Country

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.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2362. Oute of þi kiþ and þis cuntree.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Thopas, 7. Yborn he was in fer contree, In flaundres al biyonde the see.

c. 1425.  Thomas of Erceld., 346. Wha sall be kynge, wha sall be nane, And wha sall welde this northe countre?

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 4651. To straunge contre he wil we trus.

a. 1784.  Dick o’ the Cow, xli. (Bord. Minstr.). Thus Dickie has fell’d Johnie Armstrang The prettiest man in the south country [rhyme three].

1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., VII. i. He loves to talk with Marineres That come from a far Contree.

1816.  Byron, Siege of Cor., Intr. And some are in a far countree.]

  I.  1. A tract or expanse of land of undefined extent; a region, district.

c. 1275.  Lay., 1282. Bi Ruscicadan hii neome þe see, and bi þe contre of Assare [c. 1205 montaine of Azare].

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 1437. Þe cuntre well he knewe Er he þe dragoun souȝt And seiȝe.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 5. Al þe contrey aboute Jordan. Ibid., 9. Marie wente into monteyne contre.

c. 1450.  Merlin, ii. 32. That contre is full of grete forestis.

1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 196. Two days ago, we went across the country to visit Squire Burdock.

1872.  E. Peacock, Mabel Heron, I. vi. 88. His road lay over a flat country.

1889.  Whitaker’s Almanack, 446. A rich grazing country admirably adapted to the rearing of sheep.

  b.  without a. and pl.

1881.  J. 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.

1822.  W. Cobbett, 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 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.

  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.

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 368. Vewe contreyes beþ in Engelond, þat monekes nabbeþ of Normandye somþyng in her honde.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 39. Þe cuntre of Dorseth, lond & tenement, Alle had þei wasted, fro Seuerne vnto Kent.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 422. Þey wolen infecte cuntreys and cuntreys wolen infecte reumes.

c. 1434.  Paston 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.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 2. In Leycestershyre, Lankesshyre, Yorkeshyre … and manye other countreyes, the plowes be of dyuers makinges.

1587.  Golding, 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.

1665.  Sir C. Lyttelton, in Hatton Corr. (1878), 47. Welcomed by … the nobility and gentlemen of the contrys with the volunteer troopes as wee passed.

1706–43.  Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., 291. Shire of Aberdeen … contains the Countries of Marre, Fourmanteen, Garioch, Strathbogie, and … Part of Buchan.

1798.  Prince 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.

1818.  Scott, Rob Roy, Introd. The fort at Inversnaid, constructed for the express purpose of bridling the country of the MacGregors.

1868.  Rogers, 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.

1887.  Cheshire Gloss., Country, a countryside, district. Two adjoining parishes might be spoken of as different countries.

  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.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 162. Of Jerusalem cuntre þe gode kyng Guyoun.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 11. Þe contree clepid Bythynye.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XIII. 5426. What kynges þere come of countres aboute.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 173. If a leche be in straunge cuntre he ne schal bi no maner wei take sich a cure.

1553.  Grimalde, Cicero’s Offices (1556), 22. To bee of one countrie, of one nation, of one language.

1611.  Bible, Transl. Pref. In those times very many Countreys of the West … spake or vnderstood Latine.

1673.  Ray, Journ. Low C., Pref. Spain … being a Countrey out of the ordinary road of Travellers.

1718.  Freethinker, No. 56. 8. A Countrey, where every thing is in the Disposal of the Crown.

1875.  Jevons, Money (1878), 6. The most advanced commercial countries.

1885.  Whitaker’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 possess. pron.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 18163 (Cott.). Þai war for-wondred o þat light, In þair contre þai sagh sa bright.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 722. Mi-self knowe ich nouȝt mi ken ne mi kontre noiþer.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 5662. In erthe is not oure countre.

1548.  Hall, 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.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. iii. 82. To weepe Ouer his Countries Wrongs.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 811. Mighty Cæsar … asserts his Country’s Cause.

1705.  Addison, Italy, 13. Here is no House in Europe that can show a longer Line of Heroes, that have still acted for the Good of their Country.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 304. The people had no love for their country or for their king.

  b.  absolutely. Native land, fatherland.

