low countryn.adj.
/ˈləʊ kʌntri/, U.S. /ˈloʊ ˌkəntri/ A. n.
1. Low-lying land; a region whose level is lower than that of the surrounding country.
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the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > [noun]
lowa1200
bottom1342
lowness?a1425
low countryc1450
lowland1488
lowlanda1522
downland1608
bottomland1612
bottom glade1637
lowth1691
underground1842
c1450 Bk. Marchalsi (Harl. 6398) (1973) f. 12 (MED) Folis þat ben folid in lowe cuntre and mori..shal haue..longe pastron of kynde; þat is nout to preisin.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 275 He com unto a low contrey full of..fayre meedys.
c1612 W. Strachey Hist. Trav. Virginia (1953) i. i. 35 There was ever Enmity..between the High-and Low Country, going by the names of Monacans, and Powhatans.
1691 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) Postscr. 171 That which lies under the Hills..is called by the Country-people the Lowths, i.e. The low Country in contradistinction to the Wauds.
1708 J. Chamberlayne Magnæ Britanniæ Notitia (ed. 22) ii. 384 The Low Country has very much Corn, which is soon ripe; but the high Country is fitter for Pasture.
1799 Asiatic Researches (London ed.) 4 102 The low country bordering on the hills was almost depopulated.
1823 E. James Acct. Exped. Rocky Mts. I. 38 Here commences the low country, which extends west to the Mississippi.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Low-country, East Riding of Yorkshire, being, in general flat, particularly when contrasted with this mountainous district.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 353 A highway..ascends gently from the low country to the summit of the defile.
1904 F. W. Hutton & J. Drummond Animals N.Z. 154 In open low country, in both Islands, the Harrier is still common.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1248 The upland pastures have a dwarfer herbage. Better drainage and poorer soil prevent the growth of the tall herbs of the low country.
2005 R. Young Many Adventures Followed vii. 56 After six months of familiarisation in the low country of the Sepik district my introduction to the highlands began.
2. spec. Usually with the.
a. A low-lying region of north-western Europe, now comprising the kingdoms of the Netherlands and Belgium, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Usually, and now only, in plural in the Low Countries.Sometimes, esp. in the 16th and 17th centuries, also extended to include parts of northern France (as Artois and French Flanders) and western Germany.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > Low Countries > [noun]
low country1525
lowlandsc1685
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. f. ccvi/1 I can nat tell howe the frenche men and other of lowe countreys coulde endure the payne of the hote and grose ayre that they founde there.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxxijv To all the cytyes of the Gaule Belgique or lowe countrey.
?1568 tr. Declar. Prince of Orange Def. against Duke of Alba sig. A.viiv Of which pointes as of all other affairs of the low country, ye shal finde more ample declaration in our iustification now of late set-forth by vs.
1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. G v It would not conuert clubs and clowted shoone from the flesh-pots of Egipt, to the Prouant of the Low-countreyes.
1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age i. ii. vi. 42 The war was..hot in the Low-Countries.
1690 W. Temple Ess. Gardens of Epicurus in Wks. (1731) I. 182 In France, and the Low-Countries..the Heats or the Colds, and Changes of Seasons, are less treatable than they are with us.
1739 E. A. Laval Compend. Hist. Reformation III. i. v. 144 What I have said..concerning the Reformation of the Low Countries, is abstracted out of the Abridgement of Brandt's History.
1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 292 Presses of his structure became..general throughout the Low Countries.
1858 H. W. Longfellow Courtship Miles Standish Pref. The career of poor but daring spirits in the age of Elizabeth was often sought in the Low Countries.
1887 M. Morris Claverhouse (1888) v. 80 He had served his apprenticeship to the trade of war in the Low Countries.
1908 A. Hassall in Cambr. Mod. Hist. (1912) V. ii. 38 The southern portion of the Spanish Low Countries was speedily overrun; and Lille, the most important of the Belgian cities, was taken.
1940 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 10 Apr. 176 German tanks acted as the spearhead in the rapid Nazi advance through the Low Countries and Northern France.
2007 Racing Rev. 65/3 Ladbrokes already have a considerable foothold in the Low Countries and, indeed, it is to Belgium that they are looking for help in moving further afield.
b. Scottish. = lowland n. 1a. Now rare.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > Scotland > [noun] > lowlands
lowland1425
low country1644
1644 D. Buchanan Knox's Hist. Reformation Scotl. (rev. ed.) Pref. sig. c4 The ancient Albins: who leaving the hills, after the defeat of the Picts, did betake themselves to the Low Countrey.
a1709 J. Fraser Chrons. Frasers (1905) 456 He delighted much to live in the Low country, at Balcony.
1745 in J. Stuart Misc. Spalding Club (1841) I. 416 Men raised in the laich countrie..is good for nothing.
1841 J. Imlah Poems & Songs 255 For Scotia's sake—for auld lang syne, Frae hielan' hill and laigh countrie.
1894 P. H. Hunter James Inwick 163 Archie had a job doun in the low country.
1955 W. P. Milne Eppie Elrick xv. 147 'E Hielanmen an' 'e men fae the Laich Cuntra.
c. South African. = lowveld n. Now rare.
