| 释义 |
country|ˈkʌntrɪ|
Forms: α. 3–6 contre, -trey, 4–5 con-, cuntree, 4–6 cuntre, -trey; also 3 contreie, 4 -trai, -tray(e, -trez, -try, cuntray, -trei, -thre, kon-, kuntre, kontrey, 5 cuntrye, 6 contrie, -tra, cuntrie, -try, -traith, -treth; β. 5–6 countre, 5 -tray, 5–8 -trey, 6–7 -trie, (arch. 8 countrie, 8–9 -tree), 6– country.
[ME. contre(e, cuntre(e, a. OF. cuntrée, contrée = Pr. and It. contrada:—late L. contrāta (quoted by Brachet from Leges Siciliæ), f. contrā against, opposite, lit. that which lies opposite or fronting the view, the landscape spread out before one: cf. the old Pr. equivalent encontrada, that encountered or met with. So Ger. gegend region, f. gegen against, formed (according to Kluge) after the Romanic word.
The original stress on the final syllable, common in verse in ME., has been retained as an archaism of ballad poetry, sometimes with the spelling countree, countrie.
a1300Cursor M. 2362 Oute of þi kiþ and þis cuntree. c1386Chaucer Thopas 7 Yborn he was in fer contree, In flaundres al biyonde the see. a1425Thomas of Erceld. 346 Wha sall be kynge, wha sall be nane, And wha sall welde this northe countre? c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4651 To straunge contre he wil we trus. a1784Dick o' the Cow xli. (Bord. Minstr.), Thus Dickie has fell'd Johnie Armstrang The prettiest man in the south country [rime three]. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mariner vii. i, He loves to talk with Marineres That come from a far Contrée. 1816Byron Siege of Cor. Intr., And some are in a far countree. ]
I.
1. a. A tract or expanse of land of undefined extent; a region, district.
c1275Lay. 1282 Bi Ruscicadan hii neome þe see, and bi þe contre of Assare [c 1205 montaine of Azare]. c1320Sir Tristr. 1437 Þe cuntre well he knewe Er he þe dragoun souȝt And seiȝe. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 5 Al þe contrey aboute Jordan. Ibid. 9 Marie wente into monteyne contre. c1450Merlin ii. 32 That contre is full of grete forestis. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 196 Two days ago, we went across the country to visit Squire Burdock. 1872E. Peacock Mabel Heron I. vi. 88 His road lay over a flat country. 1889Whitaker's Almanack 446 A rich grazing country admirably adapted to the rearing of sheep.
b. without a and pl.
1881J. Russell Haigs iii. 38 Round Jedburgh and Hawick were immense belts of country covered with trees. Mod. All this is new country to me.
c. The transition from 1 to 2 is seen in the application of the word to a district having distinct physical or other characteristics, as the chalk country, the fen country, the country of the red-deer, the stag-hunting country, etc.
1822Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 112 The saint-foin hay has all been got in in the chalk countries without a drop of wet.
2. a. A tract or district having more or less definite limits in relation to human occupation. e.g. owned by the same lord or proprietor, or inhabited by people of the same race, dialect, occupation, etc.; spec. preceded by a personal name: the region associated with a particular person or his works; also fig.
