Definition of: country

(kun′trē) noun plural ·tries
1. A land under a particular sovereignty or government, inhabited by a certain people, or within definite geographical limits.
2. A particular nation, or the institutions peculiar to it; the land of one's nativity or allegiance.
3. A tract of land of indefinite extent; a region.
4. A rural region, or farming district, as opposed to the city: with the: a summer in the country.
5. The general public; the inhabitants of any region, collectively: with the: The whole country hated him.
6. Law A jury. Originally, a jury was summoned from the hundred in which the facts at issue were supposed to have occurred and the question was then said to be tried by the country. Litigants were said to put themselves upon the country.
7. In cricket, that part of the field which is remote from the wicket. See synonyms under LAND.
—adjective
1. Of or pertaining to, for, from, occurring in, or situated in the rural parts, as distinct from the city; rural; rustic.
2. Wanting in refinement or culture; rude; boorish; unpolished: country manners.
3. Dial. Relating to one's own country; national. [<OF contrée <LL contrata <L contra on the opposite side]