town (towns plural )
1 n-count A town is a place with many streets and buildings, where people live and work. Towns are larger than villages and smaller than cities. Many places that are called towns in Britain would be called cities in the United States.
...Saturday night in the small town of Braintree, Essex..., Parking can be tricky in the town centre.
You can use the town to refer to the people of a town., n-count usu sing
The town takes immense pride in recent achievements.
2 n-uncount You use town in order to refer to the town where you live.
He admits he doesn't even know when his brother is in town..., She left town.
3 n-uncount You use town in order to refer to the central area of a town where most of the shops and offices are.
I walked around town..., I caught a bus into town.
4
→
ghost town
→
hometown
→
new town
5 If you say that someone goes to town on something, you mean that they deal with it with a lot of enthusiasm or intensity.
go to town phrase V inflects, oft PHR on n
We really went to town on it, turning it into a full, three-day show...
6 If you go out on the town or go for a night on the town, you enjoy yourself by going to a town centre in the evening and spending a long time there visiting several places of entertainment.
on the town phrase prep PHR, n PHR
(=on the tiles) My idea of luxury used to be going out on the town and coming back in the early hours of the morning...
boom town (boom towns plural )A boom town is a town which has rapidly become very rich and full of people, usually because industry or business has developed there. n-count
Brisbane has become the boom town for Australian film and television.
county town (county towns plural )A county town is the most important town in a county, where the local government is.
(BRIT) n-count
We met in Dorchester, Dorset's bustling county town.
in AM, use county seat
ghost town (ghost towns plural )A ghost town is a town which used to be busy and wealthy but is now poor and deserted. n-count
Mogadishu is said to be a virtual ghost town, deserted by two-thirds of its residents.
market town (market towns plural )A market town is a town, especially in a country area, that has or used to have a market in it. n-count
new town (new towns plural )A new town is a town that has been planned and built as a single project, including houses, shops, and factories, rather than one that has developed gradually.
(mainly BRIT) n-count oft in names
...Basildon New Town.
out-of-town
1 adj Out-of-town shops or facilities are situated away from the centre of a town or city.
ADJ n
...shopping at cheaper, out-of-town supermarkets.
2 adj Out-of-town is used to describe people who do not live in a particular town or city, but have travelled there for a particular purpose.
ADJ n
...a deluxe hotel for out-of-town visitors.
shanty town (shanty towns plural ), shantytown A shanty town is a collection of rough huts which poor people live in, usually in or near a large city. n-count
small town
in BRIT, also use smalltown
Small town is used when referring to small places, usually in the United States, where people are friendly, honest, and polite, or to the people there. Small town is also sometimes used to suggest that someone has old-fashioned ideas.
(mainly AM) adj usu ADJ n
...an idealized small-town America of neat, middle-class homes...
town council (town councils plural )A town council is a group of people who have been elected to govern a British town. n-count-coll oft in names
town crier (town criers plural )In former times, a town crier was a man whose job was to walk through the streets of a town shouting out news and official announcements. n-count
town hall (town halls plural ), Town Hall
1 n-count In Britain, a town hall in a town is a large building owned and used by the town council, often as its main office. You can also use town hall to refer to the town council that uses this building.
2 n-count In the United States, especially in New England, a town hall is a building or hall used for local government business.
town house (town houses plural )
1 n-count A town house is a tall narrow house in a town, usually in a row of similar houses.
2 n-count The town house of a wealthy person is the house that they own in a town or city, rather than another house that they own in the country.
with poss
town planning
Town planning is the planning and design of all the new buildings, roads, and parks in a place in order to make them attractive and convenient for the people who live there. n-uncount oft N n
