What is "shire"

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.

Old English scir "administrative office, jurisdiction, stewardship, authority," also in particular use "district, province, country," from Proto-Germanic *skizo (cognates: Old High German scira "care, official charge"). Ousted since 14c. by Anglo-French county. The gentrified sense is from The Shires (1796), used by people in other parts of England of those counties that end in -shire; sense transferred to "hunting country of the Midlands" (1860).

n. 1 Former administrative area of Britain; a county. 2 (context UK colloquial English) The general area in which a person lives, used in the context of travel within the UK. 3 A rural or outer suburban local government area of Australi

1. 4 A shire horse. v

2. To (reconstitute)constitute as one or more shires or county.

1. n. a former administrative district of England; equivalent to a county

2. British breed of large heavy draft horse [syn: shire horse]

A shire is a type of region in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Shire or The Shires may also refer to:

The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. The Shire refers to an area settled exclusively by Hobbits and largely removed from the goings-on in the rest of Middle-earth. It is located in the northwest of the continent, in the large region of Eriador and the Kingdom of Arnor. Its name in Westron was Sûza "Shire" or Sûzat "The Shire". Its name in Sindarin was i Drann.

A ' shire' is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and Australia. The word derives from the Old English scir, itself a derivative of the Proto-Germanic skizo (cf. Old High German scira), meaning care or official charge. In Britain, "shire" is the original term for what is usually known now as a county; the word county having been introduced at the Norman Conquest of England. The two are nearly synonymous. Although in modern British usage counties are referred to as "shires" mainly in poetic contexts, terms such as Shire Hall remain common. Shire also remains a common part of many county names.

In some rural parts of Australia, a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia it is not synonymous with a "county", which is a lands administrative division. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far northeast of England, the word is pronounced . As a suffix in an English or Welsh place name, it is in most regions pronounced , or sometimes . (In south-east England the is dropped in accordance with normal regional phonology, so that (for instance) " Berkshire" becomes .)

Shire Plc is a Jersey-registered, Irish-headquartered global specialty biopharmaceutical company. Originating in the United Kingdom with an operational base in the United States, its brands and products include Vyvanse. Shire has its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Shire has a secondary listing on NASDAQ.

Shire develops and provides healthcare in the areas of behavioural health, gastrointestinal conditions, rare diseases, and regenerative medicine.

The original corporate headquarters and still major operation base are located in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. Other major offices are located in the United States in Wayne, Pennsylvania and Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition, Shire owns a manufacturing site in Lexington, Massachusetts and San Diego, California. It announced in November 2013 that it would be further reducing its presence in the UK.