SHIRE
What does "SHIRE" mean?
A county or administrative district, especially in England.
Meanings
- An English county, particularly one whose name ends in '-shire'. He grew up in a quiet village deep in the shire.
- A large, powerful breed of draught horse originally from central England. A pair of shires hauled the brewer's dray through the cobbled streets.
- An area of local government in parts of Australia, equivalent to a rural municipality. The shire council voted to upgrade the country road. technical
Did you know?
- A 'sheriff' is literally a 'shire-reeve' - the medieval English king's officer for a shire - which means every cowboy lawman in Westerns carries the buried name of an Old English county.
Word origin
From Old English 'scir' meaning an administrative district, charge, or office; the same root survives as the '-shire' suffix in county names like Yorkshire and Hampshire.
Remember it
SHIRE = SH + HIRE minus an H: in Tolkien's Shire, the hobbits would happily hire you a second breakfast.
A little poem
Old maps drew the shire in a single line-
hedge, hill, the same church bell at six-
a boundary you could walk before the rain.
tercet
What it teaches
Borders feel ancient and fixed, yet every shire was once a fresh idea drawn by someone in charge.
Quick facts
What does SHIRE mean?
A county or administrative district, especially in England.
Is SHIRE a valid word?
Yes — SHIRE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SHIRE?
SHIRE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does SHIRE come from?
From Old English 'scir' meaning an administrative district, charge, or office; the same root survives as the '-shire' suffix in county names like Yorkshire and Hampshire.
What can SHIRE teach us?
Borders feel ancient and fixed, yet every shire was once a fresh idea drawn by someone in charge.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.