Formerly often applied to a county, barony, or other part; in Ireland and Scotland, still to the territory of a clan as the O'Neil Country, Lochiel's Country.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 368 Vewe contreyes beþ in Engelond, þat monekes nabbeþ of Normandye somþyng in her honde. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 39 Þe cuntre of Dorseth, lond & tenement, Alle had þei wasted fro Seuerne vnto Kent. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 422 Þey wolen infecte cuntreys and cuntreys wolen infecte reumes. c1434Paston Lett. No. 19 I. 36. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. xcix. 79 Ther was a kyng Britone that held the countre of leycestre & al the countrey aboute named Brecinale. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §2 In Leycestershyre, Lankesshyre, Yorkeshyre..and manye other countreyes, the plowes be of dyuers makinges. 1587Golding De Mornay viii. 94 The very account of the yeere was vncerteine and confused in the cuntrie of Europe, vntill the time of Iulius Cæsar. 1665Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 47 Welcomed by..the nobility and gentlemen of the contrys with the volunteer troopes as wee passed. 1706–43Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. 291 Shire of Aberdeen..contains the Countries of Marre, Fourmanteen, Garioch, Strathbogie, and..Part of Buchan. 1798Prince Regent [Geo. IV.] in Chatterton Mem. Ld. Gambier (1861) I. xxi. 347 To know whether I would not give up hunting what is called the Piddletown country. 1818Scott Rob Roy Introd., The fort at Inversnaid, constructed for the express purpose of bridling the country of the MacGregors. 1868Rogers Pol. Econ. xiii. (ed. 3) 175 The ancient Irish tenancy consisted of a village or district, or, in the phraseology of the island, a ‘country’, in which there was a paramount chief..and a number of dependent clansmen. 1887Cheshire Gloss., Country, a countryside, district. Two adjoining parishes might be spoken of as different countries. 1905F. G. Kitton (title) The Dickens Country. 1956P. Mortimer Bright Prison vii. 69 Constable country, of course. You care for Constable? 1958Observer 15 June 15/3 An original artist working on a small scale in what might be called Dubuffet country. 1962Times 24 Dec. 6/7 The Enid Blyton country does not date.
b. God's (own) country, the United States, or some particular part of the United States; also applied to other countries, and, more generally, an ‘earthly paradise’. orig. U.S.
1865R. H. Kellogg Rebel Prisons 118, I was willing to work hard, if I could only get out of that horrible den, into God's country once more. 1890G. W. Perrie Buckskin Mose xv. 218 The memory of the little woman I had left behind me in the East, or ‘God's country’. 1893T. Bracken Lays & Lyrics 5, I am doing very well here [in Australia] but I would much sooner live on a far smaller salary in ‘God's own Country’. 1914G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. 43 They always come home..talkin about..God's Own Country, and the Big Western Heart. 1926J. Devanny Lenore Divine ii. 20 Richard John Seddon..the popularly acclaimed uncrowned king of the land he himself had named ‘God's Own Country’. 1946E. B. Thompson Amer. Daughter 10 We can work for..a real home.., out in God's country! 1960B. Keaton Wonderf. World of Slapstick (1967) 65 (heading) Back home again in God's Country.
3. The territory or land of a nation; usually an independent state, or a region once independent and still distinct in race, language, institutions, or historical memories, as England, Scotland, and Ireland, in the United Kingdom, etc.
With political changes, what were originally distinct countries have become provinces or districts of one country, and vice versa; the modern tendency being to identify the term with the existing political condition.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 162 Of Jerusalem cuntre þe gode kyng Guyoun. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 11 Þe contree clepid Bythynye. c1400Destr. Troy xiii. 5426 What kynges þere come of countres aboute. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 173 If a leche be in straunge cuntre he ne schal bi no maner wei take sich a cure. 1553N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices (1556) 22 To bee of one countrie, of one nation, of one language. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 5 In those times very many Countreys of the West..spake or vnderstood Latine. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. Pref., Spain..being a Countrey out of the ordinary road of Travellers. 1718Freethinker No. 56. 8 A Countrey, where every thing is in the Disposal of the Crown. 1875Jevons Money (1878) 6 The most advanced commercial countries. 1885Whitaker's Alm. 433 Irish Peers..may represent any Borough, County, or University in England or Scotland, but not in Ireland. Peers of Scotland cannot be elected as Members of Parliament in any of the three countries. Ibid. 311 (title), Foreign Countries, chiefly those with which this Nation holds intercourse by means of Ambassadors or Consuls.
4. The land of a person's birth, citizenship, residence, etc.; used alike in the wider sense of native land, and in the narrower one of the particular district to which a person belongs.
a. with poss. pron.
a1300Cursor M. 18163 (Cott.) Þai war for-wondred o þat light, In þair contre þai sagh sa bright. c1350Will. Palerne 722 Mi-self knowe ich nouȝt mi ken ne mi kontre noiþer. c1400Rom. Rose 5662 In erthe is not oure countre. 1548Hall Chron. 13 The most pernicious..enemy to them and his owne naturall countrey. Ibid. 44 The final destruction of your native countrey and naturall region. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 82 To weepe Ouer his Countries Wrongs. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 811 Mighty Cæsar..asserts his Country's Cause. 1705Addison Italy 13 Heroes that have..acted for the Good of their Country. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 304 The people had no love for their country or for their king.
b. absol. Native land, fatherland.
