Cit"i*zen (?), n. [OE.
citisein, OF. citeain, F. citoyen, fr.
cité 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.
&fist; 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.
Cit"i*zen, a. 1.
Having the condition or qualities of a citizen, or of
citizens; as, a citizen soldiery.
2. Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of
a city; characteristic of citizens; effeminate; luxurious.
[Obs.]
I am not well,
But not so citizen a wanton as
To seem to die ere sick.
Shak.