1566.  Painter, Pal. Pleas., I. 2. Which speake of … inuincible mindes, of bold aduenturers for Countries saufetie.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. iii. 81. Forgiue me Countrey, and sweet Countreymen.

1738.  Pope, Epil. Sat., I. 158. See thronging Millions to the Pagod run, And offer Country, Parent, Wife, or Son!

1852.  Tennyson, Ode Death Wellington, vi. 61. If love of country move thee there at all.

1889.  Sat. Rev., 16 March, 321/2. The old-fashioned love of country which never swells into bombast or sinks into chauvinism.

  5.  ‘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.’

1526–34.  Tindale, Mark v. 14. And … the swyne heerdes fleed, and tolde it in the cyte, and in the countre.

1530.  Palsgr., 587/2. I lyke nat his daunsing, he hoppeth and tryppeth lyke one of the countraye … comme vng paysant.

1598.  Nashe, Christ’s T., 49 b. In the Country, the Gentleman … vndoeth the Farmer. In London, the Vsurer snatcheth vp the Gentleman.

1697.  T. Smith, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 241. Hee … is gone into the Country, but not farr from London.

1727.  Swift, Gulliver, III. iv. 201. Passed through one of the town-gates, and went about three miles into the country.

1784.  Cowper, Task, I. 749. God made the country, and man made the town.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 319. The refinements of the capital follow him into the country.

1891.  Law Times, XCII. 107/2. [He] has so far recovered as to be able to leave town for the country.

  6.  The people of a district or state; the nation.

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 1407. Þe cuntre alle bidene þai seiȝe fle ful riȝt.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 13262 (Fairf.). Þe cuntray hally til him soȝt.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 24 b. By the puissaunce of the townsmen and aide of the countrey, they were repulsed.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. i. 136. All the Countrey, in a generall voyce, Cry’d hate vpon him.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xli. 57. And all countreys came into Egypt to Ioseph, for to buy corne, because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

1732.  Pope, Ep. Bathurst, 190. No noon-tide bell invites the country round.

1784.  Cowper, Task, II. 814. The country mourns.

1825.  Ld. 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.

1845.  Disraeli, 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.

1865.  H. 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.

1890.  Illustr. Lond. News, 12 April, 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 neighborhood (hundred) in which the controverted facts were supposed to have taken place, the question was said to be tried by the neighborhood (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.)

[1234.  Bracton’s Note-bk., I. 649. Inde ponit se super patriam.

c. 1250.  Bracton, lf. 142 b. Item defendit se … de necessitate per patriam.

1293.  Year Bk. 21–2 Edw. I., 393. ‘Coment volet averer?’ ‘Par pays.’]

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 2948. Als a man has drede bodily, When he es acouped of felony Byfor kynges iustice, and þe cuntre.

a. 1577.  Sir 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.

1660.  Trial Regic. (1679), 110. And for his Tryal hath put himself upon God and the Countrey, which Countrey you are.

1752.  J. 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).

1880.  Daily Tel., 4 Nov., 5/1. 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).

1748.  Anson’s Voy., I. iii. 22. The Spanish sailors, being for the most part accustomed to a fair weather country.

1820.  Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 337. 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.

1821.  A. 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.

1867.  Smyth, 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.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., iii. (1856), 25. The area … which is known to naval men as ‘the country,’ seemed completely filled up with the hinged table, [etc.].

  11.  Mining (Cornwall). The rock in which a lode of ore occurs; called also country-rock; see also quots.

1674.  Ray, 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.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Suppl., Countries, among the miners, a term or appellation they give to their works under ground. Phil. Trans., No. 198.

1857.  J. Scoffern, Useful Metals, 81. The rock in which the lode occurs is called the country.

  12.  Cricket slang. Applied to parts of the field a long way from the wickets.

1884.  Lillywhite’s Crick. Comp., 206. Splendid field, being especially good in the country.

  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. 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.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls Ser.), VI. 143. To make songes and ditee in þe contre longage [in lingua patria].

1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, 30. He chaunced to fynde certayne of his countreye shippes.

1570–6.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 97. The pens of our owne countrie writers.

1598.  Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., I. xiii. (1622), 24. Offered vp in honour of their countrey gods.

1621.  Fletcher, Pilgr., I. ii. 49. What country-craver are you?

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., I. 42. In Padua I … found there a Countrey Gentleman of mine.

