shire

plural shires

1. UKhistoricalAn 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 in -shire.

   Yorkshire is the largest shire in England.

   5 more examples

   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: […]

   1599 (first performance; published 1600), Thomas Dekker, “The Shomakers Holiday. Or The Gentle Craft. […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker […], volume I, London: John Pearson […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 10

   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 Shires again into Hundreds, as it fell out, in ſome more, in ſome leſs: VVhich Shires (as I have ſaid) the King gave to ſuch as he pleaſed, and to their Heirs, to hold of him by an Earls Fee.

   a. 1604 (date written), Sampson Erdeswicke, edited by Simon Degge, A Survey of Staffordshire. […], London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 211

   In August, 1642, the sword was at length drawn; and soon, in almost every shire of the kingdom, two hostile factions appeared in arms against each other.

   1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 113

   Mrs. Heywood tells me that there are many Catholics among the lower classes in Lancashire and Cheshire,—probably the descendants of retainers of the old Catholic nobility and gentry, who are more numerous in these shires than in other parts of England.

   1854 November 14 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1870, →OCLC, page 139

   As through the wild green hills of Wyre / The train ran, changing sky and shire, / […] / My hand lay empty on my knee. / Aching on my knee it lay: / That morning half a shire away / So many an honest fellow's fist / Had wellnigh wrung it from the wrist.

   1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXXVII”, in A Shropshire Lad, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, The Bodley Head, published 1906, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 53

2. UKbroadlyThe 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— […]

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Arcadian Simplicity”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 94

3. UKbroadlyinformalThe general area in which a person comes from or lives.

   When are you coming back to the shire?

4. 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; […]

   1682, John Bunyan, “[Three or Four of the Doubters Go into Mansoul, are Entertained, and by whom]”, in The Holy War, Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World. […], London: […] Dorman Newman […]; and Benjamin Alsop […], →OCLC, page 371

   1. AustraliaattributivebroadlyoftenAn outer suburban or rural local government area which elects its own council.
5. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of shire horse (“a draught horse of a tall British breed, usually bay, black, or grey”).
6. 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: […]

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book V.] Laodicea, Apamia, Ionia, Ephesus.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 107

7. broadlyobsoletegenerallyA 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.

   1574, Augustine Marlorate [i.e., Augustin Marlorat], “[Revelation 1:11]”, in Arthur Golding, transl., A Catholike Exposition vpon the Reuelation of Sainct Iohn. […], London: […] H[enry] Binneman, for L[ucas] Harison, and G[eorge] Bishop, →OCLC, folio 19, verso

   1 more example

   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, […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 158

present singular third person shires · participle present shiring · participle past shired · past shired

1. transitiveTo constitute or reconstitute (a country or region) into one or more shires (noun sense 1.1) or counties.

   County Longford was shired in 1586.

   5 more examples

   [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; […]

   1575 December 26 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Henry Sidney, “Sir Henry Sydney to the Lords of the Councell”, in Arthur Collins, Letters and Memorials of State, in the Reigns of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, King James, King Charles the First, Part of the Reign of King Charles the Second, and Oliver’s Usurpation. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Osborne, published 1746, →OCLC, page 83

   [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 County, vvhich had an Inheritance therein, and had Juriſdiction, as by the County Court and Sheriffs Turns, it vvould ſeem it vvas: Is the Queſtion I deſire to be reſolved of. […] [page 211] 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 Shires again into Hundreds, as it fell out, in ſome more, in ſome leſs: […]

   a. 1604 (date written), Sampson Erdeswicke, edited by Simon Degge, A Survey of Staffordshire. […], London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], published 1717, →OCLC, pages 209–211

   The history of the shiring of Ireland is involved in more obscurity than the history of the shiring of England, though not for the same reason in the two cases. […] [T]he shiring of Ireland was purely the result of the English conquest.

   1889, Charles F. Keary, “Counties, The Irish”, in Sidney J[ames Mark] Low, F. S. Pulling, editors, The Dictionary of English History, London; Paris: Cassel & Company, […], →OCLC, page 324, column 1

   In Ulster the great chieftains had become peers of the realm. The province was shired into nine counties, with sheriffs and the whole apparatus of English local government.

   1998, James Lydon, “The End of the Old Order”, in The Making of Ireland: From Ancient Times to the Present, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 160

   [T]raditionally the shiring of England is thought to have been the work of Edward the Elder and Æthelstan, and the appearance of the shire reeve is placed somewhat later; but recent work suggests that developments may have been more gradual, with shiring first becoming systematic under Edgar and his successors and the shire reeve emerging as part of this process.

   2016, Levi Roach, “Birth and Childhood: The Court of King Edgar, c. 966×9–75”, in Æthelred the Unready, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 26

plural Shires

1. A surname.
2. A placename.
   1. A river in Malawi and Mozambique

plural Shires

1. A breed of draught horse; an individual of this breed.

   The Shire was a favorite on this estate.

   1 more example

   This estate kept a stable of Shires for the heavier work.