canterbury

[kan-ter-ber-ee, -buh-ree] /ˈkæn tərˌbɛr i, -bə ri/
noun, plural canterburies.
1.
a stand having sections for holding magazines, sheet music, or loose papers.
2.
a supper tray with partitions for cutlery and plates.
Origin
1840-50; after Canterbury, England

Canterbury

[kan-ter-ber-ee, -buh-ree or, esp. British, -bree] /ˈkæn tərˌbɛr i, -bə ri or, esp. British, -bri/
noun
1.
a city in E Kent, in SE England: cathedral; early ecclesiastical center of England.
2.
a municipality in E New South Wales, in SE Australia: a part of Sydney.
Related forms
Canterburian
[kan-ter-byoo r-ee-uh n] /ˌkæn tərˈbyʊər i ən/ (Show IPA), adjective
Examples from the web for canterbury
  • Many of the early archbishops of canterbury were buried in the baptistery at canterbury.
  • Early history the canterbury area has been inhabited since prehistoric times.
  • These wards have fifteen of the fifty seats on the canterbury city council.
  • The intended audience of the canterbury tales has proved very difficult to determine.
  • The city of canterbury has a museum dedicated to the canterbury tales.
  • Species, phantasms and images vision and medieval psychology in the canterbury tales.
  • The treaty of canterbury was signed allowing the project to proceed.
  • Once this is done, the archbishop of canterbury places the crown of st.
British Dictionary definitions for canterbury

canterbury

/ˈkæntəbərɪ; -brɪ/
noun (antiques) (pl) -buries
1.
a late 18th-century low wooden stand with partitions for holding cutlery and plates: often mounted on casters
2.
a similar 19th-century stand used for holding sheet music, music books, or magazines

Canterbury

/ˈkæntəbərɪ; -brɪ/
noun
1.
a city in SE England, in E Kent: starting point for St Augustine's mission to England (597 ad); cathedral where St Thomas à Becket was martyred (1170); seat of the archbishop and primate of England; seat of the University of Kent (1965). Pop: 43 552 (2001) Latin name Durovernum (ˌduːrəʊˈvɜːnəm; ˌdjʊə-)
2.
a regional council area of New Zealand, on E central South Island on Canterbury Bight: mountainous with coastal lowlands; agricultural. Chief town: Christchurch. Pop: 520 500 (2004 est). Area: 43 371 sq km (16 742 sq miles)
Word Origin and History for canterbury

Canterbury

Old English Cantware-buruh "fortified town of the Kentish people," from Cant-ware "the people of Kent" (see Kent). The Roman name was Duroverno, from Romano-British *duro- "walled town."

Pope Gregory the Great intended to make London, as the largest southern Anglo-Saxon city, the metropolitan see of southern England, but Christianity got a foothold first in the minor kingdom of Kent, whose heathen ruler Ethelbert had married a Frankish Christian princess. London was in the Kingdom of Essex and out of reach of the missionaries at first. Therefore, in part perhaps to flatter Ethelbert, his capital was made the cathedral city. Related: Canterburian.