1566Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 2 Which speake of..inuincible mindes, of bold aduenturers for Countries saufetie. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 81 Forgiue me Countrey, and sweet Countreymen. 1738Pope Epil. Sat. i. 158 See thronging Millions to the Pagod run, And offer Country, Parent, Wife or Son! 1852Tennyson Ode Wellington vi. 61 If love of country move thee there at all. 1889Sat. Rev. 16 Mar. 321/2 The old-fashioned love of country which never swells into bombast or sinks into chauvinism.
5. a. ‘The parts of a region distant from cities or courts’ (J.); the rural districts as distinct from the town or towns; sometimes applied to all outside the capital, called, by eminence, ‘town’.
1526–34Tindale Mark v. 14 And..the swyne heerdes fleed, and tolde it in the cyte, and in the countre. 1530Palsgr. 587/2, I lyke nat his daunsing, he hoppeth and tryppeth lyke one of the countraye..comme vng paysant. 1598Nashe Christ's T. 49 b, In the Country, the Gentleman..vndoeth the Farmer. In London, the Vsurer snatcheth vp the Gentleman. 1697T. Smith in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 241 Hee..is gone into the Country, but not farr from London. 1727Swift Gulliver iii. iv. 201 Passed through one of the town-gates, and went about three miles into the country. 1784Cowper Task i. 749 God made the country, and man made the town. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 319 The refinements of the capital follow him into the country. 1891Law Times XCII. 107/2 [He] has so far recovered as to be able to leave town for the country.
b. Used predicatively without article = rural, countrified.
1838E. C. Gaskell Let. 17 July (1966) 19 Rivington is such a very pretty place, & so thoroughly country. 1890S. Hale Lett. (1919) 235 It is far more country here than they are. 1947C. H. Warren Adam was Ploughman iii. 74 He is country to the core—and Cotswold country at that.
c. Ellipt. = country-and-western. Also attrib.
1967Melody Maker 28 Jan. 13/2 A dozen well-known country hits gathered together on one album..must rank as a must for the country fans who don't have these tracks elsewhere. 1969N. Cohn AWopBopaLooBop (1970) xxi. 199 The Byrds are a trio and play mostly country. 1969Rolling Stone 28 June 19/2 You start naming off some country songs and they say ‘Is that Country? I didn't know that.’
6. a. The people of a district or state; the nation.
c1320Sir Tristr. 1407 Þe cuntre alle bidene þai seiȝe fle ful riȝt. c1340Cursor M. 13262 (Fairf.) Þe cuntray hally til him soȝt. 1548Hall Chron. 24 b, By the puissaunce of the townsmen and aide of the countrey, they were repulsed. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 136 All the Countrey, in a generall voyce, Cry'd hate vpon him. 1611Bible Gen. xli. 57 And all countreys came into Egypt to Ioseph, for to buy corne. 1732Pope Ep. Bathurst 190 No noon-tide bell invites the country round. 1784Cowper Task II. 814 The country mourns. 1825Ld. Cockburn Mem. 409 What was called the country, that is, the country as represented by town councils and lairds was nearly unanimous against this reform.
b. to appeal or go to the country: to appeal to the body of parliamentary electors from an adverse or doubtful vote of the House of Commons, which is practically done by the dissolution of Parliament: see appeal v. 5.
1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 34 What with church and corn together, and the Queen Dowager, we may go to the country with as good a cry as some other persons. 1865H. Kingsley Hillyars & Burtons lix, It became necessary for James Oxton to go to the country..He [the Governor] dissolved the assembly and sent James Oxton to the country. 1890Illustr. Lond. News 12 Apr. 450/1 The cry of a ‘cheap breakfast table’ would no longer be one ‘to go to the country with’.
