Milltown

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small town whose growth and economy were centered on a local mill, especially a textile or grain mill
2. A community that grew up around a factory or mill and depended on its industry for work and survival
3. A settlement organized around one or more mills, often in a valley beside a river that powered the machinery

Etymology: A milltown is, quite literally, a town built around a mill, and the word simply joins "mill" and "town" without any change to either part. The compound describes a settlement whose economy and identity depended on a single factory or grinding works, the kind of place that rose up around waterwheels and later around textile and industrial plants. The "mill" element goes back to Old English "myln" and the "town" element to Old English "tun," which originally meant an enclosure or farmstead before it came to mean a settlement. Put together, the compound makes the mill the defining feature of the place, so a milltown is named for the thing that gave it purpose rather than for any administrative status.

Synonyms: mill town