ruraladj.n.
/ˈrʊərəl/, /ˈrʊərl̩/, U.S. /ˈrʊr(ə)l/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of a person: living in the country as opposed to a town or city; engaged in country occupations; having the appearance or manners of a country person; (in early use also depreciative) lacking in elegance, refinement, or education; boorish. Cf. rustic adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting a type of place > [adjective] > inhabiting the country
upland14..
ruralc1425
rustical?a1475
ruric1488
upalands1535
uplands1570
rustic1582
rusticated1757
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. 1850 (MED) Ful likly is þat al þe gentil blood..shal distroied be, And rual [?read rural] folke..Shal han lordshipe.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iv. 2867 (MED) Bi Fortune & fauour of the werris, This Agothodes, of berthe ful rurall, Promooted was vnto estat roiall.
a1464 J. Capgrave Chron. Eng. (Cambr.) 285 (MED) A Bryton..londed at Dortmouth..and of hem of whom he had ful gret indignacion, that is to sey, the rural puple, was he slayn.
c1508 Lyf St. Ursula (de Worde) sig. A.viii The rurall rebelles aspyed her with her spouse.
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. clxiv A rurall man rude, and of symplycite.
a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) 140 They do dyffer..as well in theyr apparel as in theyr maners, for they be rurall and rusticall.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) v. ii. 229 Heere is a rurall Fellow, That will not be deny'de your Highnesse presence. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 49 Ye Fawns, propitious to the Rural Swains,..Join in my Work. View more context for this quotation
1750 A. Hill tr. Voltaire Merope (ed. 2) iv. i. 41 No Race of Hercules need, there, alarm you. This but some rural Brave, of simple Nurture; Void of Ambition's Flame: Bold, blunt and honest.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 281 Not all its pride secures The grand retreat from injuries impress'd By rural carvers.
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott I. ii. 76 It was a system which bound together the various classes of the rural population in bonds of mutual love and confidence.
1876 M. E. Braddon Joshua Haggard's Daughter II. 16 Perhaps to keep company—odious phrase—with some rural swain.
1930 V. Sackville-West Victorians iv. 204 She must be hating..Norfolk! How intolerably rural George would become.
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Jan. 47/3 Those actors on the stage who cannot represent a member of the rural lower classes without bent knees.
2008 Caribbean Rev. Bks. Aug. 40/2 The everyday lives and experiences of rural Trinidadians from a small multi-ethnic village in north central Trinidad.
b. Of a god, divinity, or other supernatural being: presiding over or inhabiting the countryside.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting temporarily > haunting or resorting > [adjective] > the country
rural1549
1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus Praise of Folie sig. Av My friende Midas whilom herkened to the rurall god Pan, in preferryng his rusticall songe, before Apollos farre fyner Melodie.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis iii. 46 Thee sweete Nymphs rural I woorshipt [L. Nymphas venerabar agrestis].
1633 T. May Reigne Henry II iv. sig. G5v Such did old Poets strive To make those feasts, which Iove was pleas'd to give To rurall Deities.
1669 A. Cokayne Trag. Ovid ii. ii. 39 Pan' Faunus, Satyres, and the Dryades Have not afforded me so good success Wherefore alas! thus do I vainly taxe The rurall gods?
1708 Ld. Shaftesbury Let. conc. Enthusiasm 77 They were Persons said to have seen some Species of Divinity, as either some Rural Deity, or Nymph.
1788 Gentleman's Mag. Oct. 913/2 The feast of Terminus, one of the rural gods, was held on the 21st of February.
1830 Asiatic Jrnl. & Monthly Reg. 3 i. 77 We generally find these elves, sylvan or rural beings, on whose good-will the prosperity and preservation of families were supposed to depend.
1865 E. Sellon New Epicurean (1875) 91 I pulled out my own priape, which I handled till it was as big as the rural god's.
1917 W. W. Fowler Aeneas at Site of Rome 71 She must have come with him from Arcadia, the home of rural Nymphs.
1984 Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 114 280 By returning to the theme which had controlled the first section of 1.1, the presence and care of the rural divinities, Tibullus achieves..unity for his book.
2005 Hindu (Nexis) 16 Sept. The nearby Sri Pillaiyalamman Temple dedicated to rural gods and goddesses.
c. Employed or stationed in country districts.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting a type of place > [adjective] > inhabiting the country > employed or stationed in the country
rural1745
1745 D. De Coetlogon Gothic Oration 13 The Doctor straight advises him to go into the Country..advising at the same time, that the rural Doctor do correspond and write to him.
1787 Public Advertiser 26 Apr. He wished his idea had been followed in making these rural Judges hold their commissions during good behaviour.
1840 R. H. Barham Bagman's Dog in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 331 It's your Uncle, or one of the ‘Rural Policemen’.
1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh III. 142 There were no rural messengers in those days.
1909 Rep. Country Life Comm. (60th U.S. Congr. 2nd Sess. Senate Doc. No. 705) 59 The rural pastor must have special training for his work.
1952 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 18 Feb. 4/6 How rural schoolteachers keep seven or eight classes going simultaneously is..a mystery to me.
