different between town vs oppidan

English

Alternative forms

• tahn, tawn (Bermuda),
• toune, towne (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English town, toun, from Old English t?n (“enclosure, garden”), from Proto-Germanic *t?n? (“fence”) (compare West Frisian tún, Dutch tuin (“garden”), German Zaun, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tun), from Gaulish d?nom (“hill, hillfort”), from Proto-Celtic *d?nom (compare archaic Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“fortress”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh?- (“to finish, come full circle”). Doublet of dun. See also -ton and tine (“to enclose”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ta?n/, [t?a??n]
• Rhymes: -a?n

Noun

town (countable and uncountable, plural towns)

1. A settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city.
2. Any more urbanized center than the place of reference.
3. (Britain, historical) A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.
4. The residents (as opposed to gown: the students, faculty, etc.) of a community which is the site of a university.
5. (colloquial) Used to refer to a town or similar entity under discussion.
6. (humorous, ironic) A major city, especially one where the speaker is located.
7. (law) A municipal organization, such as a corporation, defined by the laws of the entity of which it is a part.
8. (obsolete) An enclosure which surrounded the mere homestead or dwelling of the lord of the manor.
9. (obsolete) The whole of the land which constituted the domain.
10. (obsolete) A collection of houses enclosed by fences or walls.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Palsgrave to this entry?)

11. (Britain, Scotland, dialect, obsolete) A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard.

Usage notes

• An urban city is typically larger than a rural town, which in turn is typically larger than a village. In rural areas, a town may be considered urban. In urban areas, a town can be considered suburban; a village in the suburbs. The distinctions are fluid and dependent on subjective perception.

Hypernyms

• settlement

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (taun)

Translations

See also

• urban
• suburban
• rural

Anagrams

• nowt, wo'n't, won't, wont

Middle English

Noun

town

1. Alternative form of toun

English

Etymology

From Latin oppidanus, from oppidum (“town”).

Adjective

oppidan (not comparable)

1. (rare) Of or pertaining to a town or conurbation.
   • 1843, George Calvert Holland, The Vital Statistics of Sheffield [1], page 106:

     ... calculating the portions of the population, which are purely oppidan, suburban and rural, separately, ...

   • 1982, Ion Miclea and Corneliu Bucur, An Ages-old Civilization [2]:

     In terms of socio-economic impact, it appears that the water mill was an oppidan development in the Roman possessions, including Dacia.

   • 1984, Gerald Cornelius Monsman, Confessions of a Prosaic Dreamer: Charles Lamb's art of autobiography [3], ?ISBN, page 78:

     The beggar whom Elia encounters... is an oppidan caricature of the old man in “Witches” who was conjured up in the demonic vision, a dark, irrational double that overwhelms and destroys innocence.

Noun

oppidan (plural oppidans)

1. (rare, obsolete) A town dweller.
   • 1856, John Wade, England's Greatness [4], page 496:

     But money is all-potent, and wealthy oppidans soon found means to elbow the aristocracy in their choicest assemblies.

2. (also Oppidan) A class of student in traditional English public schools such as Eton; opposed to colleger or King's Scholar.
   • 1983, Bridget Boland and Muriel St. Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters [5], ?ISBN, page 96:

     ... might conceivably imply that he did not live, as the custom had been for such boys, in the Abbot's own house, but lodged in the town of Winchester and perhaps attended the College as an oppidan, or townsman.