/mi trop"euh lis/ , n. , pl. metropolises .
1. any large, busy city.
2. the chief, and sometimes capital, city of a country, state, or region.
3. a central or principal place, as of some activity: the music metropolis of France.
4. the mother city or parent state of a colony, esp. of an ancient Greek colony.
5. the chief see of an ecclesiastical province.
[ 1350-1400; ME metropolis metrópolis a mother state or city, equiv. to metro-, comb. form of méter MOTHER + pólis -POLIS, POLIS ]