township

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: town=ship

CIDE DICTIONARY

township, n. 

•  The district or territory of a town.  [1913 Webster]

  " 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."  [1913 Webster]
•  In surveys of the public land of the United States, a division of territory six miles square, containing 36 sections.  [1913 Webster]
•  In Canada, one of the subdivisions of a county.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

township, n.
1 S.Afr. a an urban area set aside for Black (usu. African) occupation. b a White urban area (esp. if new or about to be developed).
2 US & Can. a a division of a county with some corporate powers. b a district six miles square.
3 Brit. hist. a a community inhabiting a manor, parish, etc. b a manor or parish as a territorial division. c a small town or village forming part of a large parish.
4 Austral. & NZ a small town; a town-site.

Etymology

OE tunscipe (as TOWN, -SHIP)

THESAURUS

township

Kreis, Stadt, archbishopric, archdiocese, arrondissement, bailiwick, banlieue, bishopric, boom town, borough, bourg, burg, burgh, canton, city, commune, congressional district, constablewick, conurbation, county, departement, diocese, district, duchy, electoral district, electorate, exurb, exurbia, faubourg, ghost town, government, greater city, hamlet, hundred, magistracy, market town, megalopolis, metropolis, metropolitan area, municipality, oblast, okrug, outskirts, parish, polis, precinct, principality, province, region, riding, sheriffalty, sheriffwick, shire, shrievalty, soke, spread city, stake, state, suburb, suburbia, territory, town, urban complex, urban sprawl, urbs, village, ville, wapentake, ward