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.
Coun"try (k?n"tr?),
n.; pl.
Countries (-tr&?;z). [F. contrée, 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.
Hear it pronounced