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VILLA.
Among the tenantr>- of thorpe and vill, Or straggling burgh.
x8bi Clare ViU. Minsir. 11. 69 In every vill, at morning's
earlicsi prime, To early-risers many a Hodge is seen. 1834
Sir H. Taylor Arici'eide 11. m. ii, So in field or forest, Or
in wall'ii town, by stipend lured, or viil Surprised and sack'd,
by turns he lived at large.
+ 3. A villa. Obs. rare,
1684 tr. Eutropius X. 170 [Constantine] died in a publick
Vil! of the City Nicomedia. 1755 Amorv Mem. (1766) 11.
61 He saw a vill, that seemed to him of wood.and consisieii
of ground-rooms. 1766 — BuhcU {1770} MI. 203 The vill
here was ver>- odd, but a charming pretty thing. The house
consisted of letcj.
Vill, obs. Sc. fonn of Will a.
Villa (vi-la). [Partly a. L. vil/a country-house,
^rm, etc., j^erhaps a diminotive from the stem of
vuus >-iUage, hamlet, country-seat partly a. It.
;
vi//a (whence also F., Sp., and Pg. vt'ila) from the
same source.]
1. Orig., a country mansion or residence, together
with a farm, farm-buildings, or other houses
attached, built or occupied by a person of some
position and wealth; a country seat or estate ; in
later and more general use, a residence in the
coimtry, or in the neighbourhood of a town, usually
of some size and architectural elegance and
standing in its own grounds.
a. Among the ancient Romans, Greeks, etc.
j6is G. Sandys Trav. iv. 274 Passing by Ciceros Villa,
euen at this day so called, where yet do remaine the
mines of his Academy. 1644 Stapylton Juvenal i. m
Who built so many villa's? when wast knowne Our
Fathers with seven dishes supt alone? 1697 Wai.sh Lifo
Virgil r 3 The beautiful Villa's of the Roman Nobility,
equalling the Magnificence of the greatest Kings. 1771 H.
Walpole l^ertue's Anccd. Paint. (1786) IV. 254 Pliny has
left us descriptions of two of his villas. As he used liis
iJiurentine villa for his winter retreat [etc.]. 1781 Gibbon
VecL ^ F. xxxvi. (1787) III. 443 'Ibe villa was pleasantly
seated on the margm of the lake. 1797 S. Lysons Kom.
Antiq. Woodchesier 16 The remains of a Roman house, or
rather, perhaps, of a villa. 183a G. R. Porter Porcelain
ft Gl. xiii. 269 The ruins of a villa built by Tiberius in the
island of Capri. 1838 Thirlwall Greece V. 97 The dwellings
which were thickly scattered in the neighbourhood of
the capital .. seem to have been chiefly villas of the more
opulent Sp.irtans, 1879 Froude Caesar iv. 52 Their great
men had country housesand villas, the surest sign of a settled
state of society.
b. With reference to modern Italy or other
Continental countries.
i6ii CoRYAT Crudities 139 A certaine Gentleman called
Bassano..liued at a villa that he had in the country. 1636
Massincer Gt. Dk. Florence i. i. And how, I pray you, (For
we, that never look beyond our villas, Must be inquisitive)
are state affairs Carried in court? (11700 Evrlvn Diary
27 Feb. 1644, We went to see Cardinal Richelieu's villa at
Ruell. Ibid. 10 Nov. 1644, We went to see Prince Ludovisio's
villa. . . The house is very magnificent, and the extent
of the ground is exceeding large. i«7 [S. BkringtonJ
G. di Lucca's Mem. (1738) 238 Their Villa's, or Palaces of
Pleasure, are scattered all over the Country, 1756-7 tr.
Keysler's Trav. (1762) I. 510 The road from Pistoia to Florence..
exhibits no villa's or plantations to the view, and
consequently, .there's the greater number of them in the
neighbourhood of Florence. 1806 Dallaway Obsert'. Fng.
Arckit. X, 232 The capricious lightness of an Italian villa.
1838 Murray's Handik. N. Germ. 320/1 On the borders of
the Havel.. is the little villa of GHenecke, once the residence
of the minister Von Hardenl>erg. 1905 ' G. Thorne '
Lost Cause iii, The gay villa at Nice by the old citadel of
Mont-Albano.
c. In English use. Now merged in next.