7. Law. Applied to a jury.
In 12–14th c. a jury was a body of witnesses summoned to decide by their sworn testimony (veredictum, verdict) some question debated between litigants who had formally agreed to be bound by that testimony. The jury being summoned from the neighbourhood (hundred) in which the controverted facts were supposed to have taken place, the question was said to be tried by the neighbourhood (L. vicinetum, visnetum, Fr. visnet) or by the ‘country’ (L. patria, F. pays). The litigants were said to put themselves upon the, or their country, and trial by the country was distinguished from other modes of trial. The phrase has been retained to the present day, when accused criminals still formally submit to trial ‘by God and their country’, although the character of trial by jury has been greatly changed. (F. W. Maitland.)
[1234Bracton's Note-bk. I. 649 Inde ponit se super patriam. c1250Bracton lf. 142 b, Item defendit se..de necessitate per patriam. 1293Year Bk. 21–2 Edw. I, 393 ‘Coment volet averer?’ ‘Par pays.’] 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 2948 Als a man has drede bodily, When he es acouped of felony Byfor kynges iustice, and þe cuntre. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1633) 189 If hee [the prisoner] plead not guiltie, the clarke asketh him how hee will be tried and telleth him he must say, by God and the countrie, for these be the words formall of his triall after inditement. 1660Trial Regic. (1679) 110 And for his Tryal hath put himself upon God and the Countrey, which Countrey you are. 1752J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 206. 1766 Blackstone Comm. III. 313. 1863 H. Cox Instit. ii. x. 550 When the prisoner has pleaded not guilty, and for his trial put himself ‘upon the country’ (which country the jury are). 1880Daily Tel. 4 Nov., By his country, represented by twelve men in a box, he will be tried.
8. With qualifications, as black country, low country, old country; also east, west, north, south country, in senses 1, 2, or 3. See black, etc.
II. Technical uses.
9. Naut.
a. A region of the sea or ocean.
b. A station (see quot. 1867).
1748Anson's Voy. i. iii. 22 The Spanish sailors, being for the most part accustomed to a fair weather country. 1820Scoresby Arct. Regions II. 237 What the fishers call..the close season, when the country is nearly full of ice. Ibid. I. 314 Two French frigates had cruized the fishing country during the latter end of the season, and had destroyed several of the whalers. 1821A. Fisher Jrnl. Arct. Regions 270 They also told us that no less than eleven ships were destroyed in this country by the ice last year. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Country, a term synonymous with station. The place whither a ship happens to be ordered.
10. Naut. (U.S.) The space in a cabin, as the ward-room or steerage, not occupied by berths, and used by the members of the mess in common.
1853Kane Grinnell Exp. cxi. (1856) 25 The area..which is known to naval men as ‘the country’, seemed completely filled up with the hinged table.
11. Mining (Cornwall). The rock in which a lode of ore occurs; called also country-rock; see also quots.
1674Ray Prep. Tin in Eng. Words (E.D.S.) 11 Besides the main load, they have little branches that run from it north and south, and to other points, which they call countrey. 1753Chambers Cycl. Suppl., Countries, among the miners, a term or appellation they give to their works under ground. Phil. Trans. No. 198. 1857J. Scoffern Useful Metals 81 The rock in which the lode occurs is called the country. 1872Harper's Mag. XLVI. 23 The formation, or ‘country rock’, is a common Gneiss, apparently of Laurentian age. 1965G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. v. 58/2 The country⁓rock strikes north-westerly.
12. Cricket slang. Applied to parts of the field a long way from the wickets.
1884Lillywhite's Crick. Comp. 206 Splendid field, being especially good in the country. 1888Steel & Lyttelton Cricket iv. 215 None of these are quick enough..for fielding in the country. 1912A. Brazil New Girl at St. Chad's vii. 115 Driving the first ball she received into ‘the country’ for three.
III. attrib. and Comb.
(In simple attributive use, as in country girl, country manners, = attributive use of rural, rustic, and hence considered by some an adjective. But country cannot, like rural, rustic, be used predicatively, or undergo comparison; we say a country town, but not a more country town, nor the town is country.)
