Shire : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: Shire	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for Shire
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
shire n a former administrative district of England; equivalent to a county British breed of large heavy draft horse Synonym(s): shire, shire horse
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Shire \Shire\, n. [AS. sc[c6]re, sc[c6]r, a division, province, county. Cf. {Sheriff}.] 1. A portion of Great Britain originally under the supervision of an earl; a territorial division, usually identical with a county, but sometimes limited to a smaller district; as, Wiltshire, Yorkshire, Richmondshire, Hallamshire. An indefinite number of these hundreds make up a county or shire. --Blackstone. 2. A division of a State, embracing several contiguous townships; a county. [U. S.] Note: Shire is commonly added to the specific designation of a county as a part of its name; as, Yorkshire instead of York shire, or the shire of York; Berkshire instead of Berks shire. Such expressions as the county of Yorkshire, which in a strict sense are tautological, are used in England. In the United States the composite word is sometimes the only name of a county; as, Berkshire county, as it is called in Massachusetts, instead of Berks county, as in Pensylvania. The Tyne, Tees, Humber, Wash, Yare, Stour, and Thames separate the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, etc. --Encyc. Brit. {Knight of the shire}. See under {Knight}. {Shire clerk}, an officer of a county court; also, an under sheriff. [Eng.] {Shire mote} (Old. Eng. Law), the county court; sheriff's turn, or court. [Obs.] --Cowell. --Blackstone. {Shire reeve} (Old Eng. Law), the reeve, or bailiff, of a shire; a sheriff. --Burrill. {Shire town}, the capital town of a county; a county town. {Shire wick}, a county; a shire. [Obs.] --Holland.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
County \Coun"ty\ (koun"t?), n.; pl. {Counties} (-t[?]z). [F. comt[?], fr. LL. comitatus. See {Count}.] 1. An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [Obs.] 2. A circuit or particular portion of a state or kingdom, separated from the rest of the territory, for certain purposes in the administration of justice and public affairs; -- called also a {shire}. See {Shire}. Every county, every town, every family, was in agitation. --Macaulay.