Citizen \Cit"i*zen\, n. [OE. citisein, OF. citeain, F. citoyen,
fr. cit['e] city. See City, and cf. Cit.]
1. One who enjoys the freedom and privileges of a city; a
freeman of a city, as distinguished from a foreigner, or
one not entitled to its franchises.
That large body of the working men who were not
counted as citizens and had not so much as a vote to
serve as an anodyne to their stomachs. --G. Eliot.
2. An inhabitant of a city; a townsman. --Shak.
3. A person, native or naturalized, of either sex, who owes
allegiance to a government, and is entitled to reciprocal
protection from it.
Note: This protection is . . . national protection,
recognition of the individual, in the face of foreign
nations, as a member of the state, and assertion of his
security and rights abroad as well as at home. --Abbot
4. One who is domiciled in a country, and who is a citizen,
though neither native nor naturalized, in such a sense
that he takes his legal status from such country.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) |