I. district adjective
Etymology: Latin districtus, from past participle of distringere to hinder, molest — more at distrain
obsolete : rigorous , strict
II. dis·trict ˈdi(ˌ)strikt, -_strēkt noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin districtus coercive action, justice, jurisdiction, area of jurisdiction, district, from districtus, past participle of distringere to compel — more at distrain
1. obsolete : the territory under a feudal lord's jurisdiction
2. : a territorial division (as of a nation, state, county, or city) marked off or defined for administrative, electoral, judicial, or other purposes: as
a. : an administrative unit established as a quasi-municipal corporation for the performance of a special governmental function or functions
park district
water supply district
fire protection district
a police district
a postal district
a district school
— see congressional district , drainage district , election district , magisterial district
b. : the most important administrative unit of a province or presidency in British India
c. : one of the subdivisions of the United States or of the individual states served by a particular federal or state court
d. : an ecclesiastical division of an English parish made under the Church Building Acts and having its own church and pastor
e. : an urban or rural subdivision of a British administrative county constituted by the Local Government Act of 1894 and having an urban or rural district council
f. : an area usually comprising several subordinate territories that is demarcated by a commercial firm for convenience of sales promotion, assignment to sales representatives, or distribution
a district sales manager
a district representative
3. : an area, region, or tract or a portion of one of these usually marked by a distinguishing quality, set of characteristics, devotion to a distinguishing purpose, or habitation by a more or less homogeneous group
a barren district
a wooded district
a shopping district
a residential district
the Italian district
4. : a subdivision of an embryonic field determined for the production of a specific definitive structure
III. district transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to divide or organize into districts
attending to a new districting of the city
the area was districted according to population figures only
interlocking problems of zoning and school districting — Merrill Folsom