shire Definition
shire (s̸hīr)
noun
- any of the former districts or regions in Great Britain
- any of the counties of England, esp. one with a name ending in -shire
- 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)
shire Usage Examples
Object
horse: From mice to shire horses, goats to guineapigs.
Converse of object
- say: He says the shire and community leaders have met and are unanimously behind welcoming the boat people.
- become: When Argyll became a shire in 1292 Alexander was appointed to rule.
Adjective modifier
- English: Each English shire had to provide the king with a certain number of trained archers per year this was enforced by law.
- rural: The Campaign to Protect Rural England is not convinced there is enough determination from local councils to reduce housebuilding rates in rural shires.
- other: This is as true of Carmarthenshire as any other Welsh shire.
- northern: History DURHAM, COUNTY PALATINE OF, one of the northern shires of England.
- old: In which case their abolition will not necessarily abolish our 1,000 year old shires.
- black: He ended up opposite two huge black shires, which made him look rather smaller than usual.
Modifies a noun
- county: Take up by younger people in shire counties is higher than in cities.
- horse: Also in 1998 Young's shire horses took on the duty of pulling the Lord Mayor's coach at the annual London event.
- district: The shire district of Derbyshire Dales employed 380 people in 2004.
- council: Not content with taking money from shire councils, Labor has sought to take their powers too.
- court: Earls, however, were still entitled to take a third of the proceeds from shire courts.
- town: Monmouth the shire town ] , 137 Parishes & about 6400 Houses.
Browse dictionary entries near shire
- ‹ shiraz
- ‹ shipyard
- ‹ shipwright
- ‹ shipwrecked
- ‹ shipwreck
- ‹ shipworm
- ‹ shipway
- ‹ Shipton, Eric Earle
- ‹ shipside
- ‹ shipshape
- shirk ›
- Shirley ›
- Shirley,James ›
- Shirley Temple ›
- shirr ›
- shirring ›
- shirt ›
- shirt-sleeve ›
- shirtdress ›
- shirting ›

