Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Shire |
ShireNoun1. (British) a former administrative district of England; equivalent to a county. 2. British breed of large heavy draft horse. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "shire" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Shire and ~~~County. County. When the Saxon kings created an earl, they gave him a shire or division of land to govern. At the Norman conquest the word count superseded the title of earl, and the earldom was called a county. Even to the present hour we call the wife of an earl a countess. (Anglo-Saxon, scire, from sciran, to divide.) He comes from the shires; has a séat in the shires, etc.- in those English counties which terminate in "shire:" a belt running from Devonshire and Hampshire in a north-east direction. In a general way it means the midland counties. Anglesey in Wales, and twelve counties of England, do not terminate in "shire." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
For information on the fictional Shire of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, see Shire (Middle-earth)
Shires in Australia
In Australia, a shire is a Local Government Area. See that article for a list of lists.
Shires in the United Kingdom
In Great Britain, a shire is a county that is named after its prinicpal town. The county takes the name of the town with the 'shire' suffix.
Shires in England
In England, the counties of Devon and Dorset are occasionally referred to with the 'shire' suffix.
- Bedfordshire
- Berkshire
- Buckinghamshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Cheshire
- Derbyshire
- Gloucestershire
- Hampshire
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- Huntingdonshire
- Lancashire
- Lincolnshire
- Leicestershire
- Northamptonshire
- Nottinghamshire
- Oxfordshire
- Shropshire
- Staffordshire
- Warwickshire
- Wiltshire
- Worcestershire
- Yorkshire
Shires in Scotland
In Scotland four counties have alternative names with the 'shire' suffix: Angus/Forfarshire, East Lothian/Haddingtonshire, Midlothian/Edinburghshire and West Lothian/Linlithgowshire
- Aberdeenshire
- Argyllshire
- Ayrshire
- Banffshire
- Berwickshire
- Buteshire
- Clackmannanshire
- Dumfriesshire
- Dunbartonshire
- Inverness-shire
- Kincardineshire
- Kinross-shire
- Kirkcudbrightshire
- Lanarkshire
- Morayshire
- Nairnshire
- Peeblesshire
- Perthshire
- Renfrewshire
- Roxburghshire
- Selkirkshire
- Stirlingshire
- Wigtonshire
Shires in Wales
In Wales, the counties of Merioneth and Glamorgan are occasionally referred to with the 'shire' suffix. The only Welsh county that never takes it is Anglesey.
- Brecknockshire
- Caernarvonshire
- Cardiganshire
- Carmarthenshire
- Denbighshire
- Flintshire
- Monmouthshire
- Montgomeryshire
- Pembrokeshire
- Radnorshire
Administration
The suffix -shire was also included in the name of some areas subsequently incorporated into administrative counties, for instance Hallamshire in South Yorkshire, Richmondshire and Cravenshire in North Yorkshire, and Bedlingtonshire, Norhamshire and Islandshire, exclaves of County Durham which have been incorporated for administrative purposes into administrative Northumberland. The term shire thus predates the creation of England's counties, referring originally to a more local jurisdiction.
In local government terms, the phrase 'Shire county' refers to the non-metropolitan administrative counties of England outside London. The term is often used by political commentators to describe the areas of England outside London and the 'metropolitan counties' created for the principal conurbations in 1974.
See also
Shire is also the name for a breed of large draft horse.
- Counties of England
- Counties of Scotland
- Counties of Wales
- Traditional counties of England, Scotland and Wales
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Shire."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional realm of Middle-earth, the Shire is the region that is occupied by Hobbits. It is located in the northwest of Middle-earth, in the 'continent' of Eriador and the Kingdom of Arnor.Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers
According to Tolkien, the Shire measured 40 leagues (120 miles) from the Far Downs in the west to the Brandywine Bridge in the east, and 50 leagues (150 miles) from the northern moors to the marshes in the south. This is confirmed in an essay by Tolkien (on the Languages of Middle-earth) wherein he describes The Shire as having an area of 18,000 square miles. In order for this figure to be accurate it must be assumed that the Shire was roughly rectangular in shape.
The Brandywine (Baranduin) river bounds the Shire from the east. (Hobbits also live in Buckland, which lies east of the river and west of the Hedge protecting the Shire from invasion from the Old Forest; however, Buckland is not formally recognised as part of The Shire until after the War of the Ring.) From the north and the west The Shire has no topographical borders, but rather is bounded by the ancient south and east roads, and by vague geographical features such as the Tower Hills.
The Shire was settled by Hobbits in the year 1601 of the Third Age (Year 1 in Shire Reckoning). It is not known why Hobbits (who originally lived in the vale of Anduin) chose to migrate west over the perilous Misty Mountains. It is known, however, that the Shire was initially a part of the Kingdom of Arnor. After the fall of Arnor, the Shire remained a minor but independent political unit. Its small size, relative lack of importance and brave and resilient Hobbit population made it too modest an objective for conquest.
