one of the counties of Great Britain.
the Shires, the counties in the Midlands in which hunting is especially popular.
one of the British counties
( in combination )
Yorkshire
(in Australia) a rural district having its own local council
See shire horse
the Midland counties of England, esp Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, famous for hunting, etc
before 900; Middle English; Old English scīr office of administration, jurisdiction of such an office, county
1875–80; apparently so called because it was bred in the shires, i.e., those counties of west and central England whose names end in -shire
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sammy the shire horse had recently lost her own foal when the thoroughbreds, whose own mothers had died, were brought into her care.
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2023
Buckingham Palace said the teddies had been collected with the help of shire horses and almost 200 volunteers - and were being "well looked after".
From BBC • Oct. 15, 2022
More recently, his works have also provided a fertile shire for nationalists who see themselves in his heroic archetypes.
From New York Times • Sep. 21, 2022
A giant metal box sits in a field next to the shire council: one of several air-quality monitoring stations paid for by the mining and power-generating industries.
From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2021
At least eighteen hands high, but not thick in the way of shire or draft horses.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
