citizen

noun

Etymology: From Middle English citeseyn (“inhabitant of a city or town”), citezein, citisein, from Anglo-Norman citesain (“city-dweller, town-dweller”), citesein, citezein, alteration of citeien from cite (“city”) + -ien (“-ain”) (probable variant of cithein perhaps influenced by dainzain (“denizen”), deinzein), from Old French cite (“city”) + -ien (whence French citoyen), from earlier citet, from Latin civitatem, citatem, from civis. See also city. Displaced native Old English burhsittend and Old English ceasterware.

1. A resident of a city or town, especially one with legally recognized rights or duties.

   “[T]hat 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 were likely to get impatient.”

2. A legally recognized member of a state, with associated rights and obligations; a person considered in terms of this role.

   “I am a Roman citizen.”

   “Assistant: You'll meet with the managing director and Dr Sinita Brahmachari, the engineer who designed the chair. Peter Mackenzie: Indian, is he? Assistant: She is a British citizen, Minister. Born in Coventry.”

3. An inhabitant or occupant: a member of any place.

   “Diogenes reckoned himself a citizen of the world.”

   “A jellyfish... carries poison cells that can sting other citizens of the sea.”

4. A resident of the heavenly city or (later) of the kingdom of God: a Christian; a good Christian.
5. A civilian, as opposed to a police officer, soldier, or member of some other specialized (usually state) group.
6. An ordinary person, as opposed to nobles and landed gentry on one side and peasants, craftsmen, and laborers on the other.

   “[W]ould Mr. Delvile, who hardly ever spoke but to the high-born, without seeming to think his dignity somewhat injured, deign to receive for a daughter in law the child of a citizen and tradesman?”

7. A term of address among supporters of the French Revolution in France or elsewhere; (later, dated) a term of address among socialists and communists.

   “Citizen, I desire nothing more than to get to Paris, though I could dispense with the escort.”

8. A notional inhabitant of a software system; an object or a software application.

   “The HIG delivers Apple's design commandments, the company's definition of what it means to be a good iPhone citizen.”