1995 J. E. Rohde & H. Viswanathan Rural Private Practitioner vi. 107 The rural doctor is not a ‘life-saver’ but rather a welcome ‘alleviator of symptoms’.
2. † c. Of a rustic form or make; rough, plain, or simple in appearance. Obsolete.
a.
(a) Of poetry, music, or some other art form: characteristic of the country or its inhabitants; having a rustic theme; pastoral, bucolic. Also: simple, unpolished.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > [adjective]
musica1382
musical1447
rural1488
harmonic1570
harmonical1603
pure1605
tuneful1697
melophonic1843
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > plainness > [adjective]
nakedOE
simplea1382
meanc1450
rural1488
misorned1512
inornate?1518
barec1540
broad1588
bald1589
kersey1598
russet1598
unvarnisheda1616
unembellished1630
illaborate1631
severe1665
renable1674
small1678
unadorned1692
inelaborate1747
unlarded1748
chaste1753
uncoloured1845
minimalist1929
spare1965
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) xii. l. 1429 All worthi men at redys this rurall dyt, Blaym nocht the buk.
c1500 (a1449) J. Lydgate Isopes Fabules (Trin. Cambr.) l. 204 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 573 (MED) Though þys fabyll be boysters & rurall, Ye may þeryn consider þyngis þre.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Jan. 64 Shee deignes not my good will, but doth reprove, And of my rurall musicke holdeth scorne.
1637 J. Milton Comus 19 I..Began..To meditate my rural minstrelsie.
1731 London Evening-Post 31 July 1/1 The King..saw his fine Collection of rural Paintings.
1738 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 152/1 The Stile [of Milton's Comus], as it is rural, is more simple and plain than that of his Paradise Lost.
1835 D. George Mod. Dunciad 106 The time has been, when many a rural lay I tried, as life pass'd airily away.
1896 W. R. Turnbull Heritage of Burns v. 374 Burns..gave a new artistic potency and beauty to the rural poetry of his country.
1921 Landscape Archit. July 210 His ideas of rural art were founded, most sensibly, in an ideal of American home and social life.
1954 S. M. Armens John Gay i. 39 All of Gay's rural poems are firmly supported by the Virgilian tradition of including themes of benevolence and humanitarianism in the georgic.
1995 This Mag. July 18/1 It's not unlike Nashville—appropriating rural music, only to peddle countryfied pop to an urban audience starved for connection.
(b) Of a musical instrument: played by country people; (in early use) esp. played by shepherds, pastoral.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > [adjective] > other attributes
rural1592
unstringed1597
unstrung1598
keyed1761
fingerable1818
keyless1830
omnitonic1861
solo1862
sewing machine1874
unplayed1875
original1899
electrified1938
melodic1938
analogue1976
acoustic1978
1592 A. Fraunce 3rd Pt. Countesse of Pembrokes Yuychurch 37 Phoebus lay in a valley, And with rurall pipe bestowd himself on a loues-lay.
1610 A. Willet Hexapla in Danielem 96 It [sc. a sackbut] was a kind of rurall harpe.
1682 M. Coppinger Poems, Songs & Love-verses 103 Fair Daphne playing on a rural Quill, Both Hills and Dales with Corydon shall fill.
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 Apr. (1965) I. 331 I have often seen them..playing on a rural Instrument perfectly answering the description of the Ancient Fistula, being compos'd of unequal reeds.
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian II. ii. 59 Shepherds..amusing themselves by playing upon these rural instruments.
1807 H. J. Pye in Times 4 June 3/2 Nor rural pipe, nor past'ral lay, In peaceful descant hail the day.
1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey (1892) 130 Some one leading flocks afield to the note of a rural horn.
1910 J. R. Hayes Brandywine Days 72 Mine ancient friend Barnabe Googe seems to sound his rural pipes among our green Brandywine meadows.
1975 C. R. Townsend in B. C. Malone & J. McCulloh Stars of Country Music 166 Bob's other musicians, who played string or rural instruments.., played them more like a jazz horn.
1998 Garland Encycl. World Music II. iii. v. 815 Rural drums called the pump (a hollow tree trunk with goatskin or sheepskin on either end) and the tum-tum.
b. gen. Of, relating to, or characteristic of peasants or country people; simple, unpolished; rustic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farmer > [adjective] > peasant or rustic
churlisha1000
upland14..
rustical?a1475
ruric1488
rusticate?a1505
rural1513
upalands1535
clownish1570
rustic1582
clownical1614
clown-likea1640
swainish1642
nut-brown1648
countrified1653
Corydonical1656
sylvatic1661
villatic1671
farmerly1689
peasant1702
soil-bound1814
farmerish1835
farmery1862
corn-pone1919
swede-bashing1936
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > peasant or rustic > [adjective]
churlisha1000
ruric1488
rural1513
rusticalc1525
peasant1550
peasantly1569
clownish1570
rustic1576
shepherdly1579
russet1598
clownical1614
clown-likea1640
nut-brown1648
countrified1653
high-shoon1654
Corydonical1656
high-shod1656
sylvatic1661
villatic1671
russet-coated1683
one-gallus1881
one-gallused1887
red-necked1896
rube1898
takhaar1899
backwoodsya1910
swede-bashing1936
backwoodish1946
1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid i. Prol. 316 And ȝit persaif I wele, be my consait, The king of poetis ganis nocht for rurale estait.
