townishadj.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 1339 To gape & loke, as it wer on a mase; Þis townysche folk do so comownly On euery þing þat falleth sodeinly.

a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) l. 2443 Presently ther had A thousand of contre, Without tho townishe peple, vnto se.

a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) cvi. 4 A song of the feld mowse, That..Would nedes goo seke her townyssh systers howse.

1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 28^v Leaue off to leade thy life in lawndes, imbrace thy townish good.

a1690 S. Jeake Λογιστικηλογία (1696) 74 Bakers that dwell in Cities and Towns were allowed 6s...which..is still generally allowed to Townish Bakers.

1822 J. Galt Sir Andrew Wylie I. xxviii. 253 I declare you cooing lambkins and capering doves of the azure fields are such innocents, that there is no speaking to you about any townish matter.

1903 R. Whiteing Yellow Van viii. 73 The same speaker will..use one and the same word in its townish setting, and in the earlier country one to which he was born.

c1450 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) 139 O fy, loue, fy, amende yowre gouernaunce; ye are to townysshe bi this book.

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 106 He wes townysche, peirt and gukit.

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 230 Ȝe be to townage, be this buke, To be my ladeis presoneir.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 464 To bringe up an uplandysshe person in better maners or more townysshe condycions.

1600 Maydes Metamorphosis iv. sig. F2 As townish damzels lend the hand, But send the heart to him aloofe doth stand.

1706 C. Gildon Post-boy robb'd of his Mail (ed. 2) ii. xxiv. 219 This Letter..has a Townish Air, and confesses an Inditer of Publick Capacity.

1791 S. Dobson tr. Petrarch View Human Life 138 Now I fear that townish villanies have crept into country cottages.

1820 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 8 16 There is a certain townish something about the inhabitants in general.

1899 T. B. Russell Mandate xix. 213 This luncheon was dinner, really. Mrs. Brookfield never reconciled herself to the new-fangled, townish arrangement of meals.

1947 Austral. Q. Dec. 132 The presentation had a townish graciousness associated by us today rather with Edwardian society life than with late Victorian.

1975 J. McCourt Mawrdew Czgowchwz vii. 209 The Percase fortune, wielded in the fist of a townish aesthete suddenly turned stringent overseer.

2007 B. Unsworth in Financial Times 11 Aug. (Life & Arts section) 9/6 We wanted to have our lunch somewhere quiet—Lerapetra seemed too busy and townish.

1645 J. Bond Occasus Occidentalis 33 Another Place, Person, or Town-ship, (peradventure) have stood too Townishly upon their Priviledges and Liberties.

1899 Sat. Rev. 23 Sept. 382/2 The education is ‘townish’, and the teacher a ‘townee’ or ‘townishly’ inclined.

2001 tr. E. Lucas Sovereigns viii. 99 The townishly dressed and feeble-looking young man.

1839 Amer. Misc. 2 Nov. 101/1 In singular contrast to all this townishness, groups of rough sailors cleaning their boats, drying their nets,..unconscious of the luxury and magnificence on the other side of the street.

1924 Times Lit. Suppl. 26 June 401 The old life of concentrated townishness and gay sociability..gradually passed away.

1998 Guardian 16 May (Saturday section) 2/6 Hurstpierpoint in Sussex is a village, but walk up its handsome main street and you all but taste its townishness.