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the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > [noun] > specific
the fenc1540
low country1776
Paris basin1830
1776 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 66 314 They [sc. the Boers] remove down in the beginning of May..and return about the latter end of October, when the low country becomes parched.
1879 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 Mar. 134/2 For big game, the low country and Bushveld is that part of the Transvaal which the hunter must seek.
1929 D. Reitz Commando xiv. 126 Our road ran through the Sabi low country teeming with big game of all descriptions.
1940 F. B. Young City of Gold 100 That trackless expanse of bush and savannah which men called the Low Country.
d. U.S. regional. The coastal plain of the south-eastern United States, in Virginia, North Carolina, and (now usually) South Carolina and Georgia. Contrasted with up country.
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1788 A. Burke Let. 23 June in K. Miller et al. Irish Immigrants in Land of Canaan (2003) 580 Mr. John Bowman,..of the low-country; myself and a few of the back country men.
1797 C. Pettigrew in S. M. Lemmon Parson Pettigrew of ‘Old Church’ (1970) v. 83 You may think it best to sell your possessions in this low country, and to move westwardly.
1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow Barn I. xxiv. 251 The dew..in the low-country, at this season, falls heavily after night.
1874 ‘H. Churton’ Toinette x. 114 He came from somewhere down in the low country.
1904 Lett. J. Habersham 102 (note) A similar volume.., dated 1781,..gives further illustration of the organization of industry in the low country.
1986 B. Fussell I hear Amer. Cooking iii. xii. 209 There are still a few remnants of the ‘mosquito fleet’ who throw their nets into creeks, inlets, and rivers to reap the tiny sweet shrimp of the low country.
2012 Wall St. Jrnl. 15 Dec. c4/1 ‘Benne’ is what sesame seeds are called in the Lowcountry, particularly in and around Charleston, S.C.
B. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Low Countries; spec. designating wars fought in the Low Countries, esp. the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) or the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14); (of a soldier) having served in these wars. Now chiefly historical.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > Low Countries > [adjective]
low country1577
1577 J. Dee Gen. Mem. Arte Nauig. 23 The Vlishing & Low Country Trublesome disorders.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 84 The Low-Countrey-Men, who haue the best Mines, aboue ground, in the World.
a1648 Ld. Herbert Life (1976) 4 His Son..went to the Low Country Wars, and after some time spent there, came home.
1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. i. 83 But I have sent him for a Token To your Low Countrey Hogen Mogen.
1774 Ann. Reg. 1773 Characters 75/2 He [sc. Thomas Lord Fairfax] went into the low-country wars in 1627.
1889 J. Corbett Monk ii. 15 The plain Low Country officer.
1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke v. 34 Baggy low-country knee-breeches.
1896 Eng. Hist. Rev. Apr. 254 He left a garrison of 1,000 Portuguese in the city, under the command of Pedro Correa de Gama, an experienced soldier trained in the Low Country wars.
1920 Mod. Lang. Rev. 15 80 Jack Lee and Sylvanus Scory were Low Country soldiers and followers of the Earl of Leicester.
1959 G. Mattingly Armada xvi. 171 She had poured tens of thousands of pounds into the Low Country wars, and the money had vanished with scarcely more effect than if it had been shoveled on to quicksand.
2012 E. Haefeli New Netherland & Dutch Origins Amer. Relig. Liberty 29 A group of Low Country nobles persuaded the Spanish regent to stop the operation of the Inquisition.
2. Of, from, or relating to low-lying land, esp. the low-lying part of a particular region or country (cf. senses A. 2b, A. 2c, A. 2d).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > [adjective]
lowc1300
lowland1567
humble1579
low country1581
bottomy1635
subjacent1648
flat-lying1762
down country1827
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius iii. f. 418v Which if be true, then did Christ accordyng to this saying, preach to those mounteyn men onely, that were in prison: And all the rest that were lowe Countrey men, were throwen downe into hell.
1644 D. Buchanan Knox's Hist. Reformation Scotl. (rev. ed.) Pref. sig. c4 The Low-Countrey men calls the High-landers Irish, not so much for their ancient descent, as for their language.
a1692 R. Kirk Secret Commonw. in M. Hunter Occult Lab. (2001) iii. 78 The Subterranean..Invisible people, heirtofor going under the names of Elves..or the like, among the Low-Countrey Scots.
1788 A. Burke Let. 23 June in K. Miller et al. Irish Immigrants in Land of Canaan (2003) 580 The Merchants and leading Men kept open houses for the back and low country Members during the whole time the Convention sat.
1837 J. R. McCulloch Statist. Acct. Brit. Empire II. iii. iv. 54 The webs manufactured in North Wales are distinguished into 2 sorts; strong, or high country, cloth; and small, or low country, ditto.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped xviii. 172 You Low-country bodies have no clear idea of what's right and wrong.
1899 West. Gaz. 14 Apr. 3/2 On a low-country shooting, which has no house attached to it, a bag of mixed game generally costs at least five shillings a head.
1947 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. xxiii. 189 I have weighed a good number of low-country leopards immediately after death.
2005 Philadelphia Sept. 108/1 We decided to check out the hotel's restaurant, Peninsula Grill, a well-known purveyor of traditional Low Country cuisine.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.c1450