This changed after Bilbo Baggins's acquisition of the One Ring in the year 1343 of the Shire Reckoning. Shortly after the beginning of the events described in The Lord of the Rings (autumn of the year 1419 in Shire Reckoning), the Shire was first visited by the Nine Ringwraiths and then captured by Saruman. It was liberated with the help of Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin after the end of the Quest of the Ring. After Aragorn's return as the King of Arnor and Gondor, the Shire became a part of his kingdom. He is known to have issued an order that forbade the entrance of full-sized Men into the Shire.
The Shire is described as a small but beautiful and fruitful land, beloved by its inhabitants. The Hobbits had an extensive agricultural system in the Shire, but did not proceed with industrialization. Various supplies could be found in the Shire, including cereals, fruit, wood and tobacco (a favourite treat of Hobbits). Its relatively peaceful existence during the perilous period preceding the defeat of Sauron can be attributed to the vigilance of Gandalf and Rangers of the North led by Aragorn who used daring tactics to keep evil at bay. However when these set out to a distant war, the Shire became essentially defenseless, which led to its capture. But the damage which Saruman caused by forced industrialization was undone by the Hobbits' efforts. The Shire was restored with soil from Lorien, given to Sam by Galadriel. The year 1420 (SR) was considered by the inhabitants of the Shire to be the most productive and prosperous year in their history.
The industrialization of the Shire was based on Tolkien's witnessing of the extension of the Industrial Revolution to rural Lancashire during his youth, and especially the deleterious consequences thereof. The rebellion of the hobbits and the restoration of the pre-industrial Shire may be interpreted as a prescription of voluntary simplicity as a remedy to the problems of modern society.
On Tolkien's maps, the Shire is located at about the same position as England is on modern European maps and has been cited as an example of Deep England ideology (of course, England being an island while Shire is inside the continent). Throughout the narrative, Tolkien also implies numerous points of similarity between the two, such as weather, agriculture and dialect. One can also see England as Tolkien's source of inspiration for the shire in its very name (Shire is English for "county" - see English Shire).
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Shire (Middle-earth)."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| SHS | English | Shire Horse Society | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: ShireSynonym: shire horse (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Government | State government, state; shire; province; county; canton; territory; duchy, archduchy, archdukedom; woiwodshaft; commonwealth; region; property. |
Jurisdiction | Judge; tribunal; municipality, corporation, bailiwick, shrievalty; lord lieutenant, sheriff, shire reeve, shrieve, constable; selectman; police, police force, the fuzz; constabulary, bumbledom, gendarmerie. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Shire |
| English words defined with "shire": County town ♦ Shire reeve, shire town, Shire wick. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "shire": Belted Knight ♦ Clydesdale Horses ♦ Kit-cat Club, Knights of the Shears, Knights of the Shire ♦ Long Meg of Westminster ♦ Shire Horses. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Fires of Isengard and Mordor will spread and the forest of Bucklin and Hardbottle will burn, there won't be a Shire, Pippin (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; writing credit: Frances Walsh) Maybe Treebeard right, it's too big for us; let's go home, we still have the Shire. (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; writing credit: Frances Walsh) Pippin, I think we made a mistake in leaving the Shire. (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; writing credit: Frances Walsh) There won't be a Shire, Pippin (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; writing credit: Frances Walsh) I'll organize revolt, exact a death for a death, and I'll never rest until every Saxon in this shire can stand up free men and strike a blow for Richard and England (The Adventures of Robin Hood; writing credit: Norman Reilly Raine ; Seton I. Miller) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Malawi | It is hot and humid from October to April along the lake and in the Lower Shire Valley. (references) |
Malawi | The Shire River flows from the south end of the lake and joins the Zambezi River 400 kilometers (250 mi.) farther south in Mozambique. (references) | |
Malawi | In the north, the Nyika Uplands rise as high as 2,600 meters (8,500 ft.); south of the lake lie the Shire Highlands, with an elevation of 600-1,600 meters (2,000-5,000 ft.), rising to Mts. Zomba and Mulanje, 2,130 and 3,048 meters (7,000 and 10,000 ft.). In the extreme south, the elevation is only 60-90 meters (200-300 ft.) above sea level. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Shire" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.86% of the time. "Shire" is used about 281 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.86% | 275 | 17,685 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.14% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 281 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "shire" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Shire | Last name | 1,000 | 17,142 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| Country | Name |