†13. attrib.
a. Of a country, particular district, or part of the world; of the country (in question), of one's own country; national, native. Almost always with a possessive or demonstrative, as his own country speech, the speech of his own country, that country steel, the steel of that country. Obs. exc. dial. Cf. countryman, countrywoman.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls Ser.) VI. 143 To make songes and ditee in þe contre longage [in lingua patria]. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia 30 He chaunced to fynde certayne of his countreye shippes. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 97 The pens of our owne countrie writers. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. xiii. (1622) 24 Offered vp in honour of their countrey gods. 1621Fletcher Pilgr. i. ii. 49 What country-craver are you? 1632Lithgow Trav. i. 42 In Padua I..found there a Countrey Gentleman of mine. 1668Dryden Even. Love iii. ii, Talk not of our country ladies: I declare myself for the Spanish beauties. 1675R. Burthogge Causa Dei 201 Among all the Countrey Rites [patriis ritibus] of Religion. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 57 Many Workmen commend that Country-Steel for best, from whence that Steel came.
b. Anglo-Ind. Of or belonging to India (or other foreign country), as distinguished from European; native.
1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. India 36 a, The Nayres maye not take anye Countrie women, and they also doe not marrie. 1619Pring in Purchas Pilgrims I. 638 (Y.) Master Methwold came from Messalipatam in one of the Countrey Boats. 1727Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. lii. 253 When we arrived there, we found three European Ships, and a Country Ship from Surat. 1752in Orme Hist. Mil. Trans. (1805) I. 211 (Y.) A serjeant who spoke the country languages. 1817Raffles Hist. Java I. 210 (Y.) Since the conquest..a very extensive trade has been carried on by the English in country ships. 1848Arnould Mar. Insur. (1866) I. i. v. 272 Employing the vessel in what is called the country trade, that is, on intermediate voyages from one port to another in India.
14. Of or pertaining to the rural districts; living in, situated in, belonging to or characteristic of the country (often as contrasted with the town); rural, rustic: as in country bank, country boy, country breeding, country bumpkin, country carpenter, country carrier, country church, country clergyman, country cottage, country fellow, country gentry, country girl, country labourer, country manners, country parish, country pleasures, country reader, country school, country sport, country squire, country tailor, country trader, country village, country wake, country wench, country work, etc. (In some of these the hyphen is often used, esp. by earlier writers; but it is unnecessary.)
c1525Vox Populi 374 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 281, I knowe not whates a clocke, But by the countre cocke. 1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 61 The country Squire, doth couet to be Knight. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. A j b, The commendations of countrie pleasures. 1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 109 Of great use among countrie people. c1588Greene Fr. Bacon i. 40 How lovely in her country-weeds she look'd. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. ii. 122, I doe loue that Countrey girle. 1598Florio Worlde of Wordes 126/3 Fascina, a countrie cottage, a shepheards bullie, a cabbin. 1600C. Percy in Shaks. Cent. Praise 38, I am heere so pestred with contrie businesse. 1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 138 These fresh Nimphes encounter euery one in Country footing. a1617Hieron Wks. II. 49 In our countrey-worke of threshing. 1622T. Scott Belg. Pismire 7 Salomon heere applyes his wisedome to countrie capacities. 1657Trapp Comm. Ps. vii. 1 A plain Country-fellow. 1669J. Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 301 To discover to our Country-Reader these mysterious Intricacies of Nature. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 21 To preach to ordinary people, and govern a country-parish. 1680Anon. in Rochester's Poems 107 With all that Country Bumpkins, call good Cheer. 1682H. More Annot. Glanvil's Lux O. 245 Applause from the Country-Fry. 1680Dryden Prol. Univ. Oxf. 2 Thespis, the first professor of our art, At country wakes sung ballads from a cart. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 161 §2 A Country Wake. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. Ded., In my Country-Privacy. 1712Steele Spect. No. 480 ⁋7, I was bred at a country-school. 1774Chesterfield Lett. I. 62 Enjoying the sweets of repose in a country solitude. 1782Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to R. A's vii. Wks. 1812 I. 28 A poor country-bumkin of a Stag. 1774,1820[see bumpkin 1]. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 40 That unpopular class of beings, country-boys. 1833Tennyson Lady Clara Vere de Vere, You thought to break a country heart For pastime, ere you went to town. 1869Blackmore Lorna D. viii, Conscious of my country-brogue. 1872E. Peacock Mabel Heron I. iv. 56 Ranked with the country gentry. 1881C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork iii. 183 [A] country cottage fitted up for summer occupancy. 1885Whitaker's Almanack 229 Bank of England..Country Branches. Ibid. 234 Country Banks in England and Wales, with their London agents. 1951R. Firth Elem. Social Organiz. iii. 92 The African or the Solomon Islander is no less sensitive to the appellation of country bumpkin than is his European counterpart. 1963J. Korg G. Gissing ii. 61 Algernon..seems to have spent his life in inexpensive country cottages.
