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country - 5 dictionary results

coun⋅try

[kuhn-tree] noun, plural -tries, adjective
–noun
1. a state or nation: What European countries have you visited?
2. the territory of a nation.
3. the people of a district, state, or nation: The whole country backed the president in his decision.
4. the land of one's birth or citizenship.
5. rural districts, including farmland, parkland, and other sparsely populated areas, as opposed to cities or towns: Many city dwellers like to spend their vacations in the country.
6. any considerable territory demarcated by topographical conditions, by a distinctive population, etc.: mountainous country; the Amish country of Pennsylvania.
7. a tract of land considered apart from any geographical or political limits; region; district.
8. the public.
9. Law. the public at large, as represented by a jury.
10. country music.
–adjective
11. of, from, or characteristic of the country; rural: a winding country road.
12. of, pertaining to, or associated with country music: That Nashville station plays country records all day long.
13. rude; unpolished; rustic: country manners.
14. of, from, or pertaining to a particular country.
15. Obsolete. of one's own country.
16. go to the country, British. to dissolve a Parliament that has cast a majority vote disagreeing with the prime minister and cabinet and to call for the election of a new House of Commons. Also, appeal to the country.
17. put oneself upon the or one's country, Law. to present one's cause formally before a jury.

Origin:
1200–50; ME cuntree < AF, OF < VL *(regiō) contrāta terrain opposite the viewer, equiv. to L contr(ā) counter 3 + -āta, fem. of -ātus -ate 1 ; cf. G Gegend region, deriv. of gegen against
coun·try   (kŭn'trē)   
n.   pl. coun·tries
    1. A nation or state.
    2. The territory of a nation or state; land.
    3. The people of a nation or state; populace: The whole country will profit from the new economic reforms.
  1. The land of a person's birth or citizenship: Foreign travel is restricted in his country.
  2. A region, territory, or large tract of land distinguishable by features of topography, biology, or culture: hill country; Bible country.
  3. An area or expanse outside cities and towns; a rural area: a vacation in the country.
  4. Law A jury.
  5. Informal Country music.
adj.  
  1. Of, relating to, or typical of the country: a country road; country cooking.
  2. Of or relating to country music.

[Middle English countre, from Old French contree, from Vulgar Latin *(terra) contrāta, (land) opposite, before, from Latin contrā, opposite; see kom in Indo-European roots.]

Country

Coun"try\ (k?n"tr?), n.; pl. Countries (-tr?z). [F. contr['e]e, LL. contrata, fr. L. contra over against, on the opposite side. Cf. Counter, adv., Contra.]

1. A tract of land; a region; the territory of an independent nation; (as distinguished from any other region, and with a personal pronoun) the region of one's birth, permanent residence, or citizenship.

Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred. --Gen. xxxxii. 9.

I might have learned this by my last exile, that change of countries cannot change my state. --Stirling.

Many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account --Milton.

2. Rural regions, as opposed to a city or town.

As they walked, on their way into the country. --Mark xvi. 12 (Rev. Ver. ).

God made the covatry, and man made the town. --Cowper.

Only very great men were in the habit of dividing the year between town and country. --Macaulay.

3. The inhabitants or people of a state or a region; the populace; the public. Hence: (a) One's constituents. (b) The whole body of the electors of state; as, to dissolve Parliament and appeal to the country.

All the country in a general voice Cried hate upon him. --Shak.

4. (Law) (a) A jury, as representing the citizens of a country. (b) The inhabitants of the district from which a jury is drawn.

5. (Mining.) The rock through which a vein runs.

Conclusion to the country. See under Conclusion.

To put, or throw, one's self upon the country, to appeal to one's constituents; to stand trial before a jury.

Country

Coun"try\, a. 1. Pertaining to the regions remote from a city; rural; rustic; as, a country life; a country town; the country party, as opposed to city.

2. Destitute of refinement; rude; unpolished; rustic; not urbane; as, country manners.

3. Pertaining, or peculiar, to one's own country.

She, bowing herself towards him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country language. --2 Macc. vii. 27.
Language Translation for : country
Spanish: país,
German: das Land,
Japanese:

country 
1234, from O.Fr. cuntree, from V.L. *(terra) contrata "(land) lying opposite," or "(land) spread before one," from L. contra "opposite." To Eng. as "district," narrowed 1526 to rural areas, as opposed to cities. Replaced O.E. land. First record of countryside is 1621. Countrified is from 1653. First record of country-and-western music style is from 1959. Country club first recorded 1894.
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