\Sub"urb\, n. [L. suburbium; sub under, below, near +
urbs a city. See {Urban}.]
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.