15. General combinations: locative, as country-dweller, country-liver ns.; country-born, country-bred, country-made, country-trained adjs.; objective, as country-loving, country-selling; adverbial and parasynthetic, as country-plain, country-flavoured, etc.
1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 52 A town-bred or *country-bred similitude. 1834C. Brontë Let. in Mrs. Gaskell Life 93 Too much afraid of appearing country-bred.
1576Newton tr. Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 63 Rather like Forrainers and strangers, then *Country-borne people.
1600Nashe Summer's Last Will in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 53 Such *country-button'd caps as you.
1886Longm. Mag. VII. 438 Blessings which *country-dwellers thankfully acknowledge. 1892Tablet 2 Jan. 35 No country-dweller could be ignorant of the limits of the manor in which he dwelt.
1875Browning Aristoph. Apol. 117 That black-eyed, brown-skinned, *country-flavoured wench.
1886G. Hamilton in E. H. Rollins New Eng. Bygones Pref. 2 Some old time *country livers..may run over its pages.
1881M. E. Braddon Asph. I. 289 A pair of strong *country-made gray horses.
1642R. Carpenter Experience v. vii. 245, I am *Countrey-plaine, and still short.
1695Locke in Fox Bourne Life II. xiii. 322 *Country-selling knavery.
1888Times 16 Oct. 10/5 No *country-trained hound should be allowed even to be tried in the streets of London.
16. Special comb. (sometimes hyphened): country air, (a) the fresh air of the country; (b) a rural melody or song; country-and-western, a type of music originating in the southern and western United States, consisting mainly of rural or cowboy songs accompanied by a stringed instrument such as the guitar or fiddle; abbrev. C-and-W; † country base = base n.2; † country-bishop, a rendering of Gr. χωρεπίσκοπος, chorepiscope; country-box, a small country-house (see box n.2 14); country captain, (a) a captain stationed in the country; † (b) Anglo-Ind. a captain of a native ship (cf. 13 b); also a peculiar dry kind of curry; country club orig. U.S. [club n. 13], one in or near the country, often with a restricted membership, having facilities for recreation and social intercourse; also, the premises and grounds of such a club; country-damaged a., damaged in the country of origin, before shipment; † country disease, home sickness; † country dog, a dog bred for use in the country; country gentleman, (a) a gentleman having landed property in the country and residing there; hence country-gentlemanlike; (b) orig. U.S. (see quot. 1950) (freq. with capital initials); † country husband, a rural husbandman; country jake, jay U.S. colloq., a rustic; † country Joan, an awkward country lass; country life, life in the country following rural pursuits; country-like a. and adv., according to the manners in the country, rural, rustic; rustically; country-looking a., having the appearance of belonging to the country, rustic-looking; country mouse, a rural species of mouse; also fig., a dweller in the country, esp. as unfamiliar with urban life (cf. town-mouse s.v. town n. 10); country music = country-and-western; country note, a bank-note issued by a local bank, as distinguished from the Bank of England; † Country Pepper, the Biting Stone-crop, Sedum acre; † country pie (see quot.); † country-put (obs. slang), a rustic lout or greenhorn; country service N.Z., the period during which a teacher in the Government service is required to teach in schools in rural districts; also attrib.; country-talk, the talk of a district or country-side; † country Tom, ? a bedlam-beggar; country town, a small town which forms the centre of a rural district, and has only the industries connected with rural and local requirements, as distinguished from a seaport, manufacturing town, etc.; also attrib.; country-wide a., as wide as the country, extending throughout the country.
1633G. Herbert Temple, Gratefulnesse vi, These *countrey-aires thy love Did take. 1715Pope 2nd Ep. Miss Blount 2 Some fond Virgin, whom her mother's care Drags from the Town to wholesome Country air.
