Definition of SHIRE

shire

Plural: shires

Noun

  • A territorial division in Great Britain, similar to a county.
  • a former administrative district of England; equivalent to a county
  • British breed of large heavy draft horse
  • An 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.
  • The people living in a shire considered collectively.
  • The general area in which a person comes from or lives.
  • An administrative area or district in other countries.
  • An administrative area or district in other countries.
  • An outer suburban or rural local government area which elects its own council.
  • Ellipsis of shire horse (“a draught horse of a tall British breed, usually bay, black, or grey”).
  • A district or province governed by a person; specifically (Christianity), the province of an archbishop, the see of a bishop, etc.
  • A region; also, a country.

Verb

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

Examples

  • County Longford was shired in 1586.
  • He claimed a whole shire of the board with his lengthy, well-placed word.
  • When are you coming back to the shire?
  • Yorkshire is the largest shire in England.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Synonyms

shire horse

Scrabble Score: 8

shire: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
shire: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
shire: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 7

shire: valid Words With Friends Word