to English-speaking places: a municipality traditionally or officially designated a city, being larger in size or population, or having greater status, than a town.Use of the term city is now typically granted to large towns meeting certain criteria relating to population size and density, record of local government, number of public facilities, etc. However, the distinction between town and city has varied over time and is understood differently throughout the English-speaking world. In the United Kingdom city status is granted by the monarch and has traditionally been associated with cathedral towns, although many newly-created cities since the late 19th cent. have lacked cathedrals (see the etymology for further discussion of cities in England, Scotland, and Ireland). In early U.S. use, ‘city’ was often applied to small settlements in anticipation of future growth, and is regularly used for small incorporated places as well as for major conurbations, with exact legal characteristics varying in different states. City status is also variously determined in different Canadian provinces, but in some cases cannot be lost once granted, meaning that the term may be used of small municipalities following population decline.London is an anomaly: it contains two officially designated cities, the City of London (see sense 6a), and the City of Westminster, but ‘city’ is also used more generally to denote the entire urban area of Greater London.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun]
cityc1300
cityc1300
wonec1330
motec1390
daughter1535
civity1577
village1825
urbs1837
urb1952
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town > [noun] > borough > in U.S.
towneOE
cityc1300
borough1718
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town > [noun] > borough > in Canada
cityc1300
c1300 Life & Martyrdom Thomas Becket (Harl. 2277) (1845) 1130 He wende fram Gra[nt]ham; fyve and tuenti myle also To the cite of Lincolne.
1389 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 27 A bretherhode..of barbres, in þe site of Norwyche.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. Prol. l. 160 ‘I haue ysein segges,’ quod he, ‘in þe cite of london Beren biȝes ful briȝte.’
1454 in J. Robertson Liber Collegii Glasguensis (1846) 176 Johne Steuart the first provest that was in the cite of Glasgw.
a1500 Warkworth's Chron. (1839) 2 And graunted to many cyteis and tounes new fraunschesses.
1552 Inventory Church Goods in Coll. Hist. Staffs. (1903) New Ser. VI. i. 177 Solde by the bayles and cominalty of the sayd citty of Lychfeld.
1581 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) III. 239/1 The provest bailleis counsall, and communitie of the cietie of sanctandrois.
1641 (title) A wild-fire plot found out in Ireland, shewing how the rebels would have consumed the city of Dublin with wild-fire.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) ii. x. 235 The whole concretion of the City of Gloucester consists partly of..the ancient Borough, partly of accessions.
1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Fortescue's Governance of Eng. 65 (note) My Lord Coke's Observation, that every City is, or was, a Bishop's See, is not very exact; for Leicester which is called there a City, never had a Bishop; nor had Gloucester at that time any Bishop, tho' it is called a City in Domesday-book.
1747 J. Belcher Let. 3 Oct. in W. A. Whitehead Documents Colonial Hist. New Jersey (1880) VII. 66 I have pitcht upon this City (as call'd tho' but a village of 170 houses) for the place of my residence.
1774 W. Gostling (title) A walk in and about the city of Canterbury.
1836 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. 13 Feb. 86/3 A continuous line of Railroad from the city of Philadelphia to Baltimore.
1889 Macmillan's Mag. May 29/1 A little time back..Birmingham and Dundee, hitherto merely boroughs, were raised to the rank of cities.
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 22 Mar. 1/3 The city of Vancouver will urge the Dominion and Provincial Governments to [etc.].
1966 T. W. Freeman Conurbations Great Brit. (rev. ed.) 254 Stoke-on-Trent..became a city in 1925.
2011 Independent 5 July 20/3 Campaigners in Cambridge say their city is in danger of becoming another clone town.
b. In general use, and with reference to non-English-speaking places: a municipality of larger size or population than a town.big, boom, capital, dream, garden, sin, twin city, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun]
cityc1300
cityc1300
wonec1330
motec1390
daughter1535
civity1577
village1825
urbs1837
urb1952
c1300 11000 Virgins (Laud) l. 74 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 89 (MED) To þe cite of coloyne formest huy gonne ariue..forthþ huy wenden..Atþe cite of Basilie huy a-riueden.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 2149 Þurh cites & smale townes.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xiv. ii. 691 Þe erþe is yhiȝte with so many grete citees and bowrys.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. iii. l. 938 How þat þe souerayn men of þe Citee token þe in cure..whan þou were orphelyn..and were chosen in affinite of princes of þe Citee.
c1450 (c1350) Alexander & Dindimus (Bodl.) (1929) 9 (MED) No syte nor no sur stede soþli þei ne hadde.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde ii. iv. sig. e5v An yle named Probane wherin ben founded ten cytees and plente of other townes.
1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions Pref. 10 Of Tounes, thei made cities, and of villages, Tounes.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 69 The delightsome pleasures of Rome-Citie.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iii. vii. 45 Look on fertile France, And see the Cities and the Townes defac't.
1750 W. Skurray tr. M. di Venuti (title) A description of the first discoveries of the antient city of Heraclea.
1777 W. Robertson Hist. Amer. v. 218 They saw a lake..encompassed with large towns, and discovered the capital city [sc. Mexico] rising upon an island in the middle.
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen xviii. 277 Cairo, and Plague! During the whole time of my stay, the Plague was..master of the city.
1893 I. S. Clare Unrivaled Hist. World I. 466/1 The site..of Nineveh and the other great Assyrian cities was scarcely known.
1924 ‘P. Blundell’ Confessions of Seaman xi. 147 There is not, of course, any real ‘old town’ in Hamburg. Most of the city was burnt down in 1842.
?1946 P. H. Simpson If you'd care to Know 101 There was a place near Auckland city which many years ago was somewhat isolated, and it was called the Bouai.
2008 Church Times 20 Mar. 44/4 The wealthy businessmen are mostly from the city of Karachi.
c. Chiefly with the. The built-up and densely inhabited part of a region as distinguished from the countryside; urban areas. Cf. country n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town > [noun] > chief town of county or district
shire-town1459
city1526
county town1626
bailiwick-town1675
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Mark v. f. l And the swyne heerdes fleed, and tolde it in the cite, and in the countre.
a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 63v In a rude contrey argument, of purpose and iudgement, he rather vsed, the speach of the contrey, than talke of the Citie.
1606 Returne Knight of Poste from Hell sig. B4v I packt vppe my baggage, and made a maine backe againe for the Cittie, which..I found it more charitable then the Countrie Uulgarist.
1660 S. Clarke Lives Two & Twenty Eng. Divines 153 He was alwaies a diligent frequenter of the publique Assemblies, whether he were in the City or Countrey.
1750 T. Short New Observ. Bills of Mortality 186 The great Numbers that flock from all Parts of the Country to the City.
1830 R. H. Dana Poems I. 405 When I left you and the country for the city, I promised to send you a portion of what I might gather up here in the course of my walks, business, and visitings.
1853 M. I. Torrey City & Country Life (new ed.) xii. 178 If I could have my way, I would move out of the city, where Eugene would be away from temptation.
1910 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 12 Aug. 1/4 The city beckoned her at last; dire need and hunger dragged her in.
1953 Rotarian July 42 Until these people tasted the excitement and fervor of the city, the loneliness of the country had never disturbed them.
2005 P. F. Hamilton Judas Unchained 2 They fitted the whole profile; three bachelorettes sharing a place in the city, having fun together while they waited for their true careers to launch.
d. With modifying word or postmodifying of-phrase as a name or nickname for a particular city having some specified distinguishing feature or characteristic, or characterized by association with some specified thing. [With City of the Seven Hills compare post-classical Latin Urbs septicollis (4th cent.)] Elm, Eternal, Iron, granite, Motor, Monumental, Quaker, Windy City, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
a1571 J. Jewel Expos. Two Epist. Paul to Thessalonians (1583) (2 Thess.) 324 Rome is the Citie of seauen heades.
1590 J. Newnham Nightcrowe viii. 36 Ebron is saide to be the Cittie of the three men, because in the same were buried the three Patriarchs there.
1616 P. Simson Short Compend Hist. First Ten Persecutions III. vii. 51 The time was nowe come wherein the purpurate Harlot was to sit vpon the Citie of seuen Mountaines [sc. Rome].
1747 J. Spence Polymetis viii. xv. 243 Accordingly, the Roman poets called her [sc. Rome], The Martial City; the Eternal City.
1795 W. Cobbett Bone to gnaw for Democrats (rev. ed.) 43 How grateful it must be to thee..to be yet adored by the Democrats of the city of brotherly love [sc. Philadelphia]!
1831 Christian Pioneer Sept. 2 This church pluralist..is passing his time in the City of the Seven Hills [sc. Rome].
1843 B. F. Thompson Hist. Long Island (ed. 2) II. 245 The ecclesiastical concerns of Brooklyn have become so extensive..that it may..be denominated the city of churches.
1866 R. P. Whitworth Bailliere's S. Austral. Gazetteer 3 Adelaide..has been denominated the city of churches.
1871 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 730/2 ‘There, ma'am,’ said the driver..while he pointed with his whip towards Quebec, ‘that's what we call the Silver City.’
1936 Princeton Alumni Weekly 6 Mar. 490/1 Exposition at Johannesburg in September, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the ‘City of Gold’.
1945 Photography June 101 Kertesz wandered through the City of Light [sc. Paris] for a decade.
1976 W. M. Johnston Austrian Mind xvi. 239 Prague, the ‘Golden City’, ‘City of a Hundred Spires’.
2012 S. Talty Agent Garbo iv. 35 On the shadowy boulevards of the White City [sc. Lisbon], famous for its bone-colored buildings, intelligence was bought and sold.
3. With the and singular or plural agreement.
a. The inhabitants of a city (sense 2) considered collectively.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > town- or city-dweller > [noun] > collectively
borough-folkc1200
borough-werenc1275
burgh-werec1275
cityc1300
town folkc1325
towna1382
commonity1456
nation1523
portery1565
town1582
townspeople1587
civility1598
municipality1790
citizenry1795
citizenhood1851
burgherage1858
burgherdom1884
burgherhood1885
c1300 St. Agnes (Laud) l. 41 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 182 Þe Constable let somony al þe cite and brouȝte þis mayde heom bi-fore.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 1 Kings iv. 13 Þat forsoþe man after þat he is gon in, tolde to þe cite [L. urbi], & al þe cite [L. civitas] ȝellede.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) vi. 136 Whan the cyte vnderstode this, she began to be sore moeved.
1513 T. More Hist. Edward V (1641) 135 To frame the Citty to their appetite.
1549 W. Thomas Hist. Italie f. 153 All the citee armed theim selfes in his fauour.
1612 G. Chapman Widdowes Teares i. i. sig. B3v This sweet face Which all the Citie saies, is so like me.
1671 C. Wase tr. B. Priolo Hist. France vii. 321 A Tax was laid upon every Porte Cochere, or great Gate for a Coach to go in at, at which the City was greatly incensed.
1731 J. Ogilvie tr. P. Giannone Civil Hist. Kingdom Naples II. xxxii. v. 559 The City could not be accused of Rebellion, for they might arm themselves against an incensed Minister, to preserve to their lawful King, the City and Kingdom.
1778 J. Fellows Hist. Holy Bible I. 85 The city came To see the shew.
1830 Atlantic Souvenir 92 When the summer came..and the city Went out of town, to mountains, caves, and springs.
1851 Daily News 12 Mar. 5/2 It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the whole city is reeling drunk.
1918 Sabbath Recorder 9 Dec. 711/1 That night the city gathered in the main streets and paraded.
1979 R. P. Clark Basques iii. 66 For long stretches, the city ate almost nothing except chickpeas.
2006 J. Goodwin Janissary Tree (2007) 131 Next Monday, all the city will be watching.
b. The official or legal representatives of the inhabitants of a city; the city authorities.
