shire

1. (British)Examples: "Yorkshire is the largest shire in England."; "I thanke his grace he hath appointed him, / Chiefe colonell of all thoſe companies / Muſtred in London, and the ſhires about, / To ſerue his highneſſe in thoſe warres of France: […]"; "But thus I do conjecture it to be, That at the firſt Unitining^([sic – meaning Uniting?]) of the Heptarchy of the Saxons, and the Shiring out of the Kingdom, it vvas divided into Shires, and the Shires again into Hundreds, as it fell out, in ſome more, in ſome leſs: VVhich Shires (as I have ſaid) the King gave to ſuch as he pleaſed, and to their Heirs, to hold of him by an Earls Fee."Britishhistorical

2. (British)Examples: "You, my love, are a little paragon—positively a little jewel—You have more brains than half the shire— […]"Britishbroadly

3. (British)Examples: "When are you coming back to the shire?"Britishbroadlyinformal

4. (by extension) An administrative area or district in other countries.Examples: "[T]his old Evil-queſtioning asked the Doubters if they vvere all of a Tovvn, (he knevv that they vvere all of one Kingdom)? and they anſvvered no, nor not of one Shire neither; […]"broadly

5. (by extension) An administrative area or district in other countries.Australiaattributivebroadlyoften

6. (obsolete)Examples: "A third Seignorie or Shire there is that goeth to Apamia, vvhich in old time vvas called Celænæ, and aftervvards Ciboron: […]"obsolete