district

plural districts

1. An administrative division of an area.

   Soho is a district of London

   2 more examples

   ‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.[…]’

   1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Another issue important to my district is human rights, specifically what is happening in China. My district includes San Francisco's famous Chinatown, and many of my constituents were deeply concerned—as was I—when the Chinese government began to crack down on protesters who were demonstrating peacefully in Beijing and throughout China. Huge demonstrations led to the Tiananmen Square massacre, where more than two thousand people who had dared to speak out against the government were killed and many more injured. The massacre was followed by even more suppression and imprisonment of protesters.

   2008, Nancy Pelosi, “A Voice That Will Be Heard”, in Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 92

2. An area or region marked by some distinguishing feature.

   the Lake District in Cumbria

3. UKAn administrative division of a county without the status of a borough.

   South Oxfordshire District Council

4. businessA specific, usually named area of the coalface where particular seams are worked.

present singular third person districts · participle present districting · participle past districted · past districted

1. transitiveTo divide into administrative or other districts.

   A county districted for voting purposes.

comparative more district · superlative most district

1. obsoleterigorous; stringent; harsh

   punishing with the rod of district severity

   1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC

1. informalThe District of Columbia, the federal district of the United States.
2. mostly local usageAny of numerous governmental districts.
3. rail transportThe District Line of the London Underground, originally known as the District Railway.

   The District seems complacently salubrious. It is green on the Tube map, an inoffensive colour. It has not one but two bridge crossings of the Thames, which seems greedy when you think that no other [underground] line has even one.

   2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 60