1566 W. Painter tr. O. Landi Delectable Demaundes iii. f. 61v Why did the Auncientes so much commend the rural life? Bicause it is the mystres of frugalitie, diligence and Iustice.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 100 The inhabitants [of Jutland] keeping their enemies out, long preserved a rude or rurall liberty.
1637 J. Milton Comus 33 All the Swains that there abide, With Iiggs, and rurall dance resort.
a1701 C. Sedley in Misc. Wks. (1702) 4 Bright Galatea, in whose Mateless Face Sat rural Innocence, with heavenly Grace.
1770 O. Goldsmith Deserted Village 398 I see the rural virtues leave the land.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 557 Scenes rarely grac'd with rural manners now!
1847 Fine Arts' Jrnl. 17 Apr. 384/1 A band of female singers of ‘negro melodies’..will start upon a sort of missionary tour through the provinces, with the purpose of eradicating rural prejudice.
1874 ‘G. Eliot’ College Breakfast Party in Macmillan's Mag. July 169 In a sleek and rural apathy.
1925 J. M. Williams Our Rural Heritage ii. 11 People born and reared in the rural districts migrate to the cities and take their rural attitudes with them.
1978 Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev. 58 466 A man of considerable wealth, he preferred a life of rural simplicity.
1994 T. J. J. Lears Fables of Abundance i. iii. 95 In popular fiction, peddlers continued to play the role of..provokers of rural suspicion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adjective] > unskilled in art or craft > not displaying technical skill > not elaborately made
rustic1600
uncurious1605
incurious1615
rural1624
inelaborate1650
bush1851
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. 33 The Tuscan is a plain, massie, rurall Pillar, resembling some sturdy well-limmed Labourer, homely clad.
1786 Post-chaise Compan. 98 The well is sheltered in a deep niche, neatly executed in hewn stone. There is a rural thatched seat for the water-drinkers.
1836 T. Roscoe Wanderings & Excursions N. Wales viii. 112 I beheld the singularly picturesque and rural bridge over the Llugwy.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2004/2 Rural Lock, a cheap kind of lock with a wooden case.
1885 R. Buchanan Annan Water xi She came to the rural bridge above Annan Water.
3.
a. Of an occupation, employment, or work: carried out in or involving the country as opposed to a town or city; pastoral, agricultural.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > work > [adjective] > other types of work
gentlea1425
rurala1500
jobbing1705
universal1706
non-paying1843
sweated1883
unfair1886
direct1922
entry-level1949
sidebar1952
front end1976
intrapreneurial1978
a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 128 (MED) In the iiiithe daye it is lawefull to men for to tilye and vse werkys of the erþe..Rurale werkis ben more nedefull þen other.
a1538 A. Abell Roit or Quheill of Tyme f. 9, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Rural(l Ȝong men wes..haldin in plewch and harro and rurall laubour.
1608 A. Willet Hexapla in Exodum 11 They wrought..in all manner of rurall workes.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 211 On to thir mornings rural work they haste Among sweet dewes and flours. View more context for this quotation
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. xiv. 28 Of four assistants who his labours share, Three now were absent on the rural care.
1768 J. Cranwell tr. M. Vida Christiad ii. 105 In rural tasks he pass'd his days alone.
1835 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece I. 405 To force a part of the population to quit the capital, and seek subsistence in rural occupations.
1875 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera V. lviii They can work..better than their labourers at all rural labour.
1929 Geogr. Jrnl. 74 301 The power thus provided, besides assisting agriculture and rural occupations, will remove the handicap to industrial development due to the absence of coal supply.
1971 V. Bonham-Carter Land & Environment (1973) 14 In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries industry divorced farming (and other rural employments) from the national economy.
2000 National Trust Mag. Spring 59/1 This piece of Eurocracy ties up nature conservation and rural livelihoods in one financial deal.
b. gen. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the country as opposed to a town or city; situated or occurring in the country. Opposed to urban.In this neutral sense now more common than rustic; see rustic adj. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > country as opposed to town > [adjective]
fieldena1425
rustic?1440
citylessc1450
champestrea1492
rural?a1500
rustical1542
agrestc1550
predial1592
champestrial1612
agrestic1617
agrestical1623
agrested1650
upland1654
countrified1756
agrestian1812
country1827
mofussil1828
agrestial1840
landward1844
bucolic1846
out-country1939
land-bound1972
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Two Mice l. 225 in Poems (1981) 12 ‘Weil, weil, sister,’ quod the rurall mous.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xi. xi. 77 Na rurall byggyngis nor ȝit na strang cite Wald hym ressaue.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. vi. sig. Hh2v In the countrey she abroad him sought, And in the rurall cottages inquired.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 438 If euer henceforth, thou These rurall Latches, to his entrance open. View more context for this quotation
1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 129 I see..that our rurall pleasures are not worthy so much as to amuse so great a spirit.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 451 Each rural sight, each rural sound. View more context for this quotation
1746 P. Francis tr. Horace in P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Epistles i. xvii. 12 By my advice retreat To the calm raptures of a rural seat.
