village green
3
2.2
- noun
- The library was at the edge of the village green, a big clapboard building with a steeple that looked as if it had once been a church.
Examples
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Some village greens had a baseball field or bowling alley.
Blog text (24) -
To the left of the clock was the village green with newly planted shade trees; to the right were the stores on Main Street.
Academic text (1993) -
Right on the village green.
-
Deep in the past on the village green.
Blog text (22) -
I dream of the day when I'll ask your father for your hand in marriage, and we'll build that little cottage near the village green.
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Finally, a short distance from the village green, I saw a big white clapboard house, a mansion really, with tall white pillars in front.
Fiction book (1997) -
I walked to the village green that was the site of my social life in my adolescence, the place where kids gathered after school to smoke and flirt.
Fiction book (2001) -
Now, in order to raise funds for this noble cause, Mr. Maturin is going to give demonstration rides around the village green for the small donation of five cents a person.
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Fort Lincoln was well laid out, with spacious streets, the village green as a drill field, surrounded by earthwork fortifications that were truly intimidating.
Fiction book (1990) -
It's a bright, sunny summer day, and the village green is buzzing with activity.
Synonyms
35
1.0
An open area of grass in a town used for recreation
18
3.2
An open grassy area near houses where people meet or play
14
3.2
Shared open land in a community like a park or pasture
1
3.0
A park or grassy place in a town where people can relax and play
1
9.9
A small common grassy area near the houses in a village
How Public
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'village' (a small community) combined with 'green' (a grassy common/open space) yields a communal grassy area in a village. This noun+noun compound follows a regular, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Village green comes from the simple picture of a small open green, a grassy spot in the middle of a village where people met, played, and held fairs or markets. So it now means 'a shared grassy area in a village where the community meets and has events'.