shire
Meanings
Plural: shires
Noun
- 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 (sense 1.1) 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.
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 is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordshire is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
shire is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary