shire

Meaning

Noun

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.
2. The people living in a shire (sense 1.1) considered collectively.
3. (informal) The general area in which a person comes from or lives.
4. An administrative area or district in other countries.
5. An administrative area or district in other countries.
6. Short for shire horse (“a draught horse of a tall British breed, usually bay, black, or grey”).
7. (obsolete) A district or province governed by a person; specifically (Christianity), the province of an archbishop, the see of a bishop, etc.
8. (obsolete) A region; also, a country.

Verb

To constitute or reconstitute (a country or region) into one or more shires (noun sense 1.1) or counties.

Synonyms

county

earldom

province

shire horse

division

counties

district

canton

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ʃaɪə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: shire

Inherited from Old English: sċīr

Cognate with Latin: cūra

In summary

The noun is derived from Middle English shire (“district, province, region; county; people living in a county or region; township or subdivision of some English counties; shire court; session of a shire court”) [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.