Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - town

~ n 1 »PLACE« a large area with houses, shops, offices etc where people live and work, that is smaller than a city and larger than a village  (an industrial town in the Midlands | the town of Norwalk, Connecticut) 2 »MAIN CENTRE« the business or shopping centre of a town  (We're going into town tonight to see a film. | They have a small apartment in town.) 3 »PEOPLE« all the people who live in a particular town  (The whole town turned out to watch the procession.) 4 »WHERE YOU LIVE« AmE the town or city where you live  (Cam left town about an hour ago, he should be out at the farm by now. | out of town)  (I'll be out of town for about a week. | in town)  (Guess who's in town? Jodie's sister! | be from out of town (=live in a different town than the one you are in))  (Do you know of a good place to eat? I'm from out of town.) 5 »VILLAGE« AmE several houses forming a small group around a church, shops etc; village BrE  (Rowayton is a small town of around 4000 people.) 6 »NOT COUNTRY« the town life in towns and cities in general  (Which do you prefer, the town or the country?) 7 go to town (on) informal to do something in a very eager or thorough way, often spending a lot of money  (Angela really went to town on buying things for her new house.) 8 go/be out on the town informal to go to restaurants, bars, theatres etc for entertainment in the evening 9 town and gown BrE used to describe the situation in which the people living in a town and the students in a town seem to be separate and opposing groups  (- see also ghost town, blow town blow1 (11), market town, new town, paint the town (red) paint2 (6))