shire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a county or traditional administrative district, especially in Britain

   The road crossed the northern shire.

2. 2
   noun

   the people or countryside of such a district

   Half the shire had heard the news by morning.

The noun is derived from Middle English schire (“region, shire, county”) [and other forms], from Old English sċīr (“administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *skīru (“district; status of an official, office”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Latin cūra (“care, concern; administration, charge, management; command, office”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“to heed; to see”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Topics