The suffix -shire is attached to most of the names of English, Scottish and Welsh counties. It tends not to be found in the names of shires that were pre-existing divisions.

The meaning of SHIRE is an administrative subdivision; especially : a county in England.

SHIRE definition: 1. a county, now used in combination in the names of many British counties: 2. the central rural…. Learn more.

The Shires or the shire counties are the counties of England that have a lot of countryside and farms. Smart country people are fleeing back to the shires.

shire (ʃaɪər) n. 1. one of the counties of Great Britain. 2. the Shires, the counties in the Midlands in which hunting is esp. popular.

Definition of shire noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

What is the etymology of the noun shire? shire is a word inherited from Germanic.

Shire, draft horse breed native to the middle section of England. The breed descended from the English “great horse,” which carried men in full battle armour that often weighed as much as 400 pounds.

Shire is the most common word in Australia for the smallest local government areas by population. The states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia use shire for this unit.

• The extent to which a powerful magnate could dominate the shire community and act as a focus for local sentiment varied. • He looked as if he had just stepped out of a drawing room in the shires.