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township - 4 dictionary results

town⋅ship

  [toun-ship]
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–noun
1. a unit of local government, usually a subdivision of a county, found in most midwestern and northeastern states of the U.S. and in most Canadian provinces.
2. (in U.S. surveys of public land) a region or district approximately 6 miles square (93.2 sq. km), containing 36 sections.
3. English History.
a. one of the local divisions or districts of a large parish, each containing a village or small town, usually with a church of its own.
b. the manor, parish, etc., itself.
c. its inhabitants.
4. (in Australia)
a. a small town or settlement serving as the business center of a rural area.
b. the business center of a town or suburb.
5. (in South Africa) a segregated residential settlement for blacks, located outside a city or town.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME tounship community, OE tūnscipe village community. See town, -ship
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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town·ship   (toun'shĭp')   
n.   Abbr. Twp. or Tp. or T
  1. A subdivision of a county in most northeast and Midwest U.S. states, having the status of a unit of local government with varying governmental powers.
  2. A public land surveying unit of 36 sections or 36 square miles.
  3. An ancient administrative division of a large parish in England.
  4. A racially segregated area in South Africa established by the government as a residence for people of color.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Township

Town"ship\, n. 1. The district or territory of a town.

Note: In the United States, many of the States are divided into townships of five, six, seven, or perhaps ten miles square, and the inhabitants of such townships are invested with certain powers for regulating their own affairs, such as repairing roads and providing for the poor. The township is subordinate to the county.

2. In surveys of the public land of the United States, a division of territory six miles square, containing 36 sections.

3. In Canada, one of the subdivisions of a county.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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township 
O.E. tunscipe "inhabitants or population of a town." Applied in M.E. to "manor, parish, or other division of a hundred." Specific sense of "local division or district in a parish, each with a village or small town and its own church" is from 1540; as a local municipal division of a county in U.S. and Canada, first recorded 1685.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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