town meeting

noun

a general meeting of the inhabitants of a town.
(especially in New England) a legislative assembly of the qualified voters of a town.

Origin of town meeting

First recorded in 1630–40

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for town meeting

Historical Examples of town meeting

Thirty-six years before there had been a town-meeting in Coniston and a surprise.
Coniston, Complete
Winston Churchill
The only bear-gardens in our community are the town-meeting and the caucus.
History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III)
Various
It was what might be called the first town-meeting in America.
My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field
Charles Carleton Coffin
Action of the Boston town-meeting and the Massachusetts convention.
The Colonization of North America
Herbert Eugene Bolton
Communities have outgrown the folk-moot and the town-meeting.
The New Freedom
Woodrow Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for town meeting

town meeting

noun US

an assembly of the inhabitants of a town
(esp in New England) an assembly of the qualified voters of a town. Such a meeting may exercise all the powers of local government

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012