1711 Shaftksb. Charac. III. Misc. in. ii. 184 note^ Behold
the Disposition and Order of these finer sorts of Apartments,
Gardens, Villa's ! 15148 Harilf.v Observ. Man i. iv.
S I. 427 The Villas and Cabinets of the Noble, the Rich, and
the Curious. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 338 Ihe profits of some of
whom are so extravagant, as to support them in enormous
magnificent town-houses and country villas. 1830 Pkaed
Poems (1865) II. 227 Hurrying madly after marriage To
some lord's villa. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archil. § 1677 A
villashould always form part of a village, and be placed, if
possible, on rather higher ground. 184a Gwilt Archil.
S 3000 The villas at Foot'.s Cray and Mereworth, imitations
of Palladio*s Villa, Capra,..are the maxima of villas : beyond
this the villa becomes a mansion.
Jig, 174a Young Nt. VA. ix. 1732 What behold I now?
A wilderness of wonders burning round; .. Perhaps the
villas of descending gods !
d. Hence, any residence of a superior or handsome
type, or of some architectural pretension, in
the suburbs of a town or in a residential district,
such as is occupied by a person of the middleclass;
also, any small better-class dwelling-house,
usually one which is detached or semi-detached.
The word is frequently employed in the names given to
particular houses of this type, as Windsor Villa.
1755 Johnson Connoisseur No, 81 f 4, I cannot help
observing, that pe.sons polite enough to be ibnd of such
exquisite refinements, are partly in the same case with the
mechanic at his dusty Villa. 1781 Cowier Retirem. 481
Suburban villas^ highway-side retreats, 'J hat dread th' encroachment
of our growing streets. 179a A. Young Trav.
France (1889) 1:4 To'Havre de Grace, ..the hills almost
covered with little new built villas. 1825 C. M. Westmacott
Eng. Spy I. 318 Incongruous edificies called villas. 1849
Macaulav Hist. Eng. iii. I. 349 No long avenues of villas,
embowered in lilacs and laburnums, extended from the
great centre of wealth. 1853 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp.
Tour it 6 The farm houses are dotted about as thickly . as
to look like inferior * villas ' falling out of rank. 1881 Miss
Braodon Mt. RoyalW. ix. 167, I wish you would let me
build you a villa at Torquay or Dartmouth.
I 1
204
2. (See quot.) Obsr'' I
a 1700 Evelyn Diary 6 May 1645, In these [valleys] are
faire Parks or Gardens call'd Villas, being onely places of
recesse and pleasure, at some distance from the streetes,
yet within the walls [of Rome].
3. atirib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib. (passing
into adj.), as villa architecture, garden, -gale,
style, -work, etc. ; villa-house, f {") a house
attached to a villa; {b) a villa residence; villa
dwelling, residence, = Villa i c, d.
a 1700 Evelyn Diary 10 Nov. 1644, In the villa-house is
a man's body, . .petrified. 1813 Scott Let. 13 Mar. in
I.oclcltart, What I shall finally make of this villa-woik I
don't know. i8a8 R. Lugar «///rts of a villa dwelling. I/>id. § 1624 Of the Choice of a
Situation for a Villa Residence. 1844 Disraeli Coningsly
IV. iii, A ..dwelling-house, built in what is called a villa
style, with a variety of gardens and conservatories. 185s
BliOWNiNG Old Pict. in Ftori-ncei, The aloed arch Of the
villa-gate. 1876 ' Ouida' Winter City xii. 367 Mrae. Mila
was organising alfresco dinners in villa gardens.
b. In instrumental or similative combs., as villadotted,
-haunted, -like adjs. Also in objective or
obj. gen. combs., aivilla dweller, owner, etc.
1843 f"t"y Cycl. XXVI. 264/1 The houses are for the
most part neat and villa-like. 1871 Miss Ckaik Fair
France 154 Flat, tame, and villa-haunted, what we should
call Cockneyfied. 1881 Miss Braddon Asphodel III. 148
The smiling waters of Thun, with its villa-dotted shores.
a 1894 Stevenson Lay Morals, etc. (igii) 123 It is. .from
the villa-dweller that we hear complaints of the unworlhiness
of life. 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 35 This sort of
villa-owner's selfishness.