1668.  Dryden, Even. Love, III. ii. Talk not of our country ladies: I declare myself for the Spanish beauties.

1675.  Burthogge, Causa Dei, 201. Among all the Countrey Rites [patriis ritibus] of Religion.

1703.  Moxon, 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.

1582.  N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., 36 a. The Nayres maye not take anye Countrie women, and they also doe not marrie.

1619.  Pring, in Purchas, Pilgrims, I. 638 (Y.). Master Methwold came from Messalipatam in one of the Countrey Boats.

1727.  A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., II. lii. 253. When we arrived there, we found three European Ships, and a Country Ship from Surat.

1752.  in Orme, Hist. Mil. Trans. (1805), I. 211 (Y.). A serjeant who spoke the country languages.

1817.  Raffles, Hist. Java, I. 210 (Y.). Since the conquest … a very extensive trade has been carried on by the English in country ships.

1848.  Arnould, 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, boy, breeding, bumpkin, carpenter, carrier, church, clergyman, fellow, gentry, girl, labo(u)rer, manners, parish, pleasures, reader, school, sport, squire, tailor, trader, village, wake, wench, work, etc. (In some of these the hyphen is often used, esp. by earlier writers; but it is unnecessary.)

c. 1525.  Vox Populi, 374, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 281. I knowe not whates a clocke, But by the countre cocke.

1576.  Gascoigne, Steele Gl. (Arb.), 61. The country Squire, doth couet to be Knight.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., A j b. The commendations of countrie pleasures.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 109. Of great use among countrie people.

c. 1588.  Greene, Fr. Bacon, i. 40. How lovely in her country-weeds she look’d.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., I. ii. 122. I doe loue that Countrey girle.

1600.  C. Percy, in Shaks. Cent. Praise, 38. I am heere so pestred with contrie businesse.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 138. These fresh Nimphes encounter euery one in Country footing.

a. 1617.  Hieron, Wks., II. 49. In our countrey-worke of threshing.

1622.  T. Scott, Belg. Pismire, 7. Salomon heere applyes his wisedome to countrie capacities.

1657.  Trapp, Comm. Ps. vii. 1. A plain Country-fellow.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 301. To discover to our Country-Reader these mysterious Intricacies of Nature.

1670.  Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 20–1. To preach to ordinary People, and govern a Country-Parish.

1682.  H. More, Annot. Glanvill’s Lux O., 245. Applause from the Country-Fry.

1680.  Dryden, Prol. Univ. Oxf., 2. Thespis, the first professor of our art, At country wakes sung ballads from a cart.

1711.  Budgell, Spect., No. 161, ¶ 2. A Country Wake.

1713.  Derham, Phys.-Theol., Ded. In my Country-Privacy.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 480, ¶ 7. I was bred at a country-school.

1774.  Chesterf., Lett., I. xvii. 62. Enjoying the sweets of repose, in a country solitude.

1782.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Ode to R. A.’s, vii. Wks. 1812, I. 28. A poor country-bumkin of a Stag.

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 40. That unpopular class of beings, country-boys.

1833.  Tennyson, Lady Clara V. de V. You thought to break a country heart For pastime, ere you went to town.

1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., viii. Conscious of my country-brogue.

1872.  E. Peacock, Mabel Heron, I. iv. 56. Ranked with the country gentry.

1885.  Whitaker’s Almanack, 229. Bank of England … Country Branches. Ibid., 234. Country Banks in England and Wales, with their London agents.

  15.  General combinations: locative, as country-dweller, -liver sbs.; country-born, -bred, -made, -trained adjs.; objective, as country-loving, -selling; adverbial and parasynthetic, as country-plain, -flavo(u)red, etc.

1670.  Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 52. A Town-bred, or *Country-bred Similitude.

1834.  C. Brontë, Lett., in Mrs. Gaskell, Life, 93. Too much afraid of appearing country-bred.

1576.  Newton, trans. Lemnie’s Complex. (1633), 63. Rather like Forrainers and strangers, then *Country-borne people.

1600.  Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, in Hazl., Dodsley, VIII. 53. Such *country-button’d caps as you.

