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shire definition

shire (s̸hīr)

noun

  1. any of the former districts or regions in Great Britain
  2. any of the counties of England, esp. one with a name ending in -shire
  3. any of a breed of large, powerful draft horse with feathery fetlocks, originally raised in the Shires and much used in the Middle Ages as a war horse

Etymology: ME < OE scir, office, charge, akin to OHG scīra, official charge

shire Idioms

the Shires

the counties of EC England, esp. Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire
Shire definition

Shire (s̸hē′re)

river in SE Africa, flowing from Lake Malawi south into the Zambezi: c. 250 mi (402 km)

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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