township

[toun-ship] /ˈtaʊn ʃɪp/

noun

a unit of local government, usually a subdivision of a county, found in most midwestern and northeastern states of the U.S. and in most Canadian provinces.

(in U.S. surveys of public land) a region or district approximately 6 miles square (93.2 sq. km), containing 36 sections.

English History.

one of the local divisions or districts of a large parish, each containing a village or small town, usually with a church of its own.
the manor, parish, etc., itself.
its inhabitants.

a small town or settlement serving as the business center of a rural area.
the business center of a town or suburb.

(in South Africa) a segregated residential settlement for blacks, located outside a city or town.

Origin

before 900; Middle English tounship community, Old English tūnscipe village community. See town, -ship

Examples from the web for township

Imagine if your county, township, or neighborhood had it's own energy source.
Visitors to the area will not find any motels within the township.
Many township hospitals can now do little more than dispense medicine.
The newcomers, known as prawns and numbering millions, are fenced into a township and forced to scavenge.
Therefore, the north edge of every township is slightly shorter than the south.
After leading a protest in his township, he was arrested and released.
township residents have rejected a proposed referendum proposal to ask whether they want to abolish the township government.
The township made the purchase with reserve funds and not with tax dollars.

British Dictionary definitions for township

township

/ˈtaʊnʃɪp/

noun

a small town

(in the Scottish Highlands and islands) a small crofting community

(in the US and Canada) a territorial area, esp a subdivision of a county: often organized as a unit of local government

(formerly, in South Africa) a planned urban settlement of Black Africans or Coloured people Compare location (sense 4)

(English history)

any of the local districts of a large parish, each division containing a village or small town
the particular manor or parish itself as a territorial division
the inhabitants of a township collectively

Word Origin and History for township

Old English tunscipe "inhabitants or population of a town." Applied in Middle English to "manor, parish, or other division of a hundred." Specific sense of "local division or district in a parish, each with a village or small town and its own church" is from 1530s; as a local municipal division of a county in U.S. and Canada, first recorded 1685.