shires

Noun

shire (plural shires)

1. (UK, historical) 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.
   • Yorkshire is the largest shire in England.
2. (UK, broadly) The 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. (UK, broadly, informal) The general area in which a person comes from or lives.
   • When are you coming back to the shire?
4. (broadly) An 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....
   1. (Australia, attributive, broadly, often) An outer suburban or rural local government area which elects its own council.
5. (obsolete) A 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...

See all 12 meanings of shire