town and gown

Noun

 * 1)  On the one hand, the members of the city, borough, or similar community near a university and, on the other hand, the students and faculty of the university itself, especially when understood as rivals in a state of tension or conflict.
 * 2) * 1920, Arthur Quiller-Couch, On The Art of Reading, Lecture V—"On Reading for Examinations":
 * [T]he first archives of this University were burned in the ‘Town and Gown’ riots of 1381 by the Townsmen.
 * 1) * 1920, Arthur Quiller-Couch, On The Art of Reading, Lecture V—"On Reading for Examinations":
 * [T]he first archives of this University were burned in the ‘Town and Gown’ riots of 1381 by the Townsmen.

Usage notes

 * Often hyphenated (town-and-gown) when used attributively, as, for example, in:
 * 1880, Andrew Lang, Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes, Ch. 2: The Early Students:
 * In ten minutes the town bell at St. Martin's was rung, and the most terrible of all Town-and-Gown rows began.