1959‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene xiii. 237 Simple vocal music of the rhythm-and-blues or *country-and-Western type. 196020th Cent. Dec. 556 The hillbilly form is known generically as Country-and-Western... Whatever its mood, C-and-W has instantly recognizable characteristics. 1970Listener 11 June 804/2 Musically, Liverpool has always preferred Country and Western music to virtually any of the current national trends.
1611Shakes. Cymb. v. iii. 20 Lads more like to run The *Country base, then to commit such slaughter.
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 21 Them they called *contrey-byshops, because in the contrey they represented the Bishop.
1757Lloyd (title), Cits *Country Box. 1876Browning Pacchiarotto 67 Nor country box was soul's domain.
1649W. Cavendish (title), The *Country Captain. 1769Ld. Teignmouth in Life (1843) I. 15 (Y.), I supped last night at a Country Captain's; where I saw for the first time a specimen of the Indian taste.
1894Harper's Mag. LXXXIX. 16/1 The *Country Club is either very restful and bucolic, or very athletic and exciting. 1906Springfield Republ. 19 July, It is to the game of golf that the country club is chiefly due, although golf is by no means the only sport which the well-developed country club now provides for. 1932P. Bloomfield Imag. Worlds ii. 33 An eternal cycle of ‘whoopee’ at a sort of unenterprising country club of intolerable millionairish crudity. 1957W. H. Whyte Organiz. Man 311 It [sc. the subscription] is high enough to keep many of the marginal-income people..away from the pool and the result will be the formation of a ‘country-club set’. 1969Post Office Telephone Directory (Oxford Area): Classified Directory 45 Chiltern Manor Country Club.
1896Taggart Cotton Spinning I. 43 Unless the bales have been lying in wet or mud before having been shipped on the railways or steamships, and have become what is known to the trade as ‘*country damaged’, the quality of the article does not deteriorate. 1900Daily News 12 Oct. 2/6 Coffee.—Ecuador country-damaged.
1726Cavallier Mem. i. 29, I was two Months in Geneva, where..I got the *Country Disease, and began to grieve after my Father and Mother.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 35 Their quantity is not much bigger then a *Countrey Dog.
1632Brome Court Beggar Dram. Personae, Mr. Swaynwit, a blunt *Countrey Gentleman. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §11 Among country gentlemen and farmers. 1889Lowell Latest Lit. Ess. (1891) 78 English, which he treated with a Country-gentlemanlike familiarity. 1899Chicago Daily News 21 June 7/4 *Country Gentleman corn—regular price 12 c. 1950New Biol. VIII. 37 One kind of sweet corn, called Country Gentleman, has the seeds situated irregularly on the cobs, instead of in neat rows as in most corns.
1669J. Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 7 Let our *Countrey-Husbands conclude, that Water..is an excellent Vehicle to convey the Spirit, Salt, and Sulphur that are apt for Vegetation into Vegetables.
a1854J. F. Kelly Humors of Falconbridge (1856) 136 You're a pooty looking *country jake, you are, to advertise for a dog, and don't know Chiney Terrier from a singed possum? 1911R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter ix. 128 Didn't I tell you beforehand that they'd shorely size me up as a country-jake from the very beginning?
1899Quinn Pennsylv. Stories 45 Well, you all know what a *country jay Dutch was when he came to college. 1919E. O'Neill Rope in Moon of Caribbes (1923) 28 You country jays oughter wake up and see what's goin' on.
1802Mrs. Sherwood Susan Gray 48 You are such a dowdy, such a *country Joan, no one will look upon you.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) A ij b, Every one knows that a *Country-life was the most Ancient. 1712Addison Spect. No. 414 ⁋1 We always find the Poet in Love with the Country-Life.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Rural, rude, *countrey like. 1699Bentley Phalaris 209 Anciently..the Feast of Bacchus was transacted Country-like and merrily.
1775Sheridan St. Patr. Day i. ii, A *country-looking fellow, your worship. 1815Scott Guy M. xxii, A tall, stout, country-looking man.
