town-gaten.2
/ˈtaʊnɡeɪt/, U.S. /ˈtaʊnˌɡeɪt/, Scottish English /ˈtʌʊnɡet/ Scottish and English regional (northern).
The main street of a town or village.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > street > [noun] > main
master streetc1385
high street1548
town-gate1570
main street1598
master way1726
the main drag1851
main drag1851
main stem1900
1570 in J. Raine Depositions Courts Durham (1845) 197 The sande pytt in the towne gait at Langnewton.
1587 in J. C. Hodgson Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1906) III. 129 Frome the particione of the said barene northward, unto the toune-gaite.
1607 in Quarter Sessions Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1884) I. 99 Will. Kidd of Kirby Moorside presented for keeping disorder in the Towne-gate.
1683 G. Meriton York-shire Dialogue in Pure Nat. Dial. 10 Nan slap him back as Thou gangs up 'th Towne gate.
1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 330 Gait, street; as west-gait, castle-gait, the town-gait, the gait-door.
1817 Edinb. Monthly Mag. May 155/1 The straggled houses..with their gable-ends, backs, or corners, turned to the street or town-gate.
1867 Criminal Chronol. York Castle 207 The town-gate in Mirfield.
1921 Kelso Chron. 18 Nov. 4 The gaily beribboned ball should be thrown up at the ‘toon gate’ by the oldest man in the village.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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