ΚΠ
1652 J. Wadsworth tr. P. de Sandoval Civil Wars Spain 93 The next day being wednesday The Citie sat in counsell.
1768 Hist. City & County Norwich 244 The city having realized as much as their licence of mortmain enabled them to do..resolved to apply for another licence to amortize two hundred pounds per annum.
1885 E. C. Clarke Main Drainage Wks. Boston 10 In 1838 the City decided to assume one-quarter of the cost.
1950 Life 2 Jan. 59 It created such a scandal across the country that it even provoked the city of Chicago to call on the state vice commission to investigate the decency of the entire exhibition.
2013 E. Lee Smoke & Pickles 132 It was also, coincidentally, about the same time the city cracked down on graffiti.
4. In extended use and figurative.
a. With modifying word or of-phrase. In religious language: heaven or paradise, portrayed as a city in which God, his angels, and the beatified reside. Frequently in celestial city, heavenly city, etc. Cf. City of God n. at Phrases 1, Holy City n. at holy adj. and n. Compounds 2a.Originally and chiefly with reference to the ‘new Jerusalem’ (cf. Jerusalem n. 1) described in Revelation 21–22.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > heaven > [noun] > paradise > Elysium or Elysian field(s)
cityc1384
Elysian fields1579
Elysian1590
Elysium1599
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Royal) (1850) Apoc. xxi. 2 The holy citee [L. civitatem sanctam] Jerusalem, newe, comynge doun fro heuen of God.
a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe i. 67 To se þe blysful cite Ierusalem a-bouyn, þe cyte of Heuyn.
1534 W. Marshall tr. Erasmus Playne & Godly Expos. Commune Crede f. 174v In that heuenly cytye [L. coelesti ciuitate] there is no rebellion agaynste god.
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God xix. v. 761 How should our Celestiall Citty [L. Dei ciuitas]..haue euer come to..perfection, but that the Saints liue all in sociable vnion?
1614 E. Parr Grounds Diuinitie 231 That Heavenly Ierusalem, the Citty of Saints.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 122 Now the way to the Cœlestial City lyes just thorow this Town [of Vanity], where this lusty Fair is kept.
1750 P. Shaw Reflector iv. vii. 351 Some Christians consider..Heaven as a City paved with Gold, or precious Stones.
1796 Gill's Compl. Body Doctrinal & Pract. Divinity (new ed.) II. iv. 430 New Jerusalem; a city, as consisting of the whole family of God, who are fellow-citizens with the saints.
1834 Mother's Mag. July 101 One of the little boys stopped to ask, What kind of a city is Heaven? I told him that it was a very beautiful city.
1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues II. 160 Such an ideal of a city in the heavens has always hovered over the Christian world, and is embodied in St. Augustine's ‘De Civitate Dei’.
1906 Proc. 12th Ann. Meeting Lake Mohonk Conf. on Internat. Arbitration 124 That glorious City which St. John saw descending out of Heaven, paved with gold, and gated with pearl.
1950 W. Goyen House of Breath ix. 91 I wanted to go to Heaven, to the city Foursquare and paved with gold that we sang about in church.
2000 D. Forrester in A. Hastings et al. Oxf. Compan. Christian Thought 361/1 True justice must measure up to the divine justice and love revealed in Jesus Christ and realized fully only in the heavenly city.
b. Something likened in some way to a city (sense 2). In later use: spec. an assembly or group of people, animals, or things likened to a city in being large in size or number.In early use chiefly with reference to a city as a place of refuge or safety; cf. citadel n. 3a.agro-, cardboard, tent city, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 6272 Thou hooly chirche thou maist biwailed Sith that thy Citee is assayled.
?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 306 The cause of a qwiete conscience is, in a mannys diyinge, bycause by his lyue he hadde good kepyng, berkynge whanne enemyes come by and wolen entre þe cytee of þe soule.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. BBBiiiiv The capitans & knyghtes by whose diligence grace buyldeth and holdeth these cytees in mannes soule.
1609 W. Shakespeare Louers Complaint in Sonnets sig. K4 Long vpon these termes I held my Citty, Till thus hee gan besiege me.
1627 C. Lever Hist. Defendors Catholique Faith xxix. 327 The inuincible Nauie..appeared like a Citie of Ships.
1744 J. Thomson Spring in Seasons (new ed.) 34 The Rook, who high amid the Boughs, In early Spring, his airy City builds.
1780 J. Keys Pract. Bee-master 271 The wall of their [sc. the bees'] city indeed, being made of straw, soon decays.
1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet I. xi. 181 The [prairie] dogs never locate their towns or cities except where it [sc. grass] grows in abundance.
1860 F. W. Farrar Ess. Origin Lang. i. 19 The canoe of the savage has grown into the floating city of nations.
1928 Pop. Sci. Monthly July 51/2 (heading) A city of apes.
1959 W. Thesiger Arabian Sands iii. 54 In Syria I..had visited the summer camp of the Rualla, a city of black tents.
2007 Guardian (Nexis) 25 June 12 As soon as the last notes died on the stages..work would begin on dismantling the makeshift city of canvas and guitar amps.
c. Originally U.S. slang. Also with capital initials. As the second element in compounds denoting a situation, place, person, etc., characterized by or abounding in an attribute or quality specified by the modifying word.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > [noun] > as having character or qualities
thingc1225
headc1300
vesselc1384
soul1498
sprite?1507
spirit1559
stick1682
character1749
fish1751
hand1756
subject1797
person1807
good1809
specimen1817
a (bad, good, etc.) sortc1869
proposition1894
cookie1913
type1922
city1946
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > [adjective] > having a certain quality or qualities
positivea1398
tachedc1400
facedc1525
arsed1542
qualitied1567
qualified1590
propertieda1616
qualitated1662
city1946
1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues v. 60 All these chicks went to Weep City when they heard the words to The Curse of an Aching Heart.
1960 L. Buckley Hiparama of Classics 49 With that wild incense flyin' all over the place and that Buddha-headed moon pale Jazzmin colored flippin' the scene. It was Romance City.
1972 Time 17 Jan. 32/2 In a CBS-TV special called Funny Papers..it turned out that Daddy Warbucks is straight city, but Carroll O'Connor is pretty sexy.
1986 K. Friedman Greenwich Killing Time (1987) xxi. 90 You tell the cops and you'll wind up in wig city for sure.
1988 New Republic 7 Nov. 19/1 Some people..see a pair of crutches under a guy's arms and automatically assume, ‘Oh oh, Injury City’.
2004 T. Blacker Boy2girl (2005) 372 Something about the Brit food seems to disagree with me—suddenly it's Barf City every morning for days.
5. Ancient History. A Greek or Roman city-state; = polis n.2
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > a or the state > [noun] > city state
city1481
polis1884
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun] > sovereign or independent
freedom1423
city1481
free city1575
imperial city1603
city republic1838
city-state1840
1481 tr. Cicero De Senectute (Caxton) sig. f5v A man of the cytee of lacedomone in grece calllid lisander.
1541 T. Elyot Image of Gouernance xv. f. 27 Aristotle, in defynyng, what is a Citie, doth not cal it a place builded with houses, & enuironned with walles, but saith, that it is a company, which hath sufficiencie of liuing, and is constitute or assembled to the intent to lyue wel.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iii. i. 199 Scici. What is the Citie, but the People?.. All. True, the People are the Citie. View more context for this quotation
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. v. §9 Union thus made is called a City, or Civill Society, and also a civill Person.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. 229/1 City, in speaking of Antiquity, signifies a State, or People, with all its Dependencies, constituting a particular Republic.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xvii. 69 The Ædui, one of the most powerful and civilized tribes or cities of Gaul.
1847 G. Grote Hist. Greece III. ii. ix. 31 The restoration of a government of personal will in place of that systematic arrangement known as the City.
1873 J. Morley Rousseau II. 101 We seem to be reading over again the history of a Greek city.
1928 E. A. Parker tr. V. Chapot Rom. World ii. iii. 99 Greeks and Romans had the same conception of the city, polis or civitas.
1999 A. Marangou in A. Chaniotis From Minoan Farmers to Rom. Traders 269 The wine-growers [in Archaic and Classical Crete society]..paid their taxes to the city.
6. British. With the and usually with capital initial.
a. The City of London, the small historic central part of London situated within its ancient boundaries and under the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor and the City of London Corporation, having official city status in its own right. Also: the inhabitants of this district; the Corporation itself.Also popularly known as the square mile (see square mile at square adj. 1b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > named cities or towns > [noun] > in Britain > London
city1556
start1753
Cockaigne1818
the smoke1864
big smoke1898
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > named cities or towns > [noun] > in Britain > London > parts of
vintrya1456
steelyard1474
tower hillc1480
city1556
Bow-bell1600
row1607
gate1723
east end1742
Mayfair1754
garden1763
warren1769
west?1789
the Borough1797
west end1807
Holy Land1821
Belgravia1848
Tyburnia1848
Mesopotamia1850
South Kensington1862
Dockland1904
South Ken1933
Fitzrovia1958
square mile1966
1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 14 Prestes, freeres, and other sage men of the cytte.
1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 i. i. 67 Know you not the Cittie fauours them.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1660 (1955) III. 241 Now were the Gates of the Citty broken-downe by Gen: Monke, which exceedingly exasperated the Citty.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 7 There died but three, of which not one within the whole City or Liberties.
1763 London Chron. 19 Mar. 280/1 They proceeded to Temple-Bar..and within the gate the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriff performed the usual ceremony at their entrance into the city.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 351 The City is no longer regarded by the wealthiest traders with that attachment which every man naturally feels for his home.
1884 B. Scott London Roll Fame 11 Within a few months he received the Freedom of the City.
1914 G. Lee Diary 11 Sept. in Home Fires Burning (2006) 33 The City is requested to do without brilliant lights such as arc lights, illuminated fronts to theatres and shops, advertisements etc.
1973 Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 8/1 The Council, sitting in Star Chamber, publicly ordered anyone not occupationally resident in London to leave the City forthwith.
1997 S. Leigh & S. Taylor Livery Companies of City of London (Corporation of London) 27 This ceremony is performed at the site of the old Temple Bar, the ceremonial frontier between Westminster and the City.
b. spec. The business part or community of this district, traditionally situated in the neighbourhood of the Royal Exchange and Bank of England and regarded as London's financial centre. In later use also more generally: the financial or business sectors of London.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > workplace > [noun] > business area of London
city1621
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > financial centre
street1555
rialto1600
city1621
alley1720
Lombard Street1721
money centre1838
Wall Street1841
society > trade and finance > trading place > a centre of commerce > [noun] > commercial centre in town or city > specific
(the) Mercery1387
steelyard1474
city1621
1621 in W. Notestein et al. Commons Debates (1935) II. 447 Though money be wanting in the country yet it is in the City.
1621 in W. Notestein et al. Commons Debates (1935) VI. 321 They of the Citty to lay the riches downe.
1715 E. Ward Hist. Grand Rebellion III. 591 The proud Senate..Rowz'd up their Courage, to the City sent For Money, which the last Rump Parliament Had Levy'd as a Tax.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. cv. 160 An order for thirty pounds upon the what-d'ye-call-'em in the city.
1820 C. Lamb in London Mag. Aug. 144/2 Not that Tipp was blind to the deadness of things (as they call them in the city).
1865 Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 177 1618 It is said that ‘the City’ joins in this feeling... Well, I never knew the City to be right.
1976 Economist 12 June 51/1 There is much taradiddle in the City about the Bank's moral obligation to make restitution.
1989 New Scientist 17 June 74 An increasing number of science graduates are finding jobs in the City.
2012 Evening Standard (Nexis) 14 May 4 Canary Wharf is on the brink of overtaking the City as London's financial centre.

Phrases

P1.
