Me*trop"o*lis (?), n. [L. metropolis, Gr. , prop., the mother city (in relation to colonies); mother + city. See Mother, and Police.]

1.

The mother city; the chief city of a kingdom, state, or country.

[Edinburgh] gray metropolis of the North. Tennyson.

2. Eccl.

The seat, or see, of the metropolitan, or highest church dignitary.

The great metropolis and see of Rome. Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.