α. 1800s– down country.
β. 1800s– downs country.
downs countryn.
/ˈdaʊnz ˌkʌntri/, U.S. /ˈdaʊnz ˌkəntri/ Gently rolling hill country, typically with few trees and used mainly for pasture; downland. Chiefly with reference to certain areas of southern England and western Queensland, Australia. Cf. down n.1 2.
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the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > [noun]
downlandeOE
downOE
highlandOE
high country1445
wold1472
high ground1489
upland1566
hill-country1582
Chiltern1627
downs country1791
altitude1853
upwold1875
top-land1877
1791 Morning Chron. 5 Jan. The Lambourne Meeting, Wiltshire, takes place the latter end of this month, where the Gentlemen of the Down Country are in hopes of repaying the defeats they met with in Norfolk at the Swaffham Meeting.
1807 R. Southey Lett. from Eng. I. 47 Here we left the down country, and once more entered upon cultivated fields.
1860 Sydney Morning Herald 29 Feb. 7/5 (advt.) The far-famed Clifton run..is in the centre of Darling Downs Proper, and the whole of it downs country.
1887 O. Crawfurd Beyond Seas ii. 17 They retreated before us towards London,..never letting their main body be seen by us till we had got off the open down country hereabouts, into the woods and waste land of Surrey.
1919 W. H. Hudson Bk. of Naturalist xxvii. 323 I found the first one spring day when cycling over the high down country near Dorchester.
1954 T. Ronan Vision Splendid 140 The big shady fig and Leichardt pine trees were like a refreshing eye-bath after years on the unshaded open downs country.
1978 Washington Post 23 Nov. e9 In the green, rolling downs country of Sussex in southern England, vintners are gathering the small clusters of tiny white grapes in this year's wine harvest.
2001 K. McGinnis Heart Country 16 Billy had been in the downs country on Dalgonally for a few months too, but had soon pulled the pin to head back north.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1791