City of God n. [after post-classical Latin civitas Dei (Vulgate); compare Anglo-Norman cité de Deu, Middle French, French cité de Dieu (first half of the 12th cent.)] (in religious language) heaven or paradise, imagined as a city (cf. sense 4a); (also) an ideal or heavenly city.Sometimes used spec. of or with reference to the idealized city described by St Augustine of Hippo (354–430) in his treatise De Civitate Dei (cf. quot. a1500).
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun] > other types of city
kine-burghc1225
City of Goda1382
city of refuge (alsorefute)a1425
mother city?a1425
imperial city1550
city dwelling1613
second city1621
out-city1642
garden town1835
hoard-burg1895
garden city1898
cathedral city1902
parasitopolis1927
twin city1973
arcology1985
sustainable city1986
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Psalms xlv. 5 The bure of the flod gladith the cite of God [L. civitatem Dei].
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 88 Seynte Augustyne compileth þe booke callid The Cite of God.
1541 M. Coverdale tr. H. Bullinger Olde Fayth sig. N.viv The cytye of God triumpheth, and the bloude of innocent Abell and his brethren, speaketh yet.
1621 T. W. tr. S. Goulart Wise Vieillard 25 So farre out of the way..that they can hardly hit the right way againe to the..citie of God [Fr. la Cité de Dieu].
1736 Gentleman's Mag. June 346/2 We're but exiles here at best, Pilgrims, who seek a city yet to come, City of God, eternal in the skies.
1847 J. Keble Serm. Academical & Occas. viii. 200 A system of tradition, subsidiary to the Scriptures, might yet exist in the commonwealth or city of God.
1937 Life 1 Feb. 54/1 To every ‘How do you do?’ he replied, ‘I am on my way to the City of God.’
1984 K. M. Smith Social Crisis Preaching 6 John Calvin..set out to bring into being a city of God.
2008 C. A. Lockard Societies, Networds, & Transitions viii. 220/1 Augustine..argued that the ‘city of god’ comprised all who followed God's laws..while the ‘city of man’ consisted of non-Christians.
P2.
city of refuge (also †refute) n. [after post-classical Latin confugii civitas (Vulgate), itself ultimately after Hebrew ʿīr miqlaṭ (also ʿīr ha-miqlaṭ; < ʿīr town, city + miqlaṭ refuge, asylum)] any of the six towns in ancient Israel and Judah in which (according to Mosaic law) perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum. Also figurative and in extended use: any place, thing, or person offering refuge or safety.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > refuge or shelter > [noun] > inviolable refuge, sanctuary, or asylum > an asylum or sanctuary
frithsoken1014
gritha1300
sanctuaryc1374
city of refuge (alsorefute)a1425
grith-placea1425
grith-stonea1425
grith-towna1425
asylumc1430
abbey1675
flemensfirth1805
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun] > other types of city
kine-burghc1225
City of Goda1382
city of refuge (alsorefute)a1425
mother city?a1425
imperial city1550
city dwelling1613
second city1621
out-city1642
garden town1835
hoard-burg1895
garden city1898
cathedral city1902
parasitopolis1927
twin city1973
arcology1985
sustainable city1986
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Josh. xxi. 13 Ebron, a citee of refuyt [E.V. fliȝt; L. confugii civitatem].
1607 A. Dent Path-way to Heauen (new ed.) 387 Christ..is our city of refuge.
1611 Bible (King James) Josh. xx. 2 Appoint out for you cities of refuge . View more context for this quotation
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 286 Leave the man-slayer no city of refuge.
1872 Catholic World Sept. 724 It [sc. Geneva] has become..the city of refuge of all exiles, royalist, Mazzinist and social.
1890 Unitarian Dec. 561/2 I do not intend to imply that the Unitarian pulpit should be a city of refuge for malcontents and theological anarchists.
1991 A. Unterman Dict. Jewish Lore & Legend 54/2 Refugees lived a normal life in a city of refuge, but they had to stay there till the death of the High Priest.
2006 H. A. Porter in H. Bloom R. Wright's Black Boy 80 Wright had envisioned Chicago as a city of refuge.
P3.
city of the plain n. [after Hebrew ʿīr ha-kikkar (Genesis 13:12; < ʿīr town, city + ha- the + kikkar plain, valley, oval-shaped district, specific sense development of kikkar round thing)] any of the five biblical cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar (or Bela), situated on the plain of Jordan and destroyed according to Genesis 19 because of the wickedness of the inhabitants. Also in extended use: any place notorious for depravity or corruption. Chiefly in plural as cities of the plain. Cf. Sodom n.
ΚΠ
1540 Bible (Great) Gen. xiii. 12 Lot abode in the cyties of the playne [Heb. ʿīrē ha-kikkar].
1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xiii. 12 Lot dwelled in the cities of the plaine, and pitched his tent toward Sodome. View more context for this quotation
1705 A. Symson Tripatriarchicon 85 'Twas a showr Strange, fierce, and [printed ana] terrible, which did devour The cities of the plain, and all therein Both man and beast.
a1749 P. Cockburn Enq. into Truth Mosaic Deluge (1750) i. i. 20 God designed to destroy Sodom, and the other cities of the Plain, for their abominable and unnatural crimes.
1838 Southern Literary Messenger Mar. 149/2 Perhaps the sudden and consuming wrath which fell upon the city of the plain, was mercy compared with the protracted sufferings of this abandoned people.
1884 Sat. Rev. 8 Nov. 590/2 Mr. Thorold Rogers's comparison of the House of Lords to the Cities of the Plain.
1926 Rotarian Nov. 16/3 Paris is absurdly supposed by bleak and ignorant Anglo-Saxons to be one of those ‘cities of the plain’, given over entirely to ‘chambering and wantonness’.
2012 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 4 Mar. 14 If Rezzori had sat in judgment over the Old Testament cities of the plain, one suspects they would have come away with a fine and a few dozen hours of community service.
P4. Roman History. the year of the city: (more fully year of the city of Rome) used to denote a particular year since the traditional date of the foundation of Rome, specified by a number; cf. ab urbe condita adv.The foundation of Rome is traditionally reckoned as 753 B.C.
ΚΠ
1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil Abridgem. Notable Worke ii. v. f. 44v The water dial was vsed fyrst in Rome by P. Scipio Nasica ye ix.c. yere of the cytie to deuide ye houres of the day & night.
1611 A. Munday Briefe Chron. 29 The Countrey was then reduced into the forme of a Prouince: the yeare of the Citty of Rome, 693.
1698 T. Hearne Ductor Historicus I. iii. xviii. 383 This notable Change of the Roman State happened in the 302d year of the City.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. App. (at cited word) On subduing the Sabines, in the year of the city 304, a supplication of one day only was ordained.
1781 W. Cooke Medallic Hist. Imperial Rome I. Introd. p.xv The Denarii were of pure Silver, till the: Year of the City DCLXII.
1837 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 42 166 No direct taxes at all were paid by the Roman people, the spoils of Perseus of Macedon being deposited in the public treasury..in the year of the city five hundred and eighty-six.
1921 E. L. White Andivius Hedulio i. i. 5 On the Nones of June in the 937th year of the city, while Cossonius Marullus and Papirius Aelian were consuls.
1987 D. J. Wilcox Meas. Times Past v. 133 When he [sc. Orosius] came to date the birth of Christ, however, he dated it simply in the 752nd year of the city.
P5. the city that never sleeps and variants: (a name given to) a city that is busy and lively at all times of the day and night. The phrase is now most frequently associated with New York City, but is also applied to Mumbai, Barcelona, and Tel Aviv, among others.
ΚΠ
1878 Goshen (Indiana) Times 7 Mar. 1/4 Although midnight, the city that never sleeps was alive with vehicles and foot passengers.
1939 E. Wells Champagne Days of San Francisco 1 ‘The city that never slept’, it was called in champagne days, ‘for in those days no gentleman ordered anything with the dinner save champagne.’
1977 F. Ebb New York, New York (song) in www.lyricsmania.com (O.E.D. Archive) I wanna wake up in the city, that doesn't sleep.
2006 New Yorker 5 June 35/1 It's part of the caffeinated romance of the city that never sleeps.
P6.
City and Guilds adj. and n. British (a) adj. designating an examination set, or qualification awarded, by the City and Guilds of London Institute, as City and Guilds course, City and Guilds examination, etc.; (b) n. a City and Guilds examination or qualification.The institute was founded in 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies with the aim of improving technical education, and was part of Imperial College for most of the 20th cent. It now functions mainly as an examinations board.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > educational administration > examination > [noun] > other examinations
recitation1770
screw1810
term paper1873
trade test1880
City and Guilds1882
entry exam1886
inter1891
pop quiz1931
society > education > educational administration > examination > [adjective] > other examinations
City and Guilds1882
1882 Telegr. Jrnl. & Electr. Rev. 12 Aug. 105/1 I venture to think this charge against the City and Guilds examinations is quite unfounded.
1923 Gas Jrnl. 10 Oct. 129/1 The man..had passed his City and Guilds when he was 18 or 20.
1939 Brit. Baker 5 May 5/2 The City and Guilds' written and practical bread-making and confectionery examinations are taking place.
1977 Western Mail (Cardiff) 5 Mar. 11/1 (advt.) Ideally the successful applicants will..have completed the city and guilds radio and TV mechanic's course.
1988 New Scientist 12 Nov. 8 (advt.) For the Technical Grade 1 post, full City and Guilds, BTec/ONC or equivalent is required.
2007 Wisden Cricketer July 66/4 He had gone back to county cricket still as an apprentice and completed his City and Guilds.
P7. Father of the city: see father n. 5c. Gate(s) of the city: see gate n.1 2. keys to the city: see key n.1 3c.

Compounds

C1.
a. attributive.
(a) With the sense ‘of or relating to a city or the City (sense 6); (also) belonging to, situated in, living in, suited to, or characteristic of, a city or the City’; also occasionally appositive, with the sense ‘that is a city’.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [adjective]
cityc1330
civila1593
civical1602
urban1619
urbicarian1654
civic1656
urbian1710
urbic1855
c1330 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (Auch.) l. 130 in Englische Studien (1885) 8 117 (MED) Riȝt bifore þe cite walle His ost he dede at ones crie.
1389 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 49 Withoute þe cite townes ende.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 7537 He rideþ dales and doune Þat he seeþ þat cite-toune [a1425 Linc. Inn acite towne].
1555 tr. P. M. Vermigli Treat. Cohabitacyon Faithfull f. 33 These seyngs and suddayn meetings in the cytie streetes and fieldes, could not be auoyded.
1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. Hviiiv At lengthe bespeakes, the cytie mouse [L. urbanus (mus)], my frende why lyke you still, To lyue in countrye fastynglye, vppon a craggie hill?
1594 Life & Death Iacke Straw sig. F2v The Cittie armes shall beare for memorie, The bloody dagger the more for Walworths honour.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. iii. 91 You Citie-Vipers, that (incestuous) ioyne Vse vpon vse, begetting Coyne of Coyne.
1611 Second Maiden's Trag. (1909) iv. iii. 59 A great Cittie-Pye brought to a table.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. xi. 31 I am attended at the Cyprus groue... 'Tis South the City Mils. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iii. vii. 67 Make not a Citie Feast of it. View more context for this quotation
1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 105 The Citie-people accustomed..to approve the gesture of the Player.
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V ccclxiv, in Poems (1878) IV. 192 While Cittie-Liveries..resolve it to their Cost.
a1704 T. Brown Pleasant Epist. in Wks. (1707) I. ii. 5 Confirm our City-Youth in the true Principles of their Ancestors.
