Shire
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 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. British, historical
"Yorkshire is the largest shire in England."
- 2 British breed of large heavy draft horse wordnet
- 3 The people living in a shire (noun sense 1.1) considered collectively. British, broadly
"You, my love, are a little paragon—positively a little jewel—You have more brains than half the shire— […]"
- 4 a former administrative district of England; equivalent to a county wordnet
- 5 The general area in which a person comes from or lives. British, broadly, informal
"When are you coming back to the shire?"
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 An administrative area or district in other countries. broadly
"[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; […]"
- 7 An administrative area or district in other countries.; An outer suburban or rural local government area which elects its own council. Australia, attributive, broadly, often
- 8 Ellipsis of shire horse (“a draught horse of a tall British breed, usually bay, black, or grey”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 9 A district or province governed by a person; specifically (Christianity), the province of an archbishop, the see of a bishop, etc. obsolete
"A third Seignorie or Shire there is that goeth to Apamia, vvhich in old time vvas called Celænæ, and aftervvards Ciboron: […]"
- 10 A region; also, a country. broadly, obsolete
"And Thyatira. It is a Citie of Lydia which is a ſhyre of Aſia the leſſe, the habitation of the Macedones, and of ſome the laſt Citie of the Myſians."
- 1 To constitute or reconstitute (a country or region) into one or more shires (noun noun sense 1.1) or counties. transitive
"County Longford was shired in 1586."
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A placename
- 3 A placename; A river in Malawi and Mozambique
Example
More examples"And certainly our current language differs considerably from that which was used and spoken when I was born. For we Englishmen are born under the domination of the moon, which is never steadfast but ever wavering, waxing one season and waning and decreasing another season. And that common English spoken in one shire varies from another, to such an extent that in my days it happened that certain merchants were in a ship on the Thames to sail over the sea to Zealand, and for lack of wind, they tarried at headland, and went to the shore to refresh themselves. And one of them named Sheffield, a mercer, came into a house and asked for food, and specifically he asked for 'egges', and the good woman answered that she could speak no French. And the merchant was angry, for he could also speak no French, but wanted to have 'egges', and she didn't understand him. And then at last another said that he wanted 'eyren', then the good woman said that she understood him well. Lo! what should a man in these days now write, 'egges' or 'eyren'? Certainly it is hard to please every man, because of diversity and change of language."
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.
English and Irish surname, from shire.
Related phrases
More for "shire"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.