township

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A subdivision of a county in most northeast and Midwest U.S. states, having the status of a unit of local government with varying governmental powers.
2. n. A public land surveying unit of 36 sections or 36 square miles.
3. n. An ancient administrative division of a large parish in England.
4. n. A racially segregated area in South Africa established by the government as a residence for people of color.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In Anglo-Saxon times, the area of land occupied by a community inhabiting a fenced homestead, a farm, or a village surrounded by an inclosure.
2. n. In law: In England, a town or vill where there are more than one in a parish; a division of a parish in which there is a separate constable, and for which there may be separate overseers of the poor.
3. n. In the United States, a territorial district, subordinate to a county, into which counties in many of the States are divided, the inhabitants of which are invested with political and administrative powers for regulating their own minor local affairs, such as repairing roads, maintaining schools, and providing for the poor; also, the inhabitants of such a district in their organized capacity. In the newer States, in which the divisions were laid off by government survey, a township contains thirty-six square miles. The subdivisions of California counties are called judicial townships. The townships of Wisconsin are more often called towns; those of Maine and New Hampshire are corporations. Compare town, 6.
4. n. In Australia, a village or small town.

Wiktionary

1. n. The territory of a town; a subdivision of a county.
2. n. South Africa, Pre 1994 An area set aside for non-white occupation.
3. n. South Africa, Post 1994 A non-white (usually sub-economic) area attached to a city.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The district or territory of a town.
2. n. In surveys of the public land of the United States, a division of territory six miles square, containing 36 sections.
3. n. In Canada, one of the subdivisions of a county.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an administrative division of a county