A portion of Great Britain originally under the supervision of an earl; a territorial division, usually identical with a county, but sometimes limited to a smaller district; as, Wiltshire, Yorkshire, Richmondshire, Hallamshire
The Shires or the shire counties are the counties of England that have a lot of countryside and farms. Smart country people are fleeing back to the shires
British breed of large heavy draft horse a former administrative district of England; equivalent to a county