1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 625 So manifold,..All healthful, are th' employs of rural life.
1810 Sporting Mag. 36 167 Innocent country amusements called Rural Sports.
1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands II. 32 Where a rural lane strikes off from the Appian Way towards the Grotto of Egeria.
1884 Standard 29 Feb. 2/4 The smaller tradesmen scattered throughout our rural towns.
1940 Social Forces 18 513 That interesting transitional stage between a rigidly controlled rural social order and a freedom-giving emancipated urban social order.
1966 T. Finn Watney Bk. Pub Games iii. 21 Bar billiards is of French origin, reaching this country some years ago, and spreading steadily from urban to rural areas.
1997 Gallop! Jan. 28/1 Recapture the days of the Raj in rural Rajasthan, riding sturdy Marwari horses.
4. Christian Church. Designating a member of the clergy exercising supervision (under the bishop or archdeacon) over a group of parochial clergy within a division of an archdeaconry. Also: designating the area for which such a person has responsibility. Chiefly in rural dean (= dean n.1 5), rural deanery. Cf. area dean n. at area n. Compounds 2.The rural dean had, in England till the Reformation, and in France till the Revolution, large powers of visitation, administration, and jurisdiction. In the Anglican Church the office and title became almost obsolete from the 16th cent., but after 1835 were revived for purposes of diocesan organization.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > rural dean > [noun]
deanc1380
pleban1481
rural dean1511
dean of Christianity1695
area dean1972
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > rural dean > [noun] > district of rural dean
deanerya1440
decanerya1552
rural deanery1642
decanate1835
1511 in C. Rogers Hist. Chapel Royal Scotl. (1882) 91 Payand procuragis and synnagis and mak the dene rurale expensys in visitacoun as efferys.
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 809 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 120 The dene Rurale ye Ravyn reprovit him yan.
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 216 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 101 The ravyne..Was dene rurale to reid.
1534 Const. Provinc. 2 3 deanes rurall.
c1628 in H. Foley Rec. Eng. Province Soc. of Jesus (1877) I. i. 137 Vicaires Generalls,..deanes, archdeacons, rurall deanes.
1642 E. Dering Coll. Speeches on Relig. 91 The rurall Deanery.
1712 H. Prideaux Direct. Church-wardens (ed. 4) 104 Bishop Lloyd went so far..as to name Rural Deans in every Deanry of the Diocese.
1763 R. Burn Eccl. Law I. 476 These rural officers in some deanries have become extinct.
1862 Caledonian Mercury 6 Dec. 3/4 I trust he will just keep his snug appointment at Henley-upon-Thames, and enjoy his rural Deanship.
1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset II. xlvii. 37 In such a preliminary inquiry any three clergymen will suffice. It need not be done by the rural dean at all.
1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset II. xlvii. 39 You will select two [clergymen] yourself out of your rural deanery.
1908 E. M. Forster Room with View xii. 199 The world of motor-cars and Rural Deans receded illimitably.
1972 Times 4 July 19/4 Under reorganization of the Hull Deanery, the Bishop of Hull..also to be Rural Dean of Hull.
1997 Oxoniensia 61 301 Master Robert of Clipston, appears to have been promoted from a rural deanery in Gloucestershire to..act as a leading papal judge delegate.
B. n.† 2. In plural = georgics n. 1. Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. A person who lives in the country; a rustic.In quot. 1611: rural people collectively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farmer > [noun] > rustic or peasant
tillman940
churla1000
ploughman1223
bondmanc1250
bondc1275
ploughswain1296
countrymanc1300
boundec1320
Hobc1325
charla1400
landmana1400
Jack (John) Upland1402
carlc1405
bowerc1430
peasanta1450
rurala1475
agrest1480
bergier1480
carlleina1500
rustical?1532
ploughboy1544
boor1548
rusticc1550
kern1556
tillsman1561
clown1563
Jocka1568
Jock upalanda1568
John Uponlanda1568
russet coat1568
rustican1570
hind?1577
swain1579
Corydon1581
mountain man1587
Phillis1589
sylvan1589
russeting1597
Joan1598
stubble boy1598
paysan1609
carlota1616
swainling1615
raiyat1625
contadino1630
under-swaina1644
high shoe1647
boorinn1649
Bonhomme1660
high-shoon-man1664
countrywoman1679
villan1685
russet gown1694
ruralist1739
paysanne1748
bauer1799
bonderman1804
bodach1830
contadina1835
agrestian1837
peasantess1841
country jake1845
rufus1846
bonder1848
hayseed1851
bucolic1862
agricole1882
country jay1888
child (son, etc.) of the soil1891
hillbilly1900
palouser1903
kisan1935
woop woop1936
swede-basher1943
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > country dweller > [noun]
countrymanc1300
landmana1400
Jack (John) Upland1402
rurala1475
rustical?1532
rusticc1550
Jock upalanda1568
John Uponlanda1568
rustican1570
countrywoman1679
country cousin1692
ruralist1739
country mouse1750
backwoodsman1774
back-countryman1796
mountaineer1837
ruralite1841
mountain man1847
smock-frock1858
way back1890
woop woop1936
swamp Yankee1941
a1475 (a1447) O. Bokenham Mappula Angliae in Englische Studien (1887) 10 8 (MED) Britayne is an Ile..Copiouse off fisches..In so moche..þat þe Rurals [a1387 Trevisa tr. Polychron. cherles; L. rustici] offtene-tyme þrowyne owt hur fysches to fedyne wt hur swyne.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. cxxviiiv Sir Thomas punysshed the sayd Uyllages and rurallis by greuous fynes.
