ˈtau̇nˌship noun
Etymology: Middle English tounship, from Old English tūnscipe, from tūn town + -scipe -ship
1.
a. : the inhabitants of a vill, manor, or medieval town ; especially : such a community constituting a corporate body
b. : vill , manor
c. : an imaginary social or tribal unit among the Anglo-Saxons
2. : an ancient unit of administration in England identical in area with or a division of a parish : the area of a parish or chapelry with reference only to the inhabitants
3. : an administrative unit (as a self-governing town) in a foreign country
4.
a. : town 7 a
b. : a territorial area having the status of a unit of local government in some 16 northeastern and north central states lying between New York on the east and the Dakotas and Kansas on the west and usually having a chief administrative officer or board although having fewer functions and powers than a New England town
c. : an unorganized subdivision of the county in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the form of a tract of land laid off by the state authorities
d. : an administrative district of the county used especially for electoral purposes in some parts of the southern United States (as in North and South Carolina and Arkansas)
5. : a geographical rather than a political division:
a. : a piece of land that is bounded on the east and west by meridians six miles apart at its south border, has a north-south length of six miles, and forms one of the chief divisions of a United States public-land survey — compare section 7, range 13
b. : a subdivision of some provinces in Canada having certain specified powers of local government
c. Australia
(1) : townsite
(2) : the temporary settlement on such a site
6. Scotland : a farm held jointly
7. Philippines : municipal district