1724 J. Swift Let. to Molesworth 11 Let me have..Good City security against this Pestilent Coynage.
1729 A. Pope Dunciad (new ed.) i. 94 What City-Swans, once sung within the walls.
1787 J. Hawkins Life Johnson in Wks. I. 434 To this person, as to a city-friend, Mr. Garrick held himself obliged.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess Concl. 163 The city-roar that hails Premier or king!
1873 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Wooin' o'T xxxiii. 407 The bank-rate is a sort of index to the state of City affairs.
1941 J. Grenfell Let. 14 Dec. in Darling Ma (1989) 321 He and I ate at a dreamy City restaurant.
1976 Billings (Montana) Sunday Gaz. 27 June g1/2 The dump trucks carry a city insignia.
1988 Times 28 June 33/5 City companies in particular are not keen to recruit those who are long in the tooth.
2012 Independent on Sunday 13 May (New Review) 40 The Himalayan birch is just as likely to be seen..creating charming mini copses in city landscapes.
(b)
city bounds n.
ΚΠ
1622 Middleton Triumphs Honor & Vertue sig. B4 The City bounds transcend not in their place.
1735 J. Thomson Antient & Mod. Italy Compared: 1st Pt. Liberty 213 Within the City-bounds the desert see.
1881 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 5 Mar. 350/1 The possible sources of infection from the influx of visitors..forms a very strong objection to the placing of infectious hospitals without the city bounds.
1921 L. E. Elliott Brazil Today & Tomorrow iv. 127 The luxurious European car does its chief duty within city bounds.
2011 E. Moon Kings of North iii. 26 The procession had completed its tour of the city bounds.
city colony n.
ΚΠ
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xiv. vi. 413 As men go to the city-colony [L. urbanam coloniam] erected by Sylla.
1880 Glasgow Herald 10 Dec. Pages describing the social life of a little city colony of which there is hardly now a survival.
1998 C. Davies Jokes & Relation to Society 193 Abdera was a Greek city colony in Thrace.
city community n.
ΚΠ
1721 Daily Courant 20 Nov. The City Communities have not yet determined what House to appropriate to the use of the Imperial Ministers.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. I. 19 The whole of these city-communities were either conquerors or conquered.
2005 G. Black Engaging Museum 215 The city museums use..their temporary exhibitions and activities programming to reflect contemporary city communities.
city council n.
ΚΠ
1641 J. Taylor Englands Comfort & Londons Ioy 2 The Aldermen, with Mr. Recorder of London, all in Scarlet Gowns, with the City Councell, came all on horse-back to the Lord Majors house.
1702 Case Toleration Recogniz'd 17 The May'ralty and other Offices are confin'd to their City Councils.
1870 Nation 1 Dec. 364/2 The city is governed by a city council (duma) and a city regency (uprava).
1913 (title) Communication of His Honor Mayor Harrison to the City Council of the city of Chicago.
2010 Independent 18 Sept. 8/3 The city council..is run by a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
city court n.
ΚΠ
1644 R. Williams Blovdy Tenent vi. 25 Citie-Courts, Citie-Lawes, Citie-punishments.
1827 A. N. Royall Tennessean ii. 11 I was committed to prison, to await my trial at the ensuing term of the city court.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 12 Apr. 22/7 The Farboil Paint Company, Inc., yesterday filed suit in the City Court asking $10,000 damages.
2005 N. Dalla & P. Alson One of Kind iii. 25 In a civil lawsuit filed in the city court of New York, Irwin..demanded one-third of his father's estate.
city dame n.
ΚΠ
1598 J. Marston Metamorph. Pigmalions Image x. 5 The subtile Citty-dame.
1671 J. Sharp Midwives Bk. iii. ii. 178 Idleness is a great enemy to conception, and that may be the reason that so many City Dames have so few children.
1854 Menasha (Wisc.) Advocate 22 May 1/6 Our proud daughters and city dames would turn up their noses haughtily, were they to be present at an apple bee.
2005 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 4 Apr. 22 The naive ranger..falls for the hoity-toity city dame.
city gate n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > gate > [noun]
portc1330
town gatec1380
city gatec1450
castle-gate1590
portress1638
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] > opening which may be passed through > gate or gateway > city-gate
portOE
city gatec1450
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 195 (MED) When he come att þe cetie yate.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 251 Come, Ile conuey thee through the City-gate . View more context for this quotation
1738 Hist. Reg. No. 90. 137/1 The evil Consequences of laying open the City Gates, and taking away its Guard, are innumerable.
1872 C. D. Warner Saunterings 256 He stood on top of the massive old city gate.
2000 Independent on Sunday 12 Nov. (Travel section) 4/1 No motor vehicle can enter the city gates except the smallest of motocyclettes.
city government n.
ΚΠ
1606 Returne Knight of Poste from Hell sig. C Since the blessed comming of his most excellent Maiestie, I had not beheld the Cittie gouernment.
1730 Hist. Reg. No. 58. 127 The grossest Abuses were crept into the City Government.
1899 Yale Law Rev. 9 76 To expect such men to grapple successfully with the great problems of city government is absurd.
1998 M. Baldassare When Govt. Fails 213 Very few residents viewed..their city government as highly responsive to local residents.
city judge n. [after German Stadtrichter (1416 or earlier as stattrichter)]
ΚΠ
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. iv. v. 275 The City Iudges [in Switzerland] haue..power to iudge and punish capitally.
1762 P. Murdoch tr. A. F. Büsching New Syst. Geogr. II. 14 The royal free cities..have a council of their own, in which a city judge and burgomaster usually reside.
1833 Spectator 17 Aug. 767/1 It was a boast at the Old Bailey, that a recent City judge could despatch sixty or seventy trials a day.
2006 C. Copus Leading Localities 149 The mayor is..responsible for appointing city judges.
city knight n.
ΚΠ
1647 A. Brewer Countrie Girle sig. H3v I have heard of such a one—a knight, A Citty knight.
1701 D. Defoe True-born Englishman i. 25 Innumerable City-Knights we know.
1820 C. A. Eaton Rome, in 19th Cent. II. xlii. 228 To make the archangel a saint..seems an honour..as superfluous as to dub a duke or an archduke a city knight.
1996 J. M. Todd Secret Life A. Behn (1997) xxv. 357 Characterised by the conventions of Tory plays, the old City knights are frequently impotent.
city lot n. North American
ΚΠ
1683 W. Penn Let. Free Soc. Traders 9 Your City-Lot is an whole Street.
1798 J. Belknap Amer. Biogr. II. 420 All owners of one thousand acres were entitled to a city-lot.
1844 D. Lee & J. H. Frost Ten Years in Oregon vi. 79 The..gentleman..was selling off small city lots at one hundred dollars a piece.
2004 High Country News 7 June 17/3 Some buy up quaint two-bedroom single-story homes on city lots, demolish them, then build mega-houses that tower above their neighbors.
city marshal n.
ΚΠ
a1640 P. Massinger City-Madam (1658) iv. ii. 75 Sha, The Citie-Marshal! Gol, And the Sheriff. I know him.
1714 London Gaz. No. 5261/3 The two City Marshals on Horseback, with their Men on Foot to make Way.
1890 Daily News 29 Sept. 5/4 The City Marshal of Leavenworth, Kansas, has announced that he will henceforth arrest..all persons found playing progressive euchre.
1998 L. David & J. Seinfeld Jacket in L. David et al. Seinfeld Scripts 236 A cop comes by, tells me to get out of the car. He's a city marshal.
city mayor n.
ΚΠ
1617 J. Vicars tr. F. Herring Mischeefes Mysterie ii. 81 The Citty Maior and all his Brethren graue, In scarlet gownes, and massie chaines of golde.
1759 Life & Real Adventures Hamilton Murray I. x. 107 The lieutenant..mounted the side with the pride of a city mayor on a procession.
1880 Rev. Ordinances City of Ottumwa iv. 26 The city mayor shall receive for his services..a salary of one thousand dollars per annum.
2006 Guardian (Nexis) 5 Dec. (Educ. section) 8 It provides an opportunity for debating the role of elected local authorities and elected city mayors.
city moat n.
ΚΠ
1671 J. Ogilby tr. O. Dapper et al. Atlas Chinensis 635 On the South-West side of the City Paoting, close by the City Moat, is a small, but very pleasant Lake.
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. IV. 123 The dutchess's garden lies near the city-moat.
1862 T. W. Blakiston Five Months on Yang-Tsze ii. 17 The best way to go if you have a good crew to your boat is along the city moat.
2011 Time Out Copenhagen 77/1 The garden was laid out in 1871..with a lake that was once part of the city moat as its centrepiece.
city official n.
ΚΠ
1689 E. Bohun tr. J. Sleidane Gen. Hist. Reformation of Church iv. 73 It had been stipulated, That when he had any Action against a Clergy-man, he should try it before his City-Official.
1836 Mechanic's Mag. 9 Jan. 275/1 The city officials, who are always looking more to the money things will bring to their own pockets, than to the advantage of the public.
1921 J. Thurber Let. 22 Jan. (2002) 80 I remained in the ol' hall ten minutes after the councilmen and prominent city officials and local residents attending the session had beat it.
2007 Independent 23 Apr. 22/4 ‘I have absolutely no doubt this project is going to sell out,’ Mr Kelleher told city officials last week.
city soldier n.
ΚΠ
1576 R. Robinson tr. F. Patrizi Moral Methode Ciuile Policie ix. f. 85v, (margin) City souldiers.
1739 Read's Weekly Jrnl. 10 Nov. A party of the City Soldiers.
1831 J. Hemingway Hist. City Chester I. 174 The assessors..were ordered to assess such of the city soldiers as were able and wealthy.
2004 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 16 Apr. 19 Never before seen diaries of city soldiers who fought in one of the most famous battles in British history are to be published in a new book.
city wall n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > that which or one who closes or shuts > a barrier > [noun] > wall > city wall
city wallc1330
c1330Cite walle [see Compounds 1a(a)].
1567 G. Turberville tr. G. B. Spagnoli Eglogs vi. f. 60 I..had my female Goates within the Citie wall.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Aries, an Engin anciently used for the battering down of Citie Walls.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 428. ⁋1 Every great shop within the City-walls.
1849 G. Williams Holy City II. i. 51 The second city-wall joined the East wall of the fort.
1967 Life 23 Mar. 62/2 The church..lies inside the city walls.
2011 Trailfinder Spring 12/1 The 600 year old Ming Dynasty city walls..stretch for over four miles.
city work n.
ΚΠ
1644 J. Greene Nehemiah's Teares 12 Severall reasons might be given why Temple and Citie worke went on so slowly in Jerusalem.
1727 Polit. State Great Brit. Oct. 369 Mr. Thompson..tells a Story of a particular Injury I had done him in his Business, by employing in the City Work one who was no Freeman.
1873 ‘M. Twain’ Gilded Age xxxiiii. 303 By and by he became a large contractor for city work.
1995 Briarpatch Mar. 11/2 Farm work isn't like city work.
b. Objective with agent nouns.
city builder n.
ΚΠ
1593 M. Drayton Idea viii. sig. J2 The Citie builder then intrencht his towres, and wald his wealth within the fenced towne.
1688 R. Morden Geogr. Rectified (ed. 2) 332 Seleucus, esteemed the greatest City-Builder in the World.
1851 R. R. Madden Shrines & Sepulchres II. i. 11 Whence..came this ancient race of city-builders; where was the cradle of its civilisation?
1991 A. Nikiforuk Fourth Horseman viii. 131 City builders such as the Greeks and Romans wheezed and hacked aplenty, and called the ailment phthisis.
city burner n.
ΚΠ
1683 E. Settle Narrative 20 A stricter inquisition after these Jesuitical City burners.
1814 Monthly Mag. Sept. 276 We formed our opinions of city-burners from the classic authors, in their accounts of the deeds of the barbarian Goths, Huns, Gauls, and Vandals.