?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. i. 4 The ruralls and common people, bie the entercourse..are made verie civill.
1602 J. Davies Mirum in Modum sig. I2 The Cittizens the outward Sences bee, The Ruralls be the Bodies rare.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xix. 713/1 Hee lulled the rurall to thinke that his like had neuer raigned in England.
1657 G. Thornley tr. Longus Daphnis & Chloe 47 Every rural began to be busie in the fields.
1779 Scots Mag. Nov. 623/1 The rurals all around Sir Galen's wond'rous praise resound.
1831 John Bull Aug. 250 This delightful place continues the resort of the élite of the town; nor are the ‘rurals’ less liberal in their patronage.
1892 Academy 31 Dec. 599/3 A good deal of truth, and no little nonsense has appeared about these Wiltshire rurals.
1918 T. Dreiser Free & Other Stories 196 The News was the great place in the sight of these rurals for such an exhibition as this.
1970 Ebony July 43/1 (caption) She thinks city Italians—unlike rurals—are relatively indifferent to color of her skin.
1997 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 2 Nov. 16/4 Parity of urbanites and rurals was to come..as farmers declined in number but grew in economic and political clout.
b. Also with capital initial. A rural police officer; spec. (a) (in Britain) a member of any of various county constabularies established by the County Police Act of 1939; (b) (in Mexico) a member of the Rurales (Rurales n.). Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > policeman > rural
garde champêtre1814
rural1840
1840 Preston Chron. & Lancs. Advertiser 18 Apr. Consolidate our police, indeed!—consolidate them with rurals!
1860 Illustr. London News 26 May 506/2 Sir Richard Mayne's picked A's, and the ever-meddling Surrey ‘rurals’.
1869 C. Camden Boys of Axleford viii. 126 A Rural came up, and collared me.
1905 Pearson's Mag. Feb. 123 Everything considered, the ‘Rurals’ are Mexico's best.
1981 R. D. Storch in M. Fitzgerald et al. Crime & Society v. 82 A detachment of Lancashire rurals..moved up to the racecourse with orders to assist the borough constables in dispersing gambling tables.
1992 P. J. Vanderwood Disorder & Progress (rev. ed.) xi. 132 A man with a ‘peaked hat’, probably a Rural, attempted to corral the animal.
2009 R. Wehunt-Black Cherryville ii. 62 While Beam was sheriff, the county commissioners created the Gaston County Rural Police, known as ‘the Rurals’.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > pastoral poem > [noun] > collectively
bucolics1531
reed1566
rurals1589
pastoral1598
1589 A. Fleming in tr. Virgil Bucolikes Main Argt. sig. A4 First beginning with his Bucoliks or Pastoralls,..then his Georgiks or ruralls went in hand, as he fell in loue with good husbandrie.
3. Scottish. Also with capital initial. = Women's Rural Institute n. at woman n. Compounds 5.
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society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > specific societies or organizations > [noun] > specific women's organizations
Ladies' Aid Society1842
mothers' meeting1865
Mothers' Union1888
Women's Institute1897
W.S.P.U.1907
Soroptimist Club1921
rural1925
Rural Institute1925
W.I.Z.O.1925
W.I.1928
W.V.S.1939
Black Sash1955
W.R.V.S.1966
1925 J. W. R. Scott Story Women's Inst. Movement xx. 234 In some places there are men who object to the women going out to the ‘Rurals’.
1932 ‘O. Douglas’ Priorsford xxvii. 242 ‘Have you heard how many teams are going in for the Festival?’.. ‘Seven. Three of them Rural Institutes.’ ‘The Rurals are very good as a rule.’
1940 ‘O. Douglas’ House that is our Own viii. 82 ‘She takes to do wi' the Nursing and the Rural.’ ‘The Rural?’ ‘Aye, ye ken, Women's Rural Institute.’
1967 I. Tain Cherrycake Death ii. 15 The Rurals were generally held to fulfil a need in the district.
1999 A. Findlay Shale Voices 187 She joined ‘the rural’—Womens Rural Institute—to play cards and beetle drives.
4. British. = rural district council n. at Compounds 2. Now rare.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > local government body > [noun] > district council
rural district council1888
urban district council1888
district council1894
RDC1904
U.D.C.1905
rural1952
urban1952
1952 M. Laski Village iv. 71 The new Housing Estate..the Walbridge Rural is going to put down at the bottom of Archery Lane.
