city
    n 1: a large and densely populated urban area; may include
         several independent administrative districts; "Ancient Troy
         was a great city" [syn: city, metropolis, urban
         center]
    2: an incorporated administrative district established by state
       charter; "the city raised the tax rate"
    3: people living in a large densely populated municipality; "the
       city voted for Republicans in 1994" [syn: city,
       metropolis]

City \Cit"y\, a.
   Of or pertaining to a city. --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

   City council. See under Council.

   City court, The municipal court of a city. [U. S.]

   City ward, a watchman, or the collective watchmen, of a
      city. [Obs.] --Fairfax.
      [1913 Webster]

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]

City
   The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which
   was built by Cain (Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues,
   the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
   Next, we have a record of the cities of the Canaanites, Sidon,
   Gaza, Sodom, etc. (10:12, 19; 11:3, 9; 36:31-39). The earliest
   description of a city is that of Sodom (19:1-22). Damascus is
   said to be the oldest existing city in the world. Before the
   time of Abraham there were cities in Egypt (Num. 13:22). The
   Israelites in Egypt were employed in building the "treasure
   cities" of Pithom and Raamses (Ex. 1:11); but it does not seem
   that they had any cities of their own in Goshen (Gen. 46:34;
   47:1-11). In the kingdom of Og in Bashan there were sixty "great
   cities with walls," and twenty-three cities in Gilead partly
   rebuilt by the tribes on the east of Jordan (Num. 21:21, 32, 33,
   35; 32:1-3, 34-42; Deut. 3:4, 5, 14; 1 Kings 4:13). On the west
   of Jordan were thirty-one "royal cities" (Josh. 12), besides
   many others spoken of in the history of Israel.
   
     A fenced city was a city surrounded by fortifications and high
   walls, with watch-towers upon them (2 Chr. 11:11; Deut. 3:5).
   There was also within the city generally a tower to which the
   citizens might flee when danger threatened them (Judg. 9:46-52).
   
     A city with suburbs was a city surrounded with open
   pasture-grounds, such as the forty-eight cities which were given
   to the Levites (Num. 35:2-7). There were six cities of refuge,
   three on each side of Jordan, namely, Kadesh, Shechem, Hebron,
   on the west of Jordan; and on the east, Bezer, Ramoth-gilead,
   and Golan. The cities on each side of the river were nearly
   opposite each other. The regulations concerning these cities are
   given in Num. 35:9-34; Deut. 19:1-13; Ex. 21:12-14.
   
     When David reduced the fortress of the Jebusites which stood
   on Mount Zion, he built on the site of it a palace and a city,
   which he called by his own name (1 Chr. 11:5), the city of
   David. Bethlehem is also so called as being David's native town
   (Luke 2:4).
   
     Jerusalem is called the Holy City, the holiness of the temple
   being regarded as extending in some measure over the whole city
   (Neh. 11:1).
   
     Pithom and Raamses, built by the Israelites as "treasure
   cities," were not places where royal treasures were kept, but
   were fortified towns where merchants might store their goods and
   transact their business in safety, or cities in which munitions
   of war were stored. (See PITHOM.)
   

CITY, government. A town incorporated by that name. Originally, this word 
did not signify a town, but a portion of mankind who lived under the same 
government: what the Romans called civitas, and, the Greeks polis; whence 
the word politeia, civitas seu reipublicae status et administratio. Toull. 
Dr. Civ. Fr. 1. 1, t. 1, n. 202; Henrion de Pansey, Pouvoir Municipal, pp. 
36, 37.