Citron melon. (a) A small variety of muskmelon with sugary greenish flesh. (b) A small variety of watermelon, whose solid white flesh is used in making sweetmeats and preserves. -- Citron tree (Bot.), the tree which bears citrons. It was probably a native of northern India, and is now understood to be the typical form of Citrus Medica.
||Cit"rus (s&ibreve;t"rŭs), n. [L., a citron tree.] (Bot.) A genus of trees including the orange, lemon, citron, etc., originally natives of southern Asia.
Cit"tern (?), n. [L. cithara, Gr. kiqa`ra. Cf. Cithara, Gittern.] (Mus.) An instrument shaped like a lute, but strung with wire and played with a quill or plectrum. [Written also cithern.] Shak.
&fist; Not to be confounded with zither.
Cit"tern-head` (?), n. Blockhead; dunce; -- so called because the handle of a cittern usually ended with a carved head. Marsion
Cit"y (s&ibreve;t"&ybreve;), n.; pl. Cities (-&ibreve;z). [OE. cite, F. citÚ, fr. L. civitas citizenship, state, city, fr. civis citizen; akin to Goth. heiwa (in heiwafrauja man of the house), AS. hīwan, pl., members of a family, servants, hīred family, G. heirath marriage, prop., providing a house, E. hind a peasant.] 1. A large town.
2. A corporate town; in the United States, a town or collective body of inhabitants, incorporated and governed by a mayor and aldermen or a city council consisting of a board of aldermen and a common council; in Great Britain, a town corporate, which is or has been the seat of a bishop, or the capital of his see.
A city is a town incorporated; which is, or has been, the see of a bishop; and though the bishopric has been dissolved, as at Westminster, it yet remaineth a city.
Blackstone
When Gorges constituted York a city, he of course meant it to be the seat of a bishop, for the word city has no other meaning in English law.
Palfrey
3. The collective body of citizens, or inhabitants of a city. "What is the city but the people?" Shak.
Syn. -- See Village.
Cit"y, a. Of or pertaining to a city. Shak.
City council. See under Council. -- City court, The municipal court of a city. [U. S.] -- City ward, a watchman, or the collective watchmen, of a city. [Obs.] Fairfax.
Cive (sīv), n. (Bot.) Same as Chive.
Civ"et (s&ibreve;v"&ebreve;t), n. [F. civette (cf. It. zibetto) civet, civet cat, fr. LGr. zape`tion, fr. Ar. zubād, zabād, civet.] 1. A substance, of the consistence of butter or honey, taken from glands in the anal pouch of the civet (Viverra civetta). It is of clear yellowish or brownish color, of a strong, musky odor, offensive when undiluted, but agreeable when a small portion is mixed with another substance. It is used as a perfume.
2. (Zo÷l) The animal that produces civet (Viverra civetta); -- called also civet cat. It is carnivorous, from two to three feet long, and of a brownish gray color, with transverse black bands and spots on the body and tail. It is a native of northern Africa and of Asia. The name is also applied to other species of the subfamily Viverrinae.