/ʃaɪə/, /ʃaɪ(ə)ɹ/
OriginThe 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.
- British, historicalAn administrative area or district between about the 5th to the 11th century, subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; also, a present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; a county; especially (England), a county having a name ending…
“Yorkshire is the largest shire in England.”
“I thanke his grace he hath appointed him, / Chiefe colonell of all thoſe companies / Muſtred in London, and the ſhires about, / To ſerue his highneſſe in thoſe warres of France: […]”
“But thus I do conjecture it to be, That at the firſt Unitining^([sic – meaning Uniting?]) of the Heptarchy of the Saxons, and the Shiring out of the Kingdom, it vvas divided into Shires, and the Shire”
- British, broadlyThe people living in a shire (noun sense 1.1) considered collectively.
“You, my love, are a little paragon—positively a little jewel—You have more brains than half the shire— […]”
- British, broadly, informalThe general area in which a person comes from or lives.
“When are you coming back to the shire?”
- broadlyAn administrative area or district in other countries.
“[T]his old Evil-queſtioning asked the Doubters if they vvere all of a Tovvn, (he knevv that they vvere all of one Kingdom)? and they anſvvered no, nor not of one Shire neither; […]”
- Australia, attributive, broadly, oftenAn outer suburban or rural local government area which elects its own council.
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of shire horse (“a draught horse of a tall British breed, usually bay, black, or grey”).
- obsoleteA district or province governed by a person; specifically (Christianity), the province of an archbishop, the see of a bishop, etc.
“A third Seignorie or Shire there is that goeth to Apamia, vvhich in old time vvas called Celænæ, and aftervvards Ciboron: […]”
- broadly, obsoleteA region; also, a country.
“And Thyatira. It is a Citie of Lydia which is a ſhyre of Aſia the leſſe, the habitation of the Macedones, and of ſome the laſt Citie of the Myſians.”
“His blazing eyes, like tvvo bright ſhining ſhieldes, / Did burne vvith vvrath, and ſparkled liuing fyre; / As tvvo broad Beacons, ſett in open fieldes, / Send forth their flames far of to euery ſhyre,”
- transitiveTo constitute or reconstitute (a country or region) into one or more shires (noun noun sense 1.1) or counties.
“County Longford was shired in 1586.”
“[I]t made no Matter, if the Countrie vvere never ſhired, nor her Majesties VVritt othervviſe curraunt then it is; for humblye he kepeth all his People ſubiect to Obedience and good Order; […]”
“[pages 209–210] But vvhether it vvere ſo eſtabliſhed Egbert, Alfred, or Edvvard, vvhen they had brought it to a Monarchy, and Shired it out into parts, or that they vvere appointed Earls in every Coun”
- A surname.
- A placename
- A river in Malawi and Mozambique
Formsshires(plural) · shires(present, singular, third-person) · shiring(participle, present) · shired(participle, past) · shired(past) · Shires(plural)