Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. mainly hunting/horseracing, London.

1825		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I 129: I used to keep a good prad here for a bolt to the village [note] A cant phrase for a stolen run to the metropolis.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1873		Sl. Dict.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1892		‘’Arry in ’Arrygate’ in Punch 24 Sept. 133/3: ’Ow I long to be back in ‘The Village,’ dear boy, with its bustle and fun.
1907		D. Stewart Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 26 Oct. 12/4: ‘We’d better [...] do a blooming guy towards the big village (London)’.

2. (US) used generically of New York City.

1848

B.A. Baker Glance at N.Y. [play script] Lize: [T]that Mose of mine is such a dear fellow — he don’t care for expense — not he — he thinks there’s no gal like me in this village.

3. (US) the Lower East Side, NYC.

1891		J.A. Riis How the Other Half Lives 225: When it comes to Hell’s Kitchen, [...] and further down First Avenue in ‘the Village,’ the Rag Gang and its allies have no need of fearing treachery.
1902		J.A. Riis Battle with the Slum 257: Mrs. Kelly managed to keep a bit of a roof over her boy and herself, down in the ‘village’ on the river front.

4. (US) Greenwich Village, NYC.

1919		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 11 Mar. [synd. col.] The Fifth av clubs, the serious thinkers of The Village, the sturdy literary clubs of the West Side [etc.].
1929		E. Wilson I Thought of Daisy 16: Sue Borglum’s pleasantry had been in the vein of the Village; Daisy’s was in the taste of Broadway.
1954		M. Bodenheim My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village (1961) 11: Poetry was once Big business in the Village.
1961		F. Kohner Gidget Goes Hawaiian 15: It’s that absolutely divine place in the Village.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 162: The black man was running loose among the swamp guineas of the Village.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 191: He was a student at Columbia, but he liked to spend time in the Village.
1993		R. Shell Iced 102: I loved the South End [...] It reminded me of the Village.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 154: I was down the Village the other day, all these lesbos was holding hands.

5. attrib. use of sense 3.

1956

‘Ed Lacy’ Men from the Boys (1967) 24: He was always reading, and was probably a fag – went around with the Village artists.