2005 H. Duncan Vellum 376 Uriel is the military type, more of a tactician than a city-burner.
city founder n.
ΚΠ
1600 P. Holland tr. J. B. Marlianus Svmmary Topogr. Rome ii. xv, in tr. Livy Rom. Hist. 1361 The memoriall of their citie founder [L. conditoris], should remaine more firmely in the minds of men.
1847 Californian (San Francisco) 8 Sept. We congratulate California upon its numerous advantages for city founders.
2006 Indianapolis Monthly June 285/2 In the 1820s, when the capital was settled, city founders thought White River would become a busy thoroughfare. They soon learned it was unnavigable.
city razer n. rare
ΚΠ
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads ii. 22 Then The citie-razer [Gk. πτολίπορθος], Ithacus, stood vp to speake againe.
2010 M. C. J. Putnam in P. Hardie & H. Moore Classical Literary Careers i. 29 The shepherds of pastoral verse are as incongruous in the role of apiarists as is an Aeneas in the position of city-razer.
c.
(a) Instrumental and locative.
ΚΠ
a1640 P. Massinger Bashful Lover iv. i. 48 in 3 New Playes (1655) Five hundred City-dub'd Madams.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus ii. 38 What though Cretans old called thee City-crested Cybele?
1851 Amer. Jrnl. Dental Sci. Jan. 206 There is a vast disproportion in the quality of milk when the cow is country fed..and when city fed on slops and grain.
1927 Motor Boating Sept. 148 The possibility of boating..on Adelanto lake appealed tremendously to the city-raised seekers for novel recreation.
1958 G. A. Petrides Field Guide Trees & Shrubs 134 City-planted Old World Sycamores are called Plane-trees.
1971 J. W. Lewis City in Communist China 25 The energies of city-based officials were diverted to the countryside.
1985 G. L. Clark Judges & Cities v. 88 Mayor Kevin White announced a new policy for city-funded or city-administered public construction projects.
1996 P. Ward in A. Gilbert Mega-city Lat. Amer. iii. 68 The cost of travelling on the metro and the city-run bus system has risen progressively in recent years.
(b)
city-born adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales i. viii. 14 A multitude of citie-borne bondmen [L. vernacula multitudo], and after made free.
?a1634 E. Bolton Cities Great Concern in Question of Honour & Arms (1674) 4 Such also as through vanity..disdain to seem either City-born or bred.
1708 W. Crouch Enormous Sin of Covetousness vi. 45 The Romans..would deprive their City-Born Son of a Sepulchre, because he was such a Notorious Lyar.
1898 Appletons' Pop. Sci. Monthly Mar. 595 Less than eight per cent..were the children of city-born parents.
1916 Amer. Printer 5 June 53/2 Items which would seem commonplace to the city-born are to him comedy, drama or tragedy.
2007 Amer. Motorcyclist Sept. 44/2 Being city-born, I hadn't learned that when you see one deer, there are probably more nearby.
city-bred adj.
ΚΠ
1629 E. Bolton Cities Aduocate 5 Such also, as through vanity, or other sicknesse of the wit, or iudgement, disdaine to seeme either Citie-borne, or Citie-bred.
1757 Monthly Rev. Sept. 283 Put a flail into the hands of the strongest city bred man in England..he will make but a poor hand of it.
1885 Liverpool Daily Post 30 June 4/6 A city-bred child.
1998 L. Langman Amer. Film Cycles 2 He portrays a kind-hearted country husband whose city-bred wife..deserts him.
city dweller n.
ΚΠ
1726 F. Altieri Dizionario Italiano & Inglese Cittadino, a citizen, a city-dweller.
1853 L. F. Allen Rural Archit. 122 Country houses designed for the summer occupancy of city dwellers.
1922 E. Kimball State & Munic. Govt. U.S. xix. 357 The average income of the city-dweller is larger than the countryman's.
2010 A. Holmes in A. Boutros & W. Straw Circulation & City 244 The Parisian flâneur delights in his idle gaze on fellow city dwellers and street scenes.
city-owned adj.
ΚΠ
1893 Rev. of Reviews Feb. 61/1 The last fiscal year of city-owned gas works.
1937 Life 5 July 56/2 The beach is city-owned, free to all comers.
1995 Vegetarian Times Feb. 102/3 The organization..leases city-owned vacant property to neighborhood groups for the creation of vegetable and flower gardens.
C2.
city Arab n. now archaic or historical a homeless child or young person living on the streets; cf. Arab n.1 4b, street Arab n.
ΚΠ
1848 Ld. Shaftesbury Parl. Speech 6 June City Arabs..are like tribes of lawless freebooters, bound by no obligations, and utterly ignorant or utterly regardless of social duties.
1884 J. E. Taylor Sagacity of Plants 181 The city Arabs who sell fusees in the streets.
2009 A. M. Buis in L. Lerner Depicting Canada's Children 149 The epic adventure follows the rehabilitation of two ‘city-Arabs’ and their blossoming in the wilderness of Canada.
City article n. British an editorial article about, or summary of, financial and business news (esp. in a London-based newspaper); cf. City page n.
ΚΠ
1825 Times 31 Dec. 2/4 It will be observed by our City article that expectations exist of a falling off in the Quarter's Revenue.
1881 Pall Mall Gaz. 16 Sept. 10/1 The City article of the Standard contains this morning a circumstantial account of a plan for the refurbishment of the Mexican debt.
1962 Times 9 July 11/5 Your City article on July 5 indicates some surprise at the Chancellor's confidence about price stability.
2009 M. Poovey in N. Henry & C. Schmitt Victorian Investm. ii. 42 City articles became a source of rudimentary, nonspecific investment advice.
city attorney n. now chiefly U.S. (originally) an attorney who works in the city; (now chiefly) an attorney employed by a city to advise and represent it in legal matters.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > state or public law officers
the King's Attorney1414
attorneya1513
attorney-general1533
Solicitor-General1533
city attorney1664
state's attorney1779
AG1814
Official Solicitor1875
1664 Ungrateful Favourite iii. vi. 50 We'll wrangle like City-Atturneys at Loves Bar, and joyn like Brothers in Calisto's ruine.
1727 P. Aubin tr. R. Challes Illustrious French Lovers I. 152 I was born in Paris, the Son of an eminent City-Attorney.
1893 Northwestern Reporter 53 183/1 One of the powers conferred upon the city council was that of appointing a city attorney.
1935 Fortune Aug. 61/3 Back home in Leavenworth, Kansas, John W. Haussermann had been known as the ‘boy wonder’ city attorney.
2010 R. Broom Cocked & Loaded 112 The smack talk stopped as soon as the city attorney told them that they couldn't arrest us.
city avens n. [after scientific Latin urbanum, specific epithet of the wood avens (1753), specific use of neuter singular nominative of classical Latin urbanus urban adj.] now rare the wood avens or herb bennet, Geum urbanum.
ΚΠ
1857 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. V. Index 348/3 City-avens.
1907 A. A. Temple Flowers & Trees Palestine 97 G. urbanum: Goldy, star-of-the-earth, city avens, wood avens, herb bennet.
2000 C. W. Fetrow Compl. Guide Herbal Med. 34 Other names for avens include Benedict's herb, city avens, clove root, [etc.]
city bike n. (a) a motorcycle or (usually) bicycle designed for use in urban areas; (b) a bicycle which can be hired by a person for use in a city or urban area under a bicycle sharing system.In form Citi Bike (in sense (b)) a proprietary term in the United States.
ΚΠ
1966 Amer. Motorcyclist Apr. 29 (advt.) The city bike that's at home in the woods.
1990 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 9 Nov. ‘You take a bike, drive around as long as you want it and put it back in a special-built rack. No charge,’ explained..an originator of the Bycykel (City Bike) project.
1991 N.Y. Times 13 Oct. (Travel section) 3/1 Under the program, riders may borrow a City-Bike by inserting a 20-krone coin (about $3.10) in one of hundreds of special bike racks to be installed all over the city.
2007 Condé Nast Traveller May 58/2 The Electra Amsterdam is based on the classic Dutch city-bike. Offering a more upright ride than a mountain bike, it has reassuringly simple three-speed gears, and a ‘coat guard’ that stops your Burberry trench coat getting chewed by the chain.
2011 D. McNamee & M. Childs Frommer's Austria v. 100 After registering you can ride your city bike for free for the first hour of every rental.
2012 N.Y. Mag. 6 Aug. 55 The imminent launch of the Citi Bike bicycle-share system.
city block n. originally U.S. a section of a city bounded by (usually four) intersecting streets or other thoroughfares; (also) the length of one side of such an area, esp. as a measure of distance; cf. block n. 21a.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > [noun] > buildings > connected
massif1524
isle1670
squarea1684
block1796
insula1832
city block1843
island1897
1843 F. B. Tower Illustr. Croton Aqueduct 114 This Reservoir..covers seven of the city blocks.
1893 N.-Y. Times 8 Oct. 12/7 A store that covers a city block can hold a multitude of shoppers.
1956 J. Barth Floating Opera xiv. 145 I turned the corner and walked numbly for an infinity of uninhabited city blocks.
2003 T. Richards & E. Blehm P3 132 They'd do the craziest shit, like walk butt-naked two city blocks in the middle of the day.
city boy n. (a) a boy or man who is a native or inhabitant of a city, or who has urban tastes or manners; (b) (in later use) British colloquial (also with capital initial) a man who works in the City of London or in the financial or business sectors; esp. (depreciative) one characterized as materialistic, arrogant, or bad-mannered.
ΚΠ
1623 Let. 4 Apr. in S. M. Kingsbury Rec. Virginia Company (1935) IV. 99 What ys donne Concerninge ye duty boyes, the Cyttie boys, and the Cyttie maides, Mr Threasurer will informe you.
1682 A. Behn Roundheads 44 Rogues, the City-Boys are up in Arms; brave Boys, all for the King now!
1789 W. Barrett Hist. & Antiq. Bristol xi. 379 Poor city boys were sent to occupy the said ancient school at St. Bartholomew's.
1852 Kenosha (Wisconsin) Democrat 6 Mar. 1/3 City boys being ‘smarter’ dressed, were sometimes preferred by the Dutch girls.
1943 W. Lewis Let. 26 Jan. (1963) 343 This war..should have demonstrated that ‘the metal’ as the City boys call it is anything but indispensable.
1998 R. Newman Manners 189 A tiny hardening of the heart in a towel-flicking City boy as he gang-bangs the currency.
2001 B. Rai (Un)arranged Marriage xviii. 143 I'm a city boy through and through... Living in a village just wasn't my thing at all.
city break originally and chiefly British a short holiday or weekend break spent in a city.
ΚΠ
1973 Times 11 Aug. 10 (advt.) Get away this winter on a Golden Wing city break.
1995 M. Lewis Singapore: Rough Guide 3/2 There's an increasing number of package holidays available, including fly-drive deals and city breaks.
2013 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 23 Feb. (Travel section) 5 (caption) Take a three-night city break in Venice at the five-star Hilton Molino Stucky Venice.
city car n. a car (in various senses) used or designed for use in the city; (now) spec. a small motor car suitable for making short and frequent journeys such as those made in a city or urban area.
ΚΠ
1711 E. Settle City-ramble 1 See Triumphant Beauty With Coronet, Coach and Six, in Filial Duty, Squeeze through a Croud of City-Cars.
1899 Street Railway Jrnl. June 348/2 The city cars are heated in the winter by coal stoves, and the interurban cars have the Baker hot water heater.
