TOWN

[noun] - a place where there are a lot of houses, shops, places of work, places of entertainment, places of worship, etc. in which people live and work. A town is usually larger than a village, but smaller than a city.a seaside/coastal/resort town [C]an industrial town [C]a fishing town [C]a mining town [C]a border/frontier town [C]They live in a sleepy provincial town. [C]He was born in the small town of Castleford, in Yorkshire. [C]She was buried in her home town (= the town in which she was born). [C]Mr Dunn has been a member of the town council/a town councillor for many years.We stayed in the best hotel in town. [U]The swimming pool is a couple of miles out of town. [U]There was a lot of traffic on the main road into/out of town. [U]I've always lived in the town (= in a town or city rather than in the countryside). [U]See also downtown; hometown; uptown.(esp. US) Town can also mean the place where you live or work.I'm leaving town for a few days tomorrow.I'll be in town on Monday and Tuesday, then away for the rest of the week.Barbara is out of town on business this week.Town is also used to refer to the most important city or town in a country or area.We went up to town to see a play.Many people go into town (= New York) from New Jersey on weekends.Town can also be used to refer to the people who live in the town.The whole town is/are hoping that their football team will win the final tomorrow. [C + singular or plural verb]Many people like to do their shopping at an out-of-town shopping centre.(The) town (UK also town centre) is also the part of a town where the main shops are.I'm going into/to town at lunch-time to do some shopping.I met Charles while I was in town.The town was very busy.It's very difficult to find anywhere to park your car in the town centre.If you go to town (on something), you do it in a detailed and enthusiastic way, esp. by spending a lot of money.They've really gone to town on their wedding.All the newspapers have gone to town on (= printed a lot of details about) this unusual murder trial.On the town means enjoying yourself by going to places of entertainment in a town or city.I was out on the town/I had a night on the town last night, and I feel really tired today.If you are a man-about-town/woman-about-town, you are someone who spends a lot of time in fashionable places and doing fashionable things.In Britain, a town clerk is an official who is responsible for acting on the decisions made by a town council.A town hall is a building in which local government officials and employees work and have meetings.They live in a beautiful four-storey town house (= a house in a town or city, esp. one that is comfortable and expensive, and in a fashionable area, and, esp. in the US, often one which is joined to other similar houses).(US) A town meeting is a gathering of the people who live or pay taxes in a town, for the purpose of governing the town.Town planning is the planning of the way in which towns and cities are built in order to make them pleasant to live in.He studied town planning at college.Her husband is a town planner.