Meanings
- A midland county of England. County town Northampton, bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.
Rutland (and some of the bordering ‘Notswolds’ counties of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire) have the same mellow, creamy limestone as the Cotswolds and boast beguiling market towns and villages that are every bit as attractive, but without the tourists or hefty prices.
2024 November 19, Nicola Venning, “Welcome to the Notswolds”, in Country Life, archived from the original on 14 May 2025Synonyms: Northants
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA midland county of England. County town Northampton, bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.
Origin
- Old EnglishNorðhamtunscir
- EnglishNorthamptonshire
From Old English Norðhamtunscir, equivalent to Northampton + shire.
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Northamptonshire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Northamptonshire
“Northamptonshire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Northamptonshire. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Northamptonshire,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Northamptonshire.
Source: Northamptonshire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.