from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Village \Vil"lage\ (?; 48), n. [F., fr. L. villaticus belonging
to a country house or villa. See {Villa}, and cf.
{Villatic}.]
A small assemblage of houses in the country, less than a town
or city.
[1913 Webster]
{Village cart}, a kind of two-wheeled pleasure carriage
without a top.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: {Village}, {Hamlet}, {Town}, {City}.
Usage: In England, a hamlet denotes a collection of houses,
too small to have a parish church. A village has a
church, but no market. A town has both a market and a
church or churches. A city is, in the legal sense, an
incorporated borough town, which is, or has been, the
place of a bishop's see. In the United States these
distinctions do not hold.
[1913 Webster]