villa

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian villa, from Latin vīlla (“country house”). Doublet of ville.

noun

1. (plural "villas") A house, often larger and more expensive than average, in the countryside or on the coast, often used as a retreat.
   This villa was long and low and white, and severe after its manner : for upon and about it were none of those playful ebullitions of taste, such as conical towers, domed roofs, embattlements, statues, coloured tiles and crenellations, such as are dear to architects of villas all the world over. 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/6/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
2. (UK, plural "villas") A family house, often semi-detached, in a middle class street.
3. (Ancient Rome, plural "villae") A country house, with farm buildings around a courtyard.