Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small group of dwellings in a rural area, usually ranking in size between a hamlet and a town.
  • noun In some US states, an incorporated community smaller in population than a town.
  • noun The inhabitants of a village; villagers.
  • noun A dense group of animal habitations.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small assemblage of houses, less than a town or city, and larger than a hamlet.
  • noun In law, sometimes a manor; sometimes a whole parish or subdivision of it; most commonly an outpart of a parish, consisting of a few houses separate from the rest.
  • Of, pertaining to, or belonging to a village; characteristic of a village; hence, rustic; countrified.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A small assemblage of houses in the country, less than a town or city.
  • noun a kind of two-wheeled pleasure carriage without a top.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A rural habitation of size between a hamlet and a town.
  • noun UK A rural habitation that has a church, but no market.
  • noun Australia A planned community such as a retirement community or shopping district.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a community of people smaller than a town
  • noun a settlement smaller than a town
  • noun a mainly residential district of Manhattan; `the Village' became a home for many writers and artists in the 20th century

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin vīllāticum, farmstead, from neuter of vīllāticus, of a villa or farmstead, from vīlla, country house, farm; see weik- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle French village, from Medieval Latin villagium, ultimately from Latin villa (English villa).

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