Gr. Antiq. Also synoik-. [ad. Gr. συνοικισμός, n. of action f. συνοικίζειν to cause to dwell with, to unite under one capital city, f. σύν SYN- + οἰκίζειν to found as a colony, to colonize, f. οἶκος house.] The union of several towns or villages into or under one capital city. So Synœcize v. [ad. Gr. συνοικίζειν: see above], trans. to unite into or under one capital city.
1886. Eng. Hist. Rev., I. 636. They always remained separate states and were never synoikised.
1887. A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, & Relig., I. 266. Legends … current before the villages were ‘synoecised’ into Athens.
1898. J. B. Bury, in Jrnl. Hellenic Studies, XVIII. 15. We would give much to know the details of … the synoecism of Messenia. Ibid., 16. If the only purpose of Megalopolis had been to synœcize the Maenalians and Parrhasians.
1902. E. Gardiner, in Encycl. Brit., XXX. 529/2. When the town was first formed … by the ‘synœcism’ of the neighbouring villages.
