1. The often large, luxurious country house of a well-to-do person.
2. A country estate with a substantial house.
3. Chiefly British. A house in a middle-class suburb.

[Italian, from Latin vīlla.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.