1585Bulloker Aesop's Fables sig. C2, Of the townish mous and *contry-mous. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 504 The Epithets of myce are thes;..rustik, or country mouse, vrbane, or citty mouse. Ibid. 544 The wood-Mouse is called in Greeke as the Countrey-mouse. 1750Student 31 May 190 An honest country mouse, Kindly receiv'd, within his homely house. 1841Geo. Eliot Let. Mar. (1954) I. 85 Letters from a Town Mouse to a Country Mouse.
1968Melody Maker 30 Nov. 7 Are Britain's *country music fans the poor relations of the popular music world?
1866Crump Banking ix. 203 The extinction of the *country note issue.
1597Gerarde Herball cxxxvii. §5. 415 Stonecrop..[called] of some..wall Pepper, *countrey Pepper.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 293/2 The Goblet, or *Country Pye, is made of large pieces of Flesh.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Country-put, a silly Country-Fellow. a1763Shenstone Ess. 190 An old maid, a country-put, or a college-pedant.
1938N.Z. Educ. Gaz. 1 Oct. 184/1 Unless specially exempted no teacher shall be eligible to apply for a [Grade A] position..unless he has completed..three years' *country service. 1963Evening Post (Wellington) 18 July, It would be a misnomer to designate the college as a country service school since Blenheim had all the amenities of any town.
1759Sterne Tr. Shandy I. x, The parson..had made himself a *country-talk by a breach of all decorum.
1660Midsummer Moon (Halliw.), [He] has one property of a scholar, poverty: you would take him for *Country Tom broke loose from the gallows.
1598Florio Worlde of Wordes 449/1 Villaggio, a village, a borough, a hamlet, a *countrie towne. 1625Burges Personal Tithes 10 If he liue in a Country Towne. 1689S. Johnson Rem. Sherlock's Bk. 37 To search in Villages or Country-Towns. a1828D. Wordsworth Jrnl. Tour on Continent 10 July in Jrnls. (1941) II. 7 This country-town-bred young Lady's notion. Ibid. 28 Sept. 319 A pretty mixture of rusticity, and country-town and river bustle. 1944Dylan Thomas Let. 13 Apr. (1966) 263 A country-town few hours would be very pleasant.
1922Daily Tel. 12 June 2/4 *Country-wide strikes in the United States. 1928Daily Express 8 Aug. 3/4, I have been astounded at the country-wide interest which my recent tramp has aroused. 1938Times 30 May 16/1 The demand which it was established to meet is countrywide and unfailing.
▸ country park n. an area of countryside set aside for public recreation; (spec. in the United Kingdom) one of a number of such areas, often situated close to urban developments, created under the provision of the Countryside Act 1968 (freq. in the name of particular parks).
1888Garden & Forest 1 412/1 Hereafter we shall have to speak of *country-parks when we wish to designate..‘lands intended and appropriated for the recreation of the people by means of their rural, sylvan and natural scenery and character’. Country parks are sometimes of small area,..but generally an area of at least fifty or one hundred acres is required to provide a natural aspect. 1966Leisure in Countryside 6 in Parl. Papers 1965–6 ((Cmnd. 2928)) XIII. 223 ‘Country Parks’..would make it easier for town-dwellers to enjoy their leisure in the open, without travelling too far..; they would ease the pressure on the more remote and solitary places. 1982N.Y. Times (Nexis) 8 Aug. xi. 23 The kayakers put their boats in the water at Cedar Beech Country Park near East Cuchogue. 2000Times 11 Jan. 3/4 The thieves used a hired open-backed lorry with a mechanical arm to lift the {pstlg}15,000 narrow-gauge engine from its shed at Crossford Country Park, near Lanark.
▸ country-western n. and adj. Music (chiefly U.S.) (a) n. = country-and-western n. at Compounds 4; (b) adj. designating or relating to this type of music.
1950Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 17 Apr. 2/5 (advt.) All the latest hits on 45 RPM records. *Country Western..Popular..Classical. 1970J. Bouton Ball Four vii. 379 Larry Dierker and I much prefer the Beatles to country-western music. 1980D. Page Drew's Blues 159 Country-western became popular because, aside from the big band dance music, it was all that the older dancers could understand. 2002Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 11 Nov. a1 Flavoring his raps with references to..country-western culture, Tow Down developed as a local hit in Houston's rap circles. |