cities
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
City \Cit"y\ (s[i^]t"[y^]), n.; pl. Cities (s[i^]t"[i^]z). [OE. cite, F. cit['e], fr. L. civitas citizenship, state, city, fr. civis citizen; akin to Goth. heiwa (in heiwafrauja man of the house), AS. h[imac]wan, pl., members of a family, servants, h[imac]red family, G. heirath marriage, prop., providing a house, E. hind a peasant.]
1.A large town. [1913 Webster]
2.A corporate town; in the United States, a town or collective body of inhabitants, incorporated and governed by a mayor and aldermen or a city council consisting of a board of aldermen and a common council; in Great Britain, a town corporate, which is or has been the seat of a bishop, or the capital of his see. [1913 Webster]
A city is a town incorporated; which is, or has been, the see of a bishop; and though the bishopric has been dissolved, as at Westminster, it yet remaineth a city.— Blackstone[1913 Webster]
When Gorges constituted York a city, he of course meant it to be the seat of a bishop, for the word city has no other meaning in English law.— Palfrey[1913 Webster]
3.The collective body of citizens, or inhabitants of a city. "What is the city but the people?" --Shak.
Syn: See Village. [1913 Webster]