1886.  M. G. Watkins, in Longm. Mag., VII. 438. Blessings which *country-dwellers thankfully acknowledge.

1892.  Tablet, 2 Jan., 35. No country-dweller could be ignorant of the limits of the manor in which he dwelt.

1875.  Browning, Aristoph. Apol., 117. That black-eyed, brown-skinned, *country-flavoured wench.

1883.  G. Hamilton, in Ellen H. Rollins (‘E. H. Arr’), New Eng. Bygones, Pref. 6. Some old time *country livers… may run over its pages.

1881.  Miss Braddon, Asphodel, I. 289. A pair of strong *country-made gray horses.

1642.  R. Carpenter, Experience, V. vii. 245. I am *Countrey-plaine, and still short.

1695.  Locke, in Fox Bourne, Life, II. xiii. 322. *Country-selling knavery.

1888.  P. Lindley, in Times, 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 base = BASE sb.²; † country-bishop, a rendering of Gr. χωρεπίσκοπος, CHOREPISCOPE; country-box, a small country-house (see BOX sb.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 disease, home sickness; † country dog, a dog bred for use in the country; country gentleman, a gentleman having landed property in the country and residing there; hence country-gentlemanlike; † country husband, a rural husbandman; † 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 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-talk, the talk of a district or country-side; † country Tom, ? a bedlam-beggar; country town, a small town that forms the center of a rural district, and has only the industries connected with rural and local requirements, as distinguished from a seaport, manufacturing town, etc.

1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Gratefulnesse, vi. These *countrey-aires thy love Did take.

1715.  Pope, 2nd Ep. Miss Blount, 2. Some fond Virgin, whom her mother’s care Drags from the Town to wholesome Country air.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., V. iii. 20. Lads more like to run The *Country base, then to commit such slaughter.

1561.  T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. 21. Them they called *contrey-byshops, because in the contrey they represented the Bishop.

1757.  Lloyd (title), Cits *Country Box.

1876.  Browning, Pacchiar., 67. Nor country box was soul’s domain.

1649.  W. Cavendish (title), The *Country Captain.

1769.  Ld. Teignmouth, in Life (1843), I. 19 (Y.). I supped last night at a Country-captain’s; where I saw, for the first time, a specimen of the Indian taste.

1726.  Cavallier, Mem., I. 29. I was two Months in Geneva, where I began to be weary, I got the *Country Disease, and began to grieve after my Father and Mother, whom I loved tenderly.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 35. Their quantity is not much bigger then a *Countrey Dog.

1632.  Brome, Court Begger, Dram. Personae, Mr. Swaynwit, a blunt *Countrey Gentleman.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., ii. § 11. Among country gentlemen and farmers.

1889.  Lowell, Latest Lit. Ess. (1891), 78. He [Charles Cotton] was an excellent poet and a thorough master of succulently idiomatic English, which he treated with a country-gentlemanlike familiarity.

1669.  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.

1802.  Mrs. Sherwood, Susan Gray, 48. You are such a dowdy, such a *country Joan, no one will look upon you.

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), A ij b. Every one knows that a *Country-life was the most Ancient.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 414, ¶ 1. We always find the Poet in Love with the Country-Life.

1580.  Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Rural, rude, *countrey like.

1699.  Bentley, Phal., 209. Anciently … the Feast of Bacchus was transacted Country-like and merrily.

1775.  Sheridan, St. Patr. Day, I. ii. A *country-looking fellow, your worship.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., xxii. A tall, stout, country-looking man.

1866.  Crump, Banking, ix. 203. The extinction of the *country note issue.

1597.  Gerarde, Herball, cxxxvii. § 5. 415. Stonecrop … [called] of some … wall Pepper, *countrey Pepper.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 293/2. The Goblet, or *Country Pye, is made of large pieces of Flesh.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Country-put, a silly Country-Fellow.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Ess., 190. An old maid, a country-put, or a college-pedant.

1759.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. x. The parson … had made himself a *country-talk by a breach of all decorum.

1660.  Midsummer Moon (Halliw.). [He] has one property of a scholar, poverty: you would take him for *Country Tom broke loose from the gallows.

1625.  Burges, Personal Tithes, 10. If he liue in a *Country Towne.

1689.  S. Johnson, Rem. Sherlock’s Bk., 37. To search in Villages or Country-Towns.