English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English townishe, townysche, equivalent to town +‎ -ish.

Adjective edit

townish (comparative more townish, superlative most townish)

  1. (often in combination) Characteristic of a (certain type of) town.
  2. (obsolete) Pertaining to or inhabiting a town, urban.
    • c. 1527–1542, Thomas Wyatt, “My mothers maydes when they did ſowe & ſpyñ”, in Egerton MS 2711[1], page 50v:
      My mothers maydes when they did ſowe & ſpyñ
      they ſang ſometyme a ſong of the feld mowſe
      that forbicauſe her lyvelood was but thyñ
      Would nedes goo ſeke her townyſſh ſyſters howſe
    • 1567, George Turberville, second eclogue of Baptista Mantuanus:
      In stature passing all the rest,
      A gallant girl for hewe;
      To be compared to townish nymphs,
      So faire she was to viewe.

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