E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
City (A),
strictly speaking is a large town with a corporation and cathedral;
but any large town is so called in ordinary speech. In the Bible it means a town having walls and gates.
1
“The eldest son of the first man [Cain] builded a city (Gen. iv. 17)—not, of course, a Nineveh or a Babylon, but still a city.”—Rawlinson: Origin of Nations, part i. chap. i. p. 10.
