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.