The Collaborative International Dictionary
County \Coun"ty\ (koun"t[y^]), n.; pl. Counties (-t[i^]z). [F. comt['e], fr. LL. comitatus. See Count.]
An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [Obs.]
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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. -
A count; an earl or lord. [Obs.]
--Shak.County commissioners. See Commissioner.
County corporate, a city or town having the privilege to be a county by itself, and to be governed by its own sheriffs and other magistrates, irrespective of the officers of the county in which it is situated; as London, York, Bristol, etc. [Eng.]
--Mozley & W.County court, a court whose jurisdiction is limited to county.
County palatine, a county distinguished by particular privileges; -- so called a palatio (from the palace), because the owner had originally royal powers, or the same powers, in the administration of justice, as the king had in his palace; but these powers are now abridged. The counties palatine, in England, are Lancaster, Chester, and Durham.
County rates, rates levied upon the county, and collected by the boards of guardians, for the purpose of defraying the expenses to which counties are liable, such as repairing bridges, jails, etc. [Eng.]
County seat, a county town. [U.S.]
County sessions, the general quarter sessions of the peace for each county, held four times a year. [Eng.]
County town, the town of a county, where the county business is transacted; a shire town.
Wiktionary
n. The city in which the offices of county government are located.
WordNet
n. the town or city that is the seat of government for a county [syn: county courthouse]
Wikipedia
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is used in the United States, Canada, Taiwan and Romania. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, county towns have a similar function.
County Seat was an American clothing retailer founded in 1973. With more than 740 stores at its peak, the chain closed in 1999 following Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Usage examples of "county seat".
Frustrated by lack of roads and rail, by the withholding of Monroe County funds for a bridge to the north bank of the river, and by the lack of interest shown by Monroe County officials in faraway Key West, the cattlemen sought to separate the north part of Monroe as Lee County, with Fort Myers as the county seat.
She could also have driven to Enterprise, the county seat, which was only ten miles south, and contacted the sheriff’.
The fairgrounds were on the edge of the county seat, a burg of about seven or eight thousand souls, so I walked into town and had breakfast in a coffee shop, then went next door to a men's store and bought two pair of jeans and a couple of shirts.
I drove thirty minutes to Iuka, the Tishomingo County seat, where I found Sheriff Spinner just in time to buy him lunch.
But Val Price and Scott Davidson also knew that Craighead County was one of the most religiously conservative places in the state, and that Jonesboro, the county seat, was home to several large and powerful churches, almost all of them housing fundamentalist Christian congregations.
You'll have to set us up someplace in - what's the county seat again?
As soon as he recovered from the shock he submitted his resignation to the Daily Fluxion and made arrangements to move to Pickax City, the county seat, thirty miles from Mooseville.
In downtown Pickax, the county seat, the Department of Public Works plows threw up the usual eight-foot walls of snow along curbs and around parking lots.
Then, to add spice to the season, a mystery woman registered at the hotel in Pickax City, the county seat.