1954 Times 19 Mar. 10/4 He was glad that the four associations had submitted their agreed proposals—the counties, urbans, rurals, and the parishes.
1974 J. Brand Local Govt. Reform in Eng. iii. 128 Perhaps it was that the AMC no longer had much energy left for a fight. Instead it combined with the urbans and rurals to press for more district powers.
Compounds
C1.
rural-born adj.
ΚΠ
1770 A. Brice Mobiad ii. 39 He wistly turns for Help imploring View, Cits rural born, made Denizens, on You!
1859 Trans. National Assoc. Promotion Social Sci. 1858 491 Those whom the rural born inhabitants had succeeded..had disappeared, not by emigration but by death.
1923 O. G. Brim Rural Educ. xiii. 289 There is no justification for dooming country children to rural-born teachers who have been limited..to no more than rural experience.
2000 Hist. Workshop Jrnl. Autumn 300/1 The importance of nostalgia among rural-born urbanites in defining the peasant as a representative of the past self.
rural-bred adj.
ΚΠ
1704 T. D'Urfey Night-adventures in Tales Tragical & Comical 181 Mine Host, home-spun, and rural bred,..Had thriving Competence attain'd.
1860 Christian Examiner Jan. 54 The intelligent rural-bred boy recognizes every bird indigenous to his precinct by the faintest note of its song.
1949 D. Ensminger & T. W. Longmore in C. C. Taylor et al. Rural Life U.S. ix. 157 Many people were profoundly shocked at the unfavorable showing made by rural-bred men in the examination of selectees for service during World War II.
2008 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 6 Dec. A whole cohort of liberal-minded, rural-bred policymakers like Mr Zhao Ziyang, then CCP general secretary, was swept aside.
rural-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1777 'Squire Randal's Excursion round London x. 96 She singled out a rural-looking lad, who might be about eighteen years of age.
1824 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 1st Ser. III. 297 Sundry rural-looking chairs.
1998 Gender & Society 12 155 She turned from a rural-looking woman into a modern one before I started taking her photos.
C2. † rural dart n. Obsolete rare a noctuid moth found in parts of Britain, perhaps a variety of the garden dart, Euxoa nigricans.The binomial cited by Rennie is a synonym of E. temera, which does not occur in Britain.† rural war n. Obsolete = Rustic war n. at rustic adj. and n. Compounds 1; also in plural in same sense.
rural carrier n. a person whose occupation or business is the conveyance of letters, parcels, etc., in rural areas; cf. carrier n.1 1a.
ΚΠ
1850 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 24 Aug. 2/2 Rural carriers, where their duties interfere with attendance on divine service, to have relief for alternate Sundays.
1915 S. Comstock Old Roads from Heart N.Y. ii. 33 The mail was delivered on this journey somewhat as the rural carriers of today deliver it.
2002 M. Eberts & M. Gisler Careers for People on Move vi. 92 As a rural carrier, you should expect to provide a wider variety of services than city carriers.
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1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 53 The Rural Dart (A[grotis] ruris, Ochsenheimer) appears in August... Rare. Huntingdonshire and Kent.
rural delivery n. the conveyance of letters, parcels, etc., in rural areas; a service providing this.
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1843 Rep. Select Comm. Postage 178 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 564) VIII. 1 The rural delivery which goes on at present, and which has always gone on,..was..confounded with the smuggling of letters.
1905 Elem. School Teacher 5 301 Life in the country in the spring and summer has..few [hardships] for grown people in these days of telephones, electric cars, and rural delivery.
1958 Canad. Jrnl. Econ. & Polit. Sci. 24 245 The Post Office..was unwilling to extend rural delivery, except in the more densely settled parts of the west where roads were good.
1987 A. Theroux Adultery i. xii. 77 There is no bottle bill for recycling in New Hampshire, rural-delivery mail is always late, and mammoth..trucks are being driven everywhere.
2003 R. Geddes Saving Mail 140 They found that in 1989 the city delivery cost per piece was only 8 percent lower than rural delivery.
rural district n. a district comprising a rural area; spec. a subdivision of a county in a rural area of England and Wales as constituted by the Local Government Act of 1894 and abolished by the Local Government Act of 1972 (now historical); cf. urban district n. at urban adj. and n. Compounds.
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1758 J. Massie Plan Establishm. Charity-houses 61 Another Rural District hath Five Times as many Inhabitants as the Land will maintain.
1840 Times 15 Apr. 5/2 Where a borough being a county in itself, comprehended a rural district, not suited to be part of a corporate town, such borough and county were reduced to the proper bounds of an urban district.
1895 Whitaker's Almanack 667 (Parish Councils Act) The whole country will be divided into districts, some of which are..rural districts, each of which will have its own council. Rural districts in most cases comprise a large number of parishes.
1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. xvi. 188 On the O.S. 1/25,000 map, different styles of lettering are used to denote..urban districts, rural districts, civil parishes, towns, and districts.
