The Collaborative International Dictionary
Suburb \Sub"urb\, n. [L. suburbium; sub under, below, near + urbs a city. See Urban.]
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An outlying part of a city or town; a smaller place immediately adjacent to a city; in the plural, the region which is on the confines of any city or large town; as, a house stands in the suburbs; a garden situated in the suburbs of Paris. ``In the suburbs of a town.''
--Chaucer.[London] could hardly have contained less than thirty or forty thousand souls within its walls; and the suburbs were very populous.
--Hallam. -
Hence, the confines; the outer part; the environment. ``The suburbs . . . of sorrow.''
--Jer. Taylor.The suburb of their straw-built citadel.
--Milton.Suburb roister, a rowdy; a loafer. [Obs.]
--Milton.