1967 Pop. Mech. June 212/1 Ford of England is pioneering a ‘city car’—a subcompact holding two adults and two children.
2003 Press & Jrnl. (Aberdeen) (Nexis) 21 May 2 Not all drivers want a city car that behaves like a hot hatchback.
city centre n. the central part of a city, esp. that which forms its main business or commercial district; (in early use also) †a city that is a centre (obsolete); now frequently attributive, as city centre office, city centre shop, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun] > parts of city
city centre1834
inner city1968
1834 Tait's Edinb. Jrnl. Feb. 40/2 At the hour of nine in the morning, they [sc. the City streets] are seen thronging with living beings, pouring in from every suburban radius to the great city centre.
1882 J. R. Green Making of Eng. v. 214 Canterbury, the earliest city-centre of the new England.
1904 G. B. Shaw Common Sense of Munic. Trading viii. 73 In city centres..the [housing] schemes are commercially hopeless.
1957 J. Braine Room at Top xxx. 244 The maze of side-streets off the city centre.
1965 P. H. Mann Approach to Urban Sociol. (1970) vi. 181 The neighbourhood..does not compete seriously with the larger city centre shops, cinemas and dance halls.
1983 Texas Monthly June 68 (advt.) Warm welcome, superb lodging, cuisine and city-center location.
2004 Transport Policy 11 6/1 The main city centre streets were not fully pedestrianised.
city clerk n. (a) a clerk who works in a city; (b) an officer who has charge of the records, correspondence, and accounts of a city, and superintends the general conduct of its business; cf. town clerk n. 1.
ΚΠ
1656 in J. Phillips Sportive Wit ii. 38 It is my will The City Clerks should have a quill, To write such learned speeches still.
1797 Diary (N.Y.) 7 Mar. 1/4 To that end [they] will receive Proposals, sealed, at the City-Clerk's office.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian vi, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 140 ‘If this other wench,’ said the city-clerk, ‘can speak to her sister.’
1910 Times 18 May 10/4 No doubt to be a city clerk is to be a kind of slave.
2004 Daily Tel. 18 May 12/8 The first couple..were pronounced married by the city clerk of Cambridge at 9.15am.
City Commission n. (also with lower-case initials) chiefly U.S. a body of commissioners charged with a range of judicial and administrative duties relating to city governance.
ΚΠ
1821 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 17 Mar. 3/3 The City Commission was shortly after opened, and the Grand jury sworn by the Hon. Judge Moore.
1899 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 14 268 The state commission, in consultation with the city commission, prepared rules to govern the administration of the law in New York City.
1943 Times 4 Aug. 2/2 Heavy sentences were imposed by Lord Justice Murphy at Belfast City Commission yesterday.
2011 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 13 Sept. 20 Miami's embattled police chief was dismissed by the City Commission..after being accused of failing to follow orders from a city official.
city commissioner n. (also with capital initials) chiefly U.S. (the title of) a member of a city commission; a city government official.
ΚΠ
1647 Coppie Let. to Agitator in City 3 And for your comfort the City Commissioners are all our own And I pray get them as often changed as you can.
1704 Lives, Eng. & Forein II. 168 At Harborough Alderman Fowkes, Alderman Vincent, and Mr. Bromfield, the City Commissioners, made their Complement to Monk.
1794 M. Carey Short Acct. Plague or Malignant Fever 11 The mayor of Philadelphia..wrote to the city commissioners.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 403/1 The sewers within the City..are in a distinct and strictly defined jurisdiction, superintended by City Commissioners.
1926 Motor Boating Dec. 65 This advert authorised by City Commissioners of Miami.
2007 B. E. Adams Citizen Lobbyists i. 16 Although being a city commissioner has its benefits..they do not have much formal authority outside of making recommendations.
City Company n. (also with lower-case initials) British any of the corporations which historically represented the ancient trade guilds of the City of London; = livery company n. at livery n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > types of association, society, or organization > [noun] > livery company
company1389
liveryc1498
City Company1615
livery company1658
1615 J. Stephens Ess. & Characters (new ed.) 301 The base and artlesse appendants of our citty companies.
1747 R. Campbell London Tradesman lxviii. 274 The Gardener is a Country Business, but mentioned here as it is a City Company.
1833 J. Gorton Topogr. Dict. II. 690/1 The College of Surgeons, founded by charter, in 1800, after the extinction of the old city company of surgeons.
1956 G. Farrell Story of Blindness xii. 152 Other City Companies providing pensions for the blind are the Drapers, the Cordwainers, and the Goldsmiths.
1993 J. Landers Death & Metropolis ii. 46 The surviving documentary evidence on London migration comes largely from the records of the City Companies.
City Cross n. British a cross, or building bearing a cross, erected at a marketplace in a city; cf. market cross n., butter cross n. at butter n.1 Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1746 London Mag. June 314/1 Fourteen Colours taken from the Rebels at the Battle of Culloden, were..publickly burnt at the City Cross by the Hands of the common Hangman.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 480 The newly elected members went in state to the City Cross.
2010 D. Porter & D. Prince Frommer's Eng. 2011 xvii. 616 The town crier appears at noon..at the City Cross.
city desk n. (a) North American the department of a newspaper dealing with local news; (b) British (usually with capital initial) the department of a newspaper dealing with business and financial news.
ΚΠ
1881 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 26 Apr. 4/1 He..asked for the man who was in charge of the city desk.
1968 Financial Times 21 June 16/3 When he took over the City desk in 1948, he ‘couldn't understand what the City was all about’.
1969 H. Nielsen Darkest Hour vi. 69 We had a great paper, Charley,..and largely because you were on the city desk.
1996 Guardian 28 Sept. (Money section) 9/6 The financial folk on the City desk said this week would be easy!
2002 C. Hiaasen Basket Case xxiv. 229 That's nearly a thirty percent cut in the city-desk payroll.
city edition n. chiefly U.S. the earliest edition of a newspaper to be available locally, usually preceded by an edition printed for out-of-town distribution.
ΚΠ
1905 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 11 307 The paper was to be a first or mail edition, not the city edition which contains later telegrams and reports.
1929 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 113 In the old days..the first edition, or out-of-town edition, went to press around 1 a.m., and the regular city edition came out at 3 o'clock a.m.
2001 D. Marlette Bridge (2002) i. i. 19 Management brought a cautious journalistic style to the task of running the city edition.
City Editor n. (also with lower-case initials) (a) North American a newspaper editor in charge of local news; (b) British a newspaper editor dealing with financial and business news; cf. City article n.
ΚΠ
1818 Niles' Weekly Reg. 20 June 286/1 If the city editors make any remarks on them, they assuredly forfeit their discounts.
1834 Chambers's Jrnl. 3 390/1 Employed upon each are an editor; a sub-editor (in some also a city editor).
1870 A. Maverick Henry J. Raymond & N.Y. Press 326 The City Editor, directs the work performed by the reporters, whose duty is to gather all the local intelligence of the day.
1907 J. L. Given Making a Newspaper ix. 140 Every day..the city editor goes over all the local stories printed in his paper to see how his instructions have been obeyed.
1969 ‘D. Rutherford’ Gilt-edged Cockpit x. 167 Often comment by the City Editors precipitated a run on shares.
2010 U. Rao News as Culture ii. 28 The city reporters..are seated in a semi-circle facing the city editor.
city father n. originally U.S. one of the leading men or authorities of a city; a founding father of a city; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > local government body > [noun] > member of local government council > town-councillor > collectively
commons1384
regent1579
city father1834
1834 N.-Y. Spectator 3 July The ladies of New York should wear some badge of mourning, on the day appointed by our City Fathers for expressing publicly the deep sorrow of the people of New York for the death of the brave Lafayette.
1845 St. Louis Reveille 19 Jan. 2/4 Allow me to call the attention of our ‘City Fathers’ to the importance of erecting public hydrants on the Levee.
1871 Galaxy Nov. 706/1 Bague, who is a city father, graciously accepted some of his more trifling municipal reforms.
1947 S. Dickson San Francisco is your Home (1948) iii. 36 The city fathers planned a substantial city, a city of fine buildings.
1962 Listener 10 May 820/2 Kline, de Kooning, and the other present City Fathers of American painting.
2012 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 4 Feb. 24 Praise is due to our City Fathers for their new vision for Belfast.
city farm n. (a) a farm in or belonging to a city; (now esp.) one established in an urban area for educational, social, or environmental purposes, and typically community-run; (b) U.S. a farm in or belonging to a city which is run at public expense to house and support the poor, or as a penal institution (now historical).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > [noun] > other farms
home farm1749
city farm1750
county farm1785
factory farm1824
bird farm1842
provision farm1846
spade-farm1848
bush-farm1851
poor farm1852
sewage farm1870
cacao farm1871
mixed farm1872
vertical farm1897
prison farm1961
nuplex1968
society > education > place of education > [noun] > educational institution > other types of
academya1583
military school1673
evening school1742
city farm1750
night school1780
school ship1785
neighbourhood school1842
academy school1852
writing school1928
juku1962
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > [noun] > other farms > educational
city farm1750
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [noun] > open prison > functioning also as farm
city farm1750
1750 T. Carte Gen. Hist. Eng. II. vii. 101 Henry..granted them..a new charter, confirming all their privileges, allowing the sheriffs, in their accompt of the city-farm, 7l. for the liberty of S. Paul's.
1858 Hist. & Geneal. Researches Merrimack Valley Jan. 204/1 The members of the city government..visited the City Farm, which includes the poor farm.
1977 Washington Post 8 Jan. e4/3 Martin escaped from a minimum security city farm in Martinsville, Va., in 1973, two days after pleading guilty to two charges of possession of marijuana with intent to sell.
1981 N.Y. Times 27 Aug. c12/1 Since 1976 one such group..has maintained a thriving city farm called El Sol Brillante Community Garden.
2011 True Loaf (Real Bread Campaign) No. 6. 9/1 In 2010, the association helped..numerous community gardens and city farms..to grow early cultivar and UK landraces of spring wheat.
city gent n. British colloquial a man who works in the City of London or in the financial or business sectors.Sometimes depicted stereotypically wearing a pinstripe suit and bowler hat and carrying an umbrella.
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society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > money-dealer > capitalist or financier > in the City
city gent1786
city man1836
1786 R. Burns Poems 205 Do ye envy the city-gent, Behind a kist to lie an' sklent.
1844 W. M. Thackeray in New Monthly Mag. July 421 Once..I heard a city ‘gent’ speak..slightingly of a glass of very excellent brown sherry.
1941 V. Woolf Between Acts 60 Not a dapper city gent, but a cricketer.
1989 Third Way Jan. 7/2 You would expect city gents to vote Tory and Yorkshire miners to vote Labour.
2003 P. D. Britton & S. J. Barker Reading Between Designs i. 13 His crisp, buttoned-up image..was based on another British cliché, namely the pinstripe-clad toff or city gent.
city girl n. a girl or woman who is a native or inhabitant of a city, or who has urban tastes or manners.
ΚΠ
1690 Advice to Young Gentlemen 1/2 Let no City-Girl your Freedom beguile.
1763 F. Brooke Hist. Lady Julia Mandeville I. 75 Really these city girls are so rapid in their amours, they won't give a man time to breathe.
1895 News (Frederick, Maryland) 15 Mar. City girls are all right when it comes to dressing and going to the theatre, but my experience is that a country girl has a better idea of domestic happiness.
1999 T. Parsons Man & Boy (2000) ix. 67 My mum..was a city girl, and I can remember her complaining about our little town's lack of shops and a cinema when I was a kid.
city life n. life as experienced in a city, esp. when contrasted with that in a small town, village, etc.; the lifestyle regarded as typical of the inhabitants of a city.
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1589 T. Lodge Scillaes Metamorphosis sig. Ev Sweete solitarie life thou true repose.., In thee no wanton eares to win with words, Nor lurking toyes, which Citie life affoords.
