town and gown

== English == === Pronunciation === === Noun === town and gown (uncountable) (chiefly UK, idiomatic, sometimes capitalized) On the one hand, the members of the city, borough, or similar community near a university and, on the other hand, the students and faculty of the university itself, especially when understood as rivals in a state of tension or conflict. 1920, Arthur Quiller-Couch, On The Art of Reading, Lecture V—"On Reading for Examinations": [T]he first archives of this University were burned in the ‘Town and Gown’ riots of 1381 by the Townsmen. ==== Usage notes ==== Often hyphenated (town-and-gown) when used attributively, as, for example, in: 1880, Andrew Lang, Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes, Ch. 2: The Early Students: In ten minutes the town bell at St. Martin's was rung, and the most terrible of all Town-and-Gown rows began. === References === “town and gown”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.