Hence (in nonce-use) Villaette (vilaie't),a sm.ill
villa ; Villaftr (vi'lafai), v. trans., (a) to turn into
a villa ; (/') to cover with villas.
1836 Tait's Mae. III. 563 Sweet nestling cottages and
•villaettes upon the shrubby braes. i86a W. H. Russell
Dinry North ^ South (1863) 1. 274 Pretty villarettes {sic\ in
charming groves of magnolia, orange-trees, and lime oaks.
1884 Harpers Mag. Aug. 338/1 [The chateau] has. .been
..restored and *villafied. 1887 Oxford Mag. 9 Mar. 129
A railway which would viUa-fy the shores of Rydal.
Villadom (viladam). [f. Villa + -dom.] 'Ihe
world of villas ; suburban villas or their residents
collectively. (Freq. in recent use.)
1880 Macm. Mag. May 76 Respectable and well-to-do
villadom in the suburban counties. 1888 Eakl of Desaht
Heme Lodge I. i. i Oases in the desert of gorgeous villadom.
1897 S. S. SpRlGGE Li/e IVakley xxv. 233 The street
still reserves many of the features of suburban villadom.
attrib. 1898 Dnity News 2 Mar. 5/6 The roads.. look to
be of the lower villadom type.
Village (vi'leds), sb. Forms : 4- village, 5
vylage, villach-, 5-6 vyllage, 5-7 vilage, 6
wylage, Sc. willage, -aige, v^elage ; also //.
6 vyllagies, Sc. willagies. [a. OF. village,
vilage (mod.F. village), = Vt.vilatge, Sp. village,
Pg. villagem (fem.), It. villaggio :— L. villaticiim,
neut. sing, of villdticus of or pertaining to a villa,
f. villa Villa : see -age. Cf. late L. villagium,
vilatgium.']
1. A collection of dwelling-houses and other
buildings, forming a centre of habitation in a country
district; an inhabited place larger than a
hamlet and smaller than a town, or having a
simpler organization and administration than the
latter. (Cf. the note to Town sb. 4.)
c 1386 Chaucer Pard. T. 225 Henne ouer a myle, withinne
a greet village, a 1400 Sqr. lowe Degre 491 He had
not ryden but a whyle, . . Or he was ware of a vyllage. X4aa
YoNGE tr. Secreta .Secret. 184 A Candrede in frensh and
in Irysh, is a Porcion of grovnde that may contene an
hundrid villachis. 1477 Rotls of Partt. VI. 184/1 In any
Tonne or other village not corporal, c 1515 Coctie LorelCs
B. 14 They sayled England thorowe and thorowe, Vyllage,
towne, cyte, and borowe. 1S73 Tlsser Husli. (1878) 85
Much carting, ill tillage, makes som to flie village. 1600
Shaks, a. Y. L. 111. iii. 60 A wall'd Towne is more worthier
then a village. i6co J. PoRV tr. Leo's Africa vii. 287 A
large and ample village containing to the number of sixe
thousand or mo families. 1617 SloRYSON Itin. 1. 51, I
remember not to haue seene a more pleasant village than
this (the Hague]. 1667 Milton P. L. ix. 448 Forth issuing
on a Summers Morn to breathe Among the pleasant Villages
and Farmes,..The smell of Grain. 1715 Watts Logic 11.
iii. S 4 Consider also, that . . the Customs of different Towns
and Villages in the same Nation, are .. contrary to each
other. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Village i. 1806 Gazetteer Scot.
(ed. 2), IVatlacetown ; a thriving and populous village in
Ayrshire.. .The village nearly joins tothe Newtown of Ayr,
and contains about 960 inhabitants, i860 Mill ICefrr, Govt.