1744 London Mag. May 253/2 I'm wearied now of city life As much as man of wicked wife.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Edwin Morris 3 My one Oasis in the dust and drouth Of city life!
1968 Telegraph (Brisbane) 14 Aug. 54/1 He falls for a beautiful blonde who wants him to stay in the Big Smoke—but city life has no appeal.
2011 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 78/2 Skyscrapers that are too tall risk becoming vertical suburbs, whose residents and occupants are less likely to engage frequently and widely with the hurly-burly of city life.
city lights n. the street lighting of a city; now frequently used with allusion to the attractions that a city holds, esp. with regard to its nightlife.
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1722 A. M. Thoughts of Project for draining Irish Channel 16 The Undertakers of the City-Lights, may very well erect a Monument to my Memory; for one of those in a Lanthorn, will serve a whole Street for ever.
1873 L. M. Alcott Work vii. 156 Afar off the city lights shone faintly through the fog, like pale lamps seen in dreams.
1910 Williamsburg (Iowa) Jrnl. Tribune 5 Jan. 1/1 Committees build churches and conduct political campaigns; mismanage schools and lay plank sidewalks; plan a system of city lights and navigate water works.
1952 Times 27 Oct. 2/7 It is argued also that once these young men go away from the farms they will be so attracted by army life or the city lights that they will never return.
2002 Digital Photogr. made Easy No. 12. 3/1 Whether you're remaining in Blighty or travelling abroad to escape seasonal affective disorder, get that digicam ready to capture the bright city lights at night.
city limits n. the boundaries of a city; esp. (North American) those marking the jurisdiction of a city government; (also in singular) a boundary of this type.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun] > boundary or boundaries of city
city limits1714
corporation limits1818
1714 J. Ayliffe Antient & Present State Univ. Oxf. I. i. vi. 204 A Search after Felons within the City Limits.
1784 Act. Incorporating Part of Hartford in Acts & Laws Connecticut Amer. (1796) 69 By-Laws..relative to Nusances within said City Limits.
1848 H. G. Wheeler Hist. of Congr. II. 526 The ‘massacre of Chicago’..took place about one and a half miles below the fort, near the present city limit.
1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 16 July 1/5 One house was destroyed and the flames were within a short distance of the city limits.
1972 T. Shabad China's Changing Map (rev. ed.) x. 219 The city proper [of Chungking] is situated on a rocky, mile-wide promontory..but the city limits extend far from the city center.
2003 J. R. Lennon Mailman i. i. 19 Men in neckties heading..out past the city limits to their drone jobs in the tech industry.
city man n. (a) a man who is a (fellow) native or inhabitant of a city, or who has urban tastes or manners; (b) (in later use) British (also with capital initial) a man who works in the City of London, or in the financial or business sectors; cf. city gent n.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > town- or city-dweller > [noun]
borough-manc1000
city mana1400
townsman1433
town manc1475
town dweller1484
oppidan?1548
burgher?1555
townsfolk1562
townsfolk1592
townswoman1612
town liver1620
town folk1679
citess1685
citizeness1754
citizette1798
townie1825
urban1835
townskip1837
townsperson1840
urbanite1892
burgheress1901
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > town- or city-dweller > [noun] > fellow townsman
concitizen1428
co-citizen1488
comburgess1517
fellow citizen1550
townsman1562
conscive1578
town's bairn?1591
comburgher1605
townsfolk1614
townschild1621
city mana1661
townsboy1699
town folk1805
townie1824
townsfellow1830
homeboy1861
homie1929
homes1971
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > money-dealer > capitalist or financier > in the City
city gent1786
city man1836
a1400 (c1300) Northern Homily: Serm. on Gospels (Coll. Phys.) in Middle Eng. Dict. at Cite Hey tures Getes thir cite men fra stures.
a1425 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Linc. Inn) (1952) 1611 Þe cite men [c1400 Laud citezeines] weoren wel wyȝt.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Exeter 274 Being intimate with his City-man..Baldwin of Devonshire.
1792 Analyt. Rev. Aug. 426 This description of city pageantry, and city men, will not probably have many readers beyond the city gates.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. I. 137 The regular City man, who leaves Lloyd's at five o'clock, and drives home to Hackney, Clapton, Stamford-hill, or elsewhere.
1875 T. W. Higginson Eng. Statesmen iii. xvii. 350 He had made his mark in the mercantile world as a thoroughly representative City-man.
1927 Pop. Sci. Monthly Aug. 21/1 He might be a city man and unacquainted with farm tools, but he knew machines.
2010 D. Cruickshank London's Sinful Secret xi. 281 Hanway was himself a City man, formerly with trade interests in St Petersburg.
city manager n. North American a non-elected official appointed to manage the administration of a city.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > [noun]
man of officec1300
officerc1380
officec1440
office manc1459
officiate1500
officiary1505
official1555
gerent1576
officiary1587
office-bearer1593
stallera1627
incumbent1672
designator1683
corrector1690
office-holder1818
city manager1909
postholder1961
1909 City Hall Apr. 348/2 The city manager knows what work is going on in the departments.
1911 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 25 July 4/3 The separation of the representative and administrative functions by the creation of an appointive chief executive called the city manager.
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 18 Oct. 14/4 We don't necessarily need a commission to run the city, but appointment of a city manager is a vastly different thing.
2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 19 Oct. a18/1 ‘We've seen a rise in people sleeping in their cars,’ said Rick Cole, city manager in Ventura, Calif., which recently allowed car-camping in designated areas.
city mission n. a mission established in a city by a religious group or groups for evangelical or charitable purposes.
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society > faith > worship > preaching > proselytization > mission > [noun] > in city
city mission1825
1825 Evangelical Mag. & Missionary Chron. Oct. 423/1 (heading) City missions.
1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 271/2 Within the last four years, ‘City Missions’ have been formed in London and several of the large towns.
1915 F. D. Leete Church in City xiii. 259 The Protestant Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal Churches have city missions in Philadelphia.
2008 M. Epp Mennonite Women iii. 149 Ontario Mennonites opened a city mission in downtown Toronto in 1907.
city missionary n. a missionary working in a city, usually in his or her home country rather than overseas.
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society > faith > worship > preaching > proselytization > mission > [noun] > one who conducts > of city-mission
city missionary1819
1819 Relig. Intelligencer (New-Haven, Conn.) 23 Aug. 204/1 Since the last anniversary there have been distributed gratuitously, by the city missionary among the poor of the city..1300 tracts.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 21/2 They respect the City Missionaries, because they read to them.
2012 York (Pa.) Daily Record (Nexis) 26 Feb. (Lifestyle section) Kreeger..wants to serve as a city missionary funded by area churches and individuals.
City page n. British a page in a (usually London-based) newspaper which deals with financial and business matters; cf. City article n.
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society > communication > journalism > journal > parts and layout of journals > [noun] > other sections or columns
Poets' Corner1733
situations wanted1809
situations vacant1819
feuilleton1845
roman feuilleton1845
home page1860
personal1860
society page1883
City page1893
women's page1893
book page1898
ear1901
film guide1918
op-ed1931
masthead1934
magazine section1941
write-in1947
listings1971
1893 Pall Mall Gaz. 15 Dec. 9/3 Then the occupation of the Pall Mall City Page has gone.
1932 J. Buchan Gap in Curtain i. 54 Each of us must concentrate on one particular part to which his special interest was pledged—Tavanger on the first City page, for example, Mayot on the leader page, [etc.].
1966 ‘C. Aird’ Relig. Body ix. 55 One of the largest private companies in the country... They're always getting write-ups in the City pages suggesting they will be going public but they never do.
2000 Saga Mag. Feb. 24/1 He was invited to write a weekly column for the City pages of the Mail on Sunday.
city plan n. (a) a plan of action for the growth and development of a city; (b) a ground plan showing the streets, buildings, etc., of a city.
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1759 J. Ilive Scheme Employm. Persons sent to Clerkenwell 10 The reformation and reconstitution of this gaol upon the city-plan.
1829 Niles' Weekly Reg. 16 May 188/2 They also exhibited a plan of the city, made by col. Woods, the surveyor... Front-street was marked in our city plan.
1868 H. R. Stiles Hist. City of Brooklyn II. iv. 251 A convention of twenty citizens were at work, this month, on a city plan.
1977 New Yorker 2 May 102/2 Some seventy borgate around Rome are still not recognized on the city plan.
2006 A. Steffen et al. Worldchanging (2008) 276/1 The city plan will preserve existing streams and wetlands, and maintain the predevelopment water cycle for the local ecosystem.
city planner n. originally U.S. a person who plans the construction, growth, and development of a city or other urban area; one who works in city planning.
ΚΠ
1902 House & Garden Aug. 386/1 If the railroad erects an office building with nothing more suggestive of a station than a mammoth porte cochère..then the city planner may well feel discouragement.
1973 T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow iii. 341 Often she will dream some dainty pasteboard model, a city-planner's city,..so tiny her bootsoles could wipe out neighbourhoods at a step.
2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 13 Nov. vii. 1/3 City planners envision a skyline comprising pencil-thin ‘point’ towers that leave space around them for light and air.
city planning n. originally U.S. the planning and control of the construction, growth, and development of a city or other urban area; (also, usually with capital initials) an office or department that deals with this; cf. town planning n.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > [noun] > town-planning or development
development1874
urbanism1884
town planning1906
city planning1907
urban planning1907
redevelopment1908
housing development1912
structure planning1969
1907 Rec. Columbia Hist. Soc. 10 Gen. Index 17 Central feature for all city planning.
1931 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 28 Apr. 14/6 Tokyo expects excellent returns on her tremendous investment in city planning.
1980 R. Lingeman Small Town Amer. 16 London's pullulating social ills—specifically fire, plague, and poverty—were a stimulus to city planning in the New World.
2011 J. Connolly Burning Soul xiii. 143 It wasn't the ugliest block on the avenue, but it was close... Corners had been cut by City Planning early in the process.
City Poet n. (also with lower-case initials) British (now historical) a name given to a poet appointed to write pageants for the Lord Mayor of London; cf. pageant poet n. at pageant n. and adj. Compounds 2.By the late 17th cent. the role of City Poet was seen as a semi-formal office, of which the last known holder was Elkanah Settle (1648–1724).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poet > [noun] > poets holding other specific positions
City Poet1607
poet-in-ordinary1704
poet-in-residence1927
1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster North-ward Hoe iii. i. sig. E3 I care not greatly because I haue a Citty Laundresse already, if I get a Citty Poet too.
1640 H. Glapthorne Wit in Constable i. i. sig. B1v Perchance you may arrive to be the City Poet, And find the little moysture of your braine To grace a Lord Maiors festivall with showes.
1682 T. D'Urfey Royalist iv. i. 39 A Speech made to my Lord Mayor, Penn'd by the City Poet, and spoke upon a Pageant.
1729 A. Pope Dunciad (new ed.) i. 88 (note) The Pageants..being..at length abolished, the employment of City Poet ceas'd.
1779 S. Johnson Dryden in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets III. 97 Settle was..made the city poet, whose annual office was to describe the glories of the Mayor's day. Of these bards he was the last.
1843 Old Fellows' Q. Mag. Oct. 418 In 1622, Thomas Middleton was made city poet.
1995 J. P. Montaño in G. MacLean Culture & Soc. Stuart Reformation ii. 40 1671 marks the debut of Thomas Jordan as City poet.
City Remembrancer n. (also with lower-case initials) British = remembrancer n. 1c.
ΚΠ
1646 J. Bellamie Iustification City Remonstr. & Vindic. 44 I instance in four severall acts of that Court, viz. the removing of..Mr. Tho. Wiseman from being the City Remembrancer.
