1. A side (e.g., east or west side) of a country, one side of a river-valley, of a hill-range, etc.; hence a district, region, or tract of country having a kind of natural unity; = COUNTRY 2. Orig. Sc. (and perh. northern Eng.); now a favorite word of descriptive writers.
[1621. Cade, Serm., 16. A terrour and a plague to the towne and side of a countrey where he dwels.]
1727. P. Walker, Remark. Pass., 173 (Jam.). Mr. Guthry continued until the 1664, and then was obliged to leave that country-side.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxii. It made nae sma’ noise in the countryside.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. ii. At the revels and pastimes of the country-side.
1882. L. Oliphant, Haifa (1887), 7. The most notorious thieves … in the whole country-side.
1886. Mrs. Flor. Caddy, Footsteps Jeanne D’Arc, 23. The country-side in these north-western Vosges teems with memories of Jeanne.
2. The inhabitants of a tract of country.
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Jackd. Rheims, 124. He long lived the pride of that country side.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 105. All the countryside is sure to be there [at the fair].
3. attrib.
1863. Mrs. Toogood, Yorks. Dial., ’Twill mak’ a bonnie country-side talk.
1887. Spectator, 1 Oct., 1303. Without reproof from the priest or rebuke from country-side opinion.
