WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Sub"urb
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [L. suburbium; sub under, below, near + urbs a city. See Urban.]
Definition : 1. An outlying part of a city or town; a smaller place immediately adjacent to a city; in the plural, the region which is on the confines of any city or large town; as, a house stands in the suburbs; a garden situated in the suburbs of Paris. "In the suburbs of a town." Chaucer. [London] could hardly have contained less than thirty or forty thousand souls within its walls; and the suburbs were very populous. Hallam.

2. Hence, the confines; the outer part; the environment. "The suburbs . . . of sorrow." Jer. Taylor. The suburb of their straw-built citadel. Milton. Suburb roister, a rowdy; a loafer. [Obs.] Milton.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913