1771 ‘N. Spencer’ Compl. Eng. Traveller 282/2 The city remembrancer is obliged to attend both houses of parliament, during the sessions, and report their proceedings to the Lord mayor.
1884 Manch. Examiner 9 Feb. 5/3 The City Remembrancer has always by no means an easy task in inducing members to accept the shrieval hospitality.
1951 Folk-lore 62 336 Behind them sat..the City Remembrancer and the Mayor of Westminster wearing robes of blue and gold.
2011 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 26 May 28 Mr David Beamish, Clerk of the Parliaments, the City Remembrancer, the First Deemster of the Isle of Man, the Chief Justice of the Falkland Islands.
city republic n. a city-state constituted as a republic.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [noun] > sovereign or independent
freedom1423
city1481
free city1575
imperial city1603
city republic1838
city-state1840
1838 Boston Q. Rev. Apr. 214 Republicanism..threatened for a time..to cover Europe with a multitude of city-republics.
1853 J. S. Mill in Edinb. Rev. 98 439 Her [sc. Greece's] people obstinately rejected the merging of the single city-republic in any larger unity.
1906 F. E. Hinckley Amer. Consular Jurisdict. in Orient i. 5 From the twelfth century the city republics, Pisa, Venice, Genoa and Florence, traded extensively at both Tunis and Alexandria.
2002 O. Figes Natasha's Dance (2003) ii. v. 136 The Decembrists made a cult of the city republic.
2009 F. Fernández-Armesto 1492 vi. 160 Novgorod bordered the small territorial domain of Russia's only other city-republic, Pskov.
city shorts n. smart, tailored shorts suitable for wearing to work, typically regarded as womenswear.
ΚΠ
1969 Lima (Ohio) News 13 Jan. 13/3 Junior Sophisticates do city-pants and city-shorts which peek out from under tunic tops.
2009 Independent 29 Dec. (Life section) 3/1 Crisp white shirts, boxy jackets and diminutive or knee-length city shorts are the order of the day..all the way from ‘the boardroom to the beach’.
city slicker n. colloquial or humorous and freq. depreciative (originally U.S.) a city-dweller who is sophisticated or smartly dressed, or who has urban manners or values (frequently also characterized as smooth-talking and untrustworthy).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > fashionableness > [noun] > smart person
a man of (the first) feather1592
pink1602
smart1709
flasher1755
swell1786
dasher1807
smarty1847
city slicker1914
Roy1960
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > roguery > rogue > [noun] > cunning
Gypsy1616
city slicker1914
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > roguery, knavery, or rascalry > [noun] > rogue, knave, or rascal > smart or plausible rogue
slicker1900
city slicker1914
1914 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 7 July 14/4 This lad..works like a regular city slicker, his clever heaving performances having made him one of the most popular ball players.
1924 Cosmopolitan Nov. 104/2 You reckon I'm a goin' tew give that city slicker back his option money?
1953 X. Fielding Stronghold iii. 45 The two city-slickers were travelling on business.
1959 Manch. Guardian 13 July 5/7 He was dressed like a city slicker, pointed brown shoes, trilby..cut-away waistcoat.
1970 Field & Stream Mar. 183/3 She must persuade her husband to give up his city-slicker job.
2003 M. Korda Horse People 271 It was the old story of the city slicker undone by the slow-talking country shrewdies.
City Solicitor n. (also with capital initials) British (the title of) a solicitor appointed by the Corporation of the City of London to provide legal advice and representation and to participate in ceremonial duties; now more fully Comptroller and City Solicitor.The office of City Solicitor was amalgamated with that of Comptroller in 1945.
ΚΠ
1657 T. Reeve God's Plea for Nineveh 195 Where then is the City Scout? the City Remembrancer? the City Sollicitor?
1787 J. Hawkins Life Johnson in Wks. I. 433 Mr. Paterson, the city-solicitor.
1913 Pop. Mech. May 717/2 A quaint ceremony takes place annually at the Law Courts in London, the City Solicitor appearing before the ‘King's Remembrancer’ to discharge the quitrent service concerning certain properties in the city of London and the county of Salop.
2005 Independent (Nexis) 18 Jan. 34 Timothy Straker QC and Philip Coppel (Comptroller and City Solicitor) for the claimant.
City Technology College n. (also with lower-case initials) British Education (in England) any of a number of secondary education colleges specializing in mathematics, science, and technology, established in urban areas with funding from central government and sponsorship from industry and intended to promote high standards in technical and vocational education; abbreviated CTC n. at C n. Additions.Many City Technology Colleges converted to academies (see academy n. 2b) in the early 21st century.
ΚΠ
1986 Guardian 8 Oct. 1/2 More than 15,000 children will compete for places in a network of 20 state-funded ‘city technology colleges’ announced yesterday by Mr Kenneth Baker..at the Conservative conference.
1992 G. Walford in P. W. Cookson et al. Internat. Handbk. Educ. Reform xii. 216 The City Technology Colleges represent the most obvious moves to diversify the range of schools available and to support and extend the private sector of education and the gradual privatization of the maintained sector.
2000 Econ. Affairs 20 57/3 The principal of an outstanding City Technology College in a working-class town..told me how parents from far-flung wealthy suburbs..were now first trying to get their students into his school.
city watch n. now chiefly historical a body of watchmen who patrol and guard the streets of a city.
ΚΠ
1605 R. F. tr. F. Dedekind Schoole of Slovenrie ii. viii. 77 If thou the cittie watch encounter can, And they commit thee to the Counter, th'art an happie man. Thou shalt be safe from all thy foes, thus lying in the gaole.
1720 Daily Post 4 Nov. 1/1 The Guard of the Marshalsey and the City Watch are Day and Night upon Duty; by Day to give Chace to the Stock-jobbers, and to the Thieves by Night.
1844 Huron Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) 21 May A large posse of citizens..took position at the rear of the Church, while the City Watch, having their badges on, formed in a line upon the curbstone.
1933 Irish Monthly Nov. 708 As the figures came abreast, he saw they were of the City Watch, and his eyes told him that they had taken much ale.
2008 D. L. McKiernan City of Jade xxxiv. 227 A wave of burglaries struck Rivers End, and even the corrupt city watch became involved in trying to discover just who the thieves were.
† city wire n. British (depreciative) Obsolete (in 17th cent. London) a fashionable woman who wears a wire frame to support the hair or ruff; a city woman; cf. wire n.1 14.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > as abused > female
visenagec1460
bitch-clout?a1475
harlot?c1500
tarleather1575
whipperginnie1593
brach1612
city wire1616
she-dog1624
cunt1663
faggot1722
son of a bitch1936
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > low or vulgar person > [noun] > woman
cotquean1593
rouncival1596
city wire1616
rouncy1647
Gamp1846
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne Prol. in Wks. I. 529 Cates..: some for lords, knights, squires, Some for your waiting wench, and citie-wires . View more context for this quotation
1632 S. Marmion Hollands Leaguer ii. iii All the City wires, And Summer birds in Towne, that once a yeare Come up to moulter.
1824 Sat. Night 2 88/1 I passed many a city-wire, seated on some fragment of her shipwrecked parcel-cart.
city woman n. a woman who is a native or inhabitant of a city, or who has urban tastes or manners.
ΚΠ
1592 S. Daniel Complaynt of Rosamond in Delia sig. Kv The subtile Citty-women better learned, Esteeme them chast ynough that best seeme so.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. vii. 75 The City woman beares The cost of Princes on vnworthy shoulders. View more context for this quotation
1749 tr. D. Diderot Les Bijoux Indiscrets I. v. 29 Possibly we may find those of the city women more reasonable than those of duchesses.
1854 R. F. Greeley Violet ii. 217 The mother of Pryce was a city woman.
1948 Rotarian June 37/1 Both write with humour of the problems of the city woman trying to make a home in the country.
2002 N.Y. Times 3 Feb. ix. 8/1 Consider the cosmopolitan, the vodka and cranberry juice potion adopted by chic city women as a kind of emblem.

Derivatives

† ˈcitticism n. [probably after criticism n.] Obsolete urban manner.Apparently an isolated use.
ΚΠ
1616 B. Jonson Cynthias Revels (rev. ed.) v. iv, in Wks. I. 241 Transform'd, from his originall citticisme.
ˈcitydom n. (a) the inhabitants of a city collectively; (b) a city-state; (c) the state or quality of being a city.
ΚΠ
1846 Weekly Suppl. Liverpool Mercury 27 Nov. 1/1 All citydom empties itself upon its rural suburbs.
1862 R. H. Patterson Ess. Hist. & Art 460 The early Aryans..resembled the Hellenic race..in being split up into a number of small States or citydoms.
1930 Hispania 13 156 A modest antiquity as compared with the three thousand years of full-fledged citydom that Cádiz and Marseilles can celebrate.
2007 Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune (Nexis) 13 Dec. b1 The opening of the community's hospital, shopping district and cinema were all greeted as milestones on a path to citydom.
ˈcityish n. characteristic or reminiscent of a city or of city life; urban.
ΚΠ
1837 Lady's Mag. & Museum Jan. 19/2 We must really cut the acquaintance of these 'ere people, they are so excessively cityish and wulgar.
1921 S. V. Benet Beginning of Wisdom vii. 291 He was..free of that unholy awe that assailed the more cityish of his fellow recruits.
2010 B. Feiler Council of Dads xiv. 122 He's not into city-ish things like Starbucks, museums, and dining spots.
ˈcity-like adj. resembling or characteristic of a city or city dwellers; having an urban character or quality.
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1598 I. D. tr. L. Le Roy Aristotles Politiques ii. ix. 128 Where the City is not small, it is more Citie-like and Commonweale like, and more agreeable to the people to communicate the Magistrateships to many.
1644 R. Culmer Cathedrall Newes Canterbvry 24 The huge Citie-like gates of that Cathedrall Corporation are all taken down & laid aside.
1757 C. Lennox tr. L. A. de la Beaumelle Mem. for Hist. Madame Maintenon II. vi. x. 130 She was never able to cure him of those city-like airs of magnificence.
1882 Cent. Mag. Mar. 666/2 Long after the new settlement on the banks of the Delaware had begun to look quite citylike, the country around the Schuylkill remained wild and uncleared.
1991 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 25 Nov. b2 With the arrival of Fortune's floodlights, the wilderness park is overshone by a murky, city-like haze.
2012 T. Hoekstra Miles to run before we Sleep 70 We live in an area that is right on the western edge of the city of Chicago and is much more city-like than suburb-like.
ˈcityness n. (also citiness) the state or condition of being a city; urban character or quality.
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1641 L. F. Speedy Remedie againt Spirituall Incontinencie 55 An institutive Citinesse, or publicke republicke state.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Devon 264 They take exception at the very Title thereof, Ecclesiastical Politie; as if unequally yoked; Church with some mixture of City-nesse.
1898 N. M. Butler Meaning of Educ. 33 The patrician Roman..sent his boy..to the great city of Rome itself in order to obtain urbanitas, city-ness.
1968 C. Glyn Heights & Depths vii. 96 She felt stifled by the sheer cityness of Chicago.
1998 Sunday Tasmanian (Nexis) 15 Nov. My mum was a city girl... She never lost her citiness.
ˈcityship n. (a) the state, condition, or status of being a city; (b) a city-state (rare). [With sense (b) compare township n. 3.]
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1840 Liberator (Boston) 10 Jan. 6/4 The hope..of Boston's early Mayoralty, when her Cityship was her pride.
1869 R. F. Burton Explor. Highlands Brazil I. 31 This lust for city-ship.
1872 R. Black tr. F. Guizot Hist. France I. v. 77 Lugdunum..became..the favourite cityship and ordinary abiding-place of the emperors when they visited Gaul.
1998 F. Heatley Belfast 18/1 The pride of a town heading towards cityship.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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