a. [f. TOWN sb. + -ISH1.]
† 1. Of or pertaining to a town; living, situated, or existing in a town; urban. Obs.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 1339. To gape & loke, as it wer on a mase; Þis townysche folk do so comownly On euery þing þat falleth sodeinly.
a. 1542. Wyatt, Sat. J. Poins, 4. A song made of the feldishe mouse: That … Would nedes go se her townish sisters house.
1587. Turberv., Trag. T. (1837), 53. Leave off to leade thy life in lawndes, imbrace thy townish good.
1674. Jeake, Arith. (1696), 74. Bakers that dwell in Cities and Towns were allowed 6s. … which … is still generally allowed to Townish Bakers.
2. Pertaining to or characteristic of the town or town life, esp. as distinguished from the country (in quot. 1500–20, from the court); having the manners or habits of town-dwellers.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xlii. 39. Ȝe be to townage, be this buke, To be my ladeis presoneir. Ibid., lxxv. 247. He wes townysche, peirt, and gukit.
1530. Palsgr., 464. To bringe up an uplandysshe person in better maners or more townysshe condycions.
1600. Maides Metam., IV., in Bullen, Old Pl. (1882), I. 149. As townish damzels lend the hand But send the heart to him aloofe doth stand.
1820. Blackw. Mag., VIII. 16. There is a certain townish something about the inhabitants in general.
Hence Townishly adv., Townishness.
1645. J. Bond, Occasus Occid., 33. Another Place, Person, or Town-ship, (peradventure) have stood too Townishly upon their Priviledges and Liberties.
a. 1859. De Quincey, Posth. Wks. (1891), I. 222. A peculiar style of gossip, of babble, and of miniature intriguing, invests the atmosphere of little ‘townishness.’