1994 M. Brinkley Housebuilder's Bible (ed. 5) iv. 35/1 In rural districts the land is zoned.., and if you are applying to build in a non-building zone then you've got your work cut out trying to get anywhere.
2003 Nation 1 Dec. 28/2 In a small rural district, a couple of kids having an off day can cook a school's goose.
rural district council n. (also with capital initials) now historical the local council of a rural district (rural district n.); abbreviated R.D.C.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > local government body > [noun] > district council
rural district council1888
urban district council1888
district council1894
RDC1904
U.D.C.1905
rural1952
urban1952
1888 Manch. Guardian 20 Mar. 6/2 They would also divide the rural district into wards, and fix the number of councillors for the rural district council.
1929 Times 29 Jan. 8/1 The Reigate Rural District Council are now insisting on building a street of council houses along one of the most beautiful lanes in Surrey.
2005 B. Kissane Politics Irish Civil War ix. 205 Every county council, every rural district council, and every board of guardians in Leinster, Munster and Connacht, gave allegiance to the Dail government.
rural free delivery n. now historical (in the United States) a postal service providing free deliveries to remote areas not served directly by a post office; abbreviated RFD.Recorded earliest in attributive use.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > types of service
printed paper1553
letter post1660
penny post1680
general post1687
parcel post1790
penny postage1798
twopenny post1811
twopenny1818
printed matter1836
parcel delivery1837
bangy1842
book post1848
special delivery1865
V.P.P.1888
express delivery1891
rural free delivery1891
certified mail1955
recorded delivery1960
Mailgram1969
freepost1970
1891 Logansport (Indiana) Daily Jrnl. 26 Nov. 1/5 The institute strongly favored the rural free delivery scheme of Postmaster General Wanamaker.
1893 M. H. Cushing Story of our Post Office 1006 A very important effect of the rural free delivery has been to increase the pay of postmasters where it has been tried.
1900 Congress. Rec. 16 Jan. 873/1 The rural free delivery service has come to stay.
2003 P. A. Reebel U.S. Post Office iv. 19 A byproduct of rural free delivery was the stimulation it provided to the development of the great American system of roads and highways.
rural guard n. (esp. in certain countries of Latin America) a rural police force; (as a count noun) a member of such a force; cf. Rurales n.
ΚΠ
1802 Ann. Agric. 38 521 The insufficiency of the centimes (duties raised for municipal purposes), has not permitted the establishment every where of rural guards (gardes champêtres).
1870 A. S. Evans Our Sister Republic xix. 449 The splendidly uniformed commander of the Rural Guard of Puebla, mounted on a fleet little bay horse,..accompanied us from Puebla to Orizaba.
1930 H. S. Duffy William Howard Taft xix. 185 In a series of engagements between the rural guards and the insurrectionists, the rural guards were defeated time after time.
1999 V. C. Peloso Peasants on Plantations i. 26 Chilean occupation officials finally admitted the need for a rural guard, but they refused to allow soldiers to act as police.
rural industry n. (as a mass noun) labour or manufacture based in or involving the country, esp. agriculture; (as a count noun) an industry or business based in or involving the country.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > [noun] > types of industry generally
rural industry1735
heavies1900
sunset1906
cottage industry1911
light industry1916
heavy industry1932
resource industry1938
nuclear industry1954
growth industry1957
space industry1957
knowledge industry1959
sex industry1965
sunrise1972
smokestack industry1979
Tayacian1979
sausage fest1995
1735 Gen. Evening Post 30 Oct. Fruitless, in milder Climes, the genial Sun, On ravag'd, rural Industry, has shone.
1791 Whitehall Evening Post 10–12 Feb. The continued rains seem to have laid an embargo..on rural industry through all its departments.
1856 G. A. Matile tr. F. List National Syst. Polit. Econ. 74 The principle of the division of labour..applies not only to a manufacture or to a rural industry [Ger. Landwirthschaft]; it extends also to every kind of national industry, agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial.
1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 23 June 2/1 There is little hope of the general establishment of rural industries as long as the Post Office treats country districts with such scant consideration.
1909 Gleanings Bee Culture 1 May 268/2 I know of no branch of rural industry that is so well suited to this purpose as poultry-keeping.
2004 J. Stobart First Industr. Region ii. 9 Rural industries arose from regional agricultural surpluses.
Rural Institute n. (also with lower-case initials) Scottish = Women's Rural Institute n. at woman n. Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > specific societies or organizations > [noun] > specific women's organizations
Ladies' Aid Society1842
mothers' meeting1865
Mothers' Union1888
Women's Institute1897
W.S.P.U.1907
Soroptimist Club1921
rural1925
Rural Institute1925
W.I.Z.O.1925
W.I.1928
W.V.S.1939
Black Sash1955
W.R.V.S.1966
1925 Manch. Guardian 6 July 12/5 Dame Louisa takes great pleasure in lecturing at the rural institutes, which in Scotland correspond to the women's institutes of England and Wales.