(1865) 115/1 A mere village has no claim to a municipal
representation. 1882 T. CoAN Life in Haivaii 41 When the
meeting closed at one village, most of the people ran on to
the next.
transf. 1604 E. G[rimstone1 D'Acosids Hist. Indies 11.
vi. 94 There are whole villages of these Vros inhabiting in
the Lake in their boates of Totora, the which are tied
together and fastened to some rocke.
pltr. 1770 Gentl. Mag. XL. 559 To express the Condition
of an Honest Fellow and no Flincher, under the Effects of
good Fellowship, he is said to. .Come home by the Villages,
this is Provincial, when a man comes home by the fields he
meets nobody, consequently is sober, when he comes home
by the Villages, he calls first at one house, then at another,
and drinks at all.
b. Applied jocularly to a large town or city,
esp. Lontion.
1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Sf>y I. 129, I used to keep
a good prad here for a bolt to the village, la i860 Di;
VILLAGE.
Maurier in Moscheles In Bohemia (1857) 124 Living with
Henley, No. 85, Newman Street.. .This is a very jolly little
village, and I wish you were over here, i860 Hughes Tom
Broivn at Ox/, xxviii, You had much Ijetier come up to the
little village at once, Brown, and stay there while the coin
lasts. 1874 Slang Diet. 334 Bi.mingham is called 'the
hardware village .
O. Cambr. slattg, (See quot.)
x'iA^Slang Did. 266 A Cambridge term for a disreputable
suburb of that town, viz., Barnwell, generally styled 'the
village '.
d. ^'^^S'. A minor municipality with limited
corporate powers (seequots.).
1888 Brvck Amer. Comunv. II. 11. xlviii. 240 A minimum
population of three hundred, occupying not more than two
square mites in extent, may by popular vote become incorporated
as a ' village '. Ibid. 247 Of these villages
and other minor municipalities there are v.irious forms in
different States. Ohio, for instance, divides her municipal
corporations into (rt) cities,.. (/') villages, with two classes,
the first of from 3000 to 5000 inhabitants, the second of from
200 to 3000, . .and Kc) hamlets.
2. The inhabitants or residents of a village ; the
villagers.
86o in F. Gallon Vac. Tour.
(1B61) 114 The literati of the southern Slaves are not to be
found among a higher class than the village clergy, and
masters of village-schools. 1871 Maine {title), Village-
Communities in the East and West. 1883 Smiles in
Longiu. Mag. June 159 He was followed to the grave by a
large number of the village labourers.
t b. Attrib., = village-like ; of the size or constitution
of a village. Obsr~^
164a Jer. Taylor Episc. (1647) 89 In populous Cityes, not
in village TowneSj for no Bishops were ever suffered to be
in village Townes.
c. In objective and obj. genitive, instrumental,
locative, or other combs., as village-founder^
-haunter; village-born^ •dwellings -lit adjs.
1649 G. Daniel Trinaich.^ Hen. V, ccxcix, These..
wrought more With village-haunters. 185a Badger Acstorians
I. 343 The Jes were all Igr&ivy, that is villagedwelling
Arabs, who cultivate the soil. 187a Howeli^
Wedd. Journ. (1892) 270 The landscape of village-lit plain
and forest-darkened height. i88o Cornh. Mag. Jan. 35
The local hero or eponymous village-founder was the man
who cut down the jungle. 1891 Daily News 11 Sept. 3/4
The many village-born men in towns.
d. Special combs. : village burrow, = sense 3 ;
village butler Cant (see quot.) ;
the chief house of a Malay village.
village-house,
X795 Potter Diet. Cant (ed. 2), Village butlers, o\A
thieves, that would rather steal a dishclout than discontinue
the practice of thieving. x86a S. St. Johk Li/i Forests Far
East I. 7 A passage raised on posts three feet above the
ground, led to the great village-house. 1893 W. ^* Hi-;dson
Iil/e Days in Patagonia i. 11 Like, .the vucacha's village
burrows, and the beaver's dam, it is made to last for ever.
Hence Village v. intr., to settle down to a villeggiatura.
Vi'llagedom, the condition or status of
a village; also, the system of village communities.
Vi'llagefal, as many as a villnge contains ; the
whole of the people of a village. Vi'Uagehood,
= villagedom. Vl'llageless a.y having no village,
Vllla'geous a., of or concerned with villages or
village-life, t Vi'Uageship, ? a village community.
Villageward(sa^z'J., in the direction of the
village. Vi'llagism, a mode of expression usual
in villages ; a rustic phrase.