| United Kingdom | Shire Pharmaceuticals Group Plc |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "shire": Knight of the shire ♦ shire clerk ♦ shire horse ♦ shire mote ♦ shire reeve ♦ shire town ♦ shire wick. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "shire": shire-horses, shire-mares, shire-meeting. | |
Ending with "shire": inverness-shire, kinross-shire, ross-shire. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "shire"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | konte (county, earldom). (various references) | |
Arabic | مقاطعة (boycott, county, department, district, division, domain, enclave, estate, principality, province, territory, township), ولاية (district, principality, province, seigniory, state), حصان إنكليزي. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | порода едър впрегателен кон (shire horse). (various references) | |
Czech | hrabství (county). (various references) | |
French | comté. (various references) | |
German | Grafschaft (county, earldom). (various references) | |
Greek | κομητεία (county, earldom), επαρχία (county, province). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מחוז (county, district, province, region, township). (various references) | |
Hungarian | megye (co., county, county family, county society). (various references) | |
Italian | contea (countship, county, earldom). (various references) | |
Manx | sheer. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ireshay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | condado (county, earldom). (various references) | |
Russian | графство (county, earldom). (various references) | |
Scottish | siorramachd (county, sheriffdom). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | grofovija (county, earldom). (various references) | |
Spanish | condado (county, earldom). (various references) | |
Swedish | län (county, fief, province), grevskap (county), amt (county, district). (various references) | |
Turkish | yönetim bölgesi, kontluk (county, earldom), idari bölge (county, riding), eyalet (commonwealth, principality, state). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | графство (aldermanry, county, earldom), ваговоз. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | quận (community, district, township), huyện (community, district). (various references) | |
Welsh | sir (county). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "shire": shires. (additional references) | |
| |
"Shire" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ahire, Bhi-ri, Bsharre, chiree, dhire, hsrii, lhire, Mhuire, oshere, Oshige, Saire, scire, shareh, sharey, sharie, Sharne, sharret, shauri, Sheare, Sheigra, shere, Sheref, sheren, shiar, Shide, shife, Shifra, Shigemi, shike, Shikra, shile, shime, Shinro, shipe, shir, shira, Shiraa, shiraho, shiraji, Shiraw, shirb, shird, shired, Shireen, Shireh, Shiret, shirey, shiro, Shirom, Shirov, shiry, shite, shitey, Shitrit, shora, shorae, shoreo, Shorey, shoro, shri, shribe, shrime, shripe, shuer, Shukri, shure, Shurey, Sihr, sirex, slire, smiri, snire, soire, swire. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "shire" (pronounced shī"r) |
| 2 | -ī" r | admire, afire, aspire, dire, expire, fire, hire, inquire, inspire, ire, lyre, mire, perspire, quire, reacquire, rehire, require, retire, spire, squire, tyre, wire. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: heirs, hires, shier. | |
| Words within the letters "e-h-i-r-s" | |
-1 letter: heir, hers, hies, hire, ires, reis, resh, rise, shri, sire. | |
-2 letters: ers, her, hes, hie, his, ire, rei, res, sei, ser, she, sir, sri. | |
-3 letters: eh, er, es, he, hi, is, re, sh, si. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-h-i-r-s" | |
+1 letter: ashier, fisher, hiders, hikers, hirers, hirsel, hirsle, hisser, hosier, perish, relish, reship, riches, sherif, shiers, shiner, shires, shiver, shriek, shrike, shrine, shrive, sigher, theirs, wisher. | |
+2 letters: airshed, bearish, birches, bushier, cahiers, cashier, ceriphs, cherish, chiders, chimers, chirres, ciphers, cithers, coheirs, cushier, dashier, dervish, dishier, dithers, fishers, fishery, fishier, girshes, greyish, grushie, gushier, hailers, hardies, harpies, harries, hastier, hegaris, hegiras, heifers, heiress, heister, hejiras, henries, herdics, heriots, hermits, hernias, heroics, heroins, heroism, herries, hillers, hinders, hingers, hinters, hipster, hirples, hirsels, hirsled, hirsles, hirsute, hissers, hitters, hoister, horsier, hosiers, hosiery, hurdies, hurlies, hurries, huskier, inheres, inshore, menhirs, meshier, mishear, mithers, mushier, nerdish, ogreish, perkish, pushier, reddish, redfish, rehires, reshine, reships, resight, richens, richest, rushier, scherzi, serfish, shadier, shakier, shalier, sharpie, sheriff, sherifs, sherris, shicker, shifter, shikker, shimmer, shiners, shinier, shipper, shirked, shirker, shirred, shivers, shivery, shortie, showier, shrieks, shrieky, shrieve, shrikes, shrined, shrines, shrived, shrivel, shriven, shriver, shrives, sighers, sighter, skreigh, slither, spheric, swisher, swither, thrives, tithers, washier, wearish, whiners, whisker, whisper, wishers, withers, writhes, zithers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Names: Company Usage 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Abbreviations 15. Acronyms 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