1932 ‘O. Douglas’ Priorsford xxvii. 242 ‘Have you heard how many teams are going in for the Festival?’.. ‘Seven. Three of them Rural Institutes.’
2009 Scotsman (Nexis) 3 June 3 The bans sparked an immediate storm of protest, incurring the wrath of parents, politicians, celebrity chefs and the ladies of Britain's townswomen's guilds and rural institutes.
rural municipality n. (also with capital initials) Canadian (a) (in the prairies and Quebec) a usually sparsely populated municipality administered by an elected council or the provincial government; cf. urban municipality n. at urban adj. and n. Compounds; (b) (in Nova Scotia) any of 24 districts that contain incorporated cities and towns.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > an administrative division of territory > [noun] > in Canada
riding1792
rural municipality1861
1861 Nor' Wester (Red River Settlement, Canada) 15 Aug. 1/4 Such was the state of things in Canada until 1847, when the Canadian Legislature passed an act (4 & 3 Vic. cap 10) to extend the municipal system to districts (now counties) and other rural municipalities.
1870 Statutes Province of Quebec 359 The by-laws made by the council of a rural municipality..are not subject to appeal to the county council.
1907 Univ. Toronto Stud. Hist. & Econ. 2 223 Nova Scotia has two cities, thirty-two incorporated towns and twenty rural municipalities.
1995 Canad. Geographic Mar. 38/2 St. Laurent is a rural municipality encompassing roughly 775 square kilometres of scrubby woodland, marshes and pastures.
2000 L. A. Sandberg & P. Clancy Against Grain i. 33 In Nova Scotia, the forest ranger system began in 1904, with the appointment of a Chief Ranger in each rural municipality.
rural route n. North American a postal route in a rural area.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > postal routes
post line1791
route1792
mail road1818
rural route1852
1852 Frederick Douglass' Paper (Rochester, N.Y.) 24 June The rural routes are let out under the direction of the Inspector of Posts, for the district through which they pass.
1898 Ann. Rep. (U.S. Post Office Dept.) 163 Nine rural routes were carefully laid out by special agents of the free delivery service.
1956 Chatham (Ont.) Daily News 14 June 2/6 Entrants will be accepted from Thamesville and surrounding rural routes.
1997 B. Morrow Giovanni's Gift i. 76 Down to the end of the creek road, where the rural route mailboxes stood.
rural school n. a school in a rural area, frequently one including agriculture and other vocational subjects in the curriculum; (in the United States) a local elementary school in a rural area.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > other types of school
writing schoola1475
rectory1536
spelling school1704
greycoat1706
rural school1734
Charter School1763
home school1770
Philanthropine1797
British school1819
side school1826
prep school1829
trade school1829
Progymnasium1833
finishing-school1836
field schoola1840
field school1846
prairie school1851
graded school1852
model school1854
Philanthropinum1856
stagiary school1861
grade school1869
middle school1870
language school1878
correspondence school1889
day continuation school1889
prep1891
Sunday school1901
farm school1903
weekend school1907
Charter School1912
folk high school1914
pre-kindergarten1922
Rabfak1924
cram-shop1926
free school1926
crammer1931
composite school1943
outward-bound1943
blackboard jungle1954
pathshala1956
Vo-Tech1956
St. Trinian's1958
juku1962
cadre school1966
telecentre1967
academy2000
academy school2000
1734 tr. J. de la Fontaine Fables & Tales 273 To this rural School, his Father had brought him, in his Infancy.
1775 J. Hanway Defects of Police xx. 203 The seeming severity in exacting such conditions, would unavoidably operate in the establishment of the rural schools.
1838 Amer. Ann. Educ. 8 242 One portion of instruction..particularly desirable in rural schools; that is, agricultural instruction.
1894 Whitaker's Almanack 607/1 Instruction in the theory of agriculture is compulsory in all rural schools for boys in the fourth, fifth, and sixth classes, and is optional in the case of girls.
1918 Bull. Alabama Dept. Educ. No. 56. 49 The teachers of rural schools..drift from place to place more than do the members of any other profession.
1971 F. P. Grove Tales from Margin 124 I applied for every school that advertised a vacancy, rural school, town school, public school, high school.
1999 C. Musengezi Crocodile Tails in Y. Vera Opening Spaces 130 She had expected to be posted to a rural school where she would have had to carry a bucket of water from a borehole.
rural science n. the study of rural concerns, esp. agriculture.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > [noun] > farming sciences
agriculture1565
georgics1594
geoponics1608
rural science?1750
agricultural science1775
agronomy1796
agronomics1825
agrometeorology1925
agrobiology1930
agroecology1930
agrotechnology1932
agrology1946
agro-ecosystem1949
agriscience1958
green revolution1968
cereology1990
agromechanization2006
?1750 J. Campbell Polite Corr. iii. xv. 231 It is a little Treatise of his own, written on the Plan of Xenophon's Œconimicks. He calls it a System of Rural Science.
1801 Ann. Agric. 37 49 When I reflect on the advanced state of natural and rural science,..I cannot avoid considering the deplorably-low ebb at which veterinary practice is suffered to remain.
1939 Nature 18 Feb. 305 