shire

Multiple Entries:
  shire    -shire  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
shire /ˈʃʌɪə/

▶noun

• 1 Brit. a county, especially in England.

  ■ (the Shires) the parts of England regarded as strongholds of traditional rural culture, especially the rural Midlands.

• 2 a medieval administrative district ruled jointly by an alderman and a sheriff.

• 3 Austral. a rural area with its own elected council.

– origin OE scīr ‘care, official charge, county’, of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
-shire /ʃɪə, ʃə/

▶combining form forming the names of counties: Oxfordshire.