city

Etymology

From Middle English city, citie, citee, cite, from Old French cité, from Latin cīvitās (“citizenry; community; a city with its hinterland”), from cīvis (“native; townsman; citizen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie down, settle; home, family; love; beloved”). Cognate with Old English hīwan pl (“members of one's household, servants”). See hewe. Doublet of civitas. Mostly displaced native Old English burg, whence Modern English burg.

noun

1. A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
   São Paulo is the largest city in South America.
   One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination. 2014-06-14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891
   All our stations have changed. We have to constrain numbers. We have to mandate face coverings. These are massive changes in what is a public transport city. This is not a car city. July 15 2020, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 42
2. (UK) A settlement granted special status by royal charter or letters patent; traditionally, a settlement with a cathedral regardless of size.
   Manchester, incorporated in 1838, was made the centre of a bishopric in 1847 and became a city in 1853. Liverpool was transformed into a city by Royal Charter when the new diocese of Liverpool was created in 1880. 1976, Cornelius P. Darcy, The Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Lancashire, 1760-1860, Manchester University Press, page 20
   St Davids itself is the smallest city in Great Britain, with a population of less than 2,000. 2014, Graham Rutt, Cycling Britain's Cathedrals Volume 1, Lulu.com, page 307
3. (Australia) The central business district; downtown.
   I'm going into the city today to do some shopping.
4. (slang) A large amount of something (used after the noun).
   It’s video game city in here!