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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
county town
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Chester, a flourishing county town, had the King's School founded in 1541.
▪ Even the smallest county town could become the Mecca of the surplus rural population.
▪ Louth's county town, Dundalk, is very near Belfast.
▪ Northampton was another elegant county town and regional market centre and was known far and wide for its horse fairs.
▪ Not only was Buckinghamshire small, its inadequate internal communications served to check the evolution of a true county town.
▪ Salisbury, quiet cathedral city, the county town of Wiltshire near to which is the village in which Mr Pecksniff lives.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
County town

County \Coun"ty\ (koun"t[y^]), n.; pl. Counties (-t[i^]z). [F. comt['e], fr. LL. comitatus. See Count.]

  1. An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [Obs.]

  2. 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.

  3. 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
county town

n. the administrative town of a county in Ireland or the United Kingdom

WordNet
county town

n. the town or city that is the seat of government for a shire [syn: shire town]

Wikipedia
County town

A county town is a county's current or former administrative centre in the United Kingdom, Ireland, or Jamaica. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its original meaning of where the county administration or county hall is based. In fact, many county towns are no longer part of "their" administrative county. For example, Nottingham is administered by a unitary authority entirely separate from the rest of Nottinghamshire. Many county towns are classified as cities, but all are referred to as county towns regardless of whether city status is held or not.

Usage examples of "county town".

By the second week, delirious with boredom, Stan insisted that he and his cousin drive the fifty miles into the county town, Hooterville, and find something to do.

Pritchett family, who bought a farm in the Cumberland County town of Jerusalem's Lot only a month ago, are moving out because things keep going bump in the night, according to Charles and Amanda Pritchett, who moved here from Portland.

But in the progress of the matter, a multitude of other persons both in this and other Neighbour Towns, were Accused, Examined, Imprisoned, and came to their Trials, at Salem, the County Town, where about Twenty of them Suffered as Witches.

So they went to lunch and when Lomas had settled his business with the police took a train for Logate's county town.

Marin City is the next Marin County town, a few miles in from Sausalito.

From them his bicycle took him often to the hotel in the county town where Mr.

He gave her a piece of paper on which were two telephone numbers, one at Birmingham, one at the county town.