COUNTRY (from the

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• MID

Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree;

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• LATE

Late

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• LAT

Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the

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• TRACT (from Lat. tractare, to treat of a matter, through Provencal tractat and Ital. trattato)

tract of

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• LAND

land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)  , an extent of land without definite limits, or such a region with some peculiar character, as the " black country," the " fen country " and the like . The extension from such descriptive limitation to the limitation of occupation by particular owners or races is easy; this gives the common use of the word for the land inhabited by a particular nation or race . Another meaning is that part of the land not occupied by towns, " rural " as opposed to " urban " districts; this appears too in " country-house " and " country town "; so too " countryman " is used both for a rustic and for the native of a particular land . The word appears in many phrases, in the sense of the whole population of a country, and especially of the general body of electors, as in the expression " go to the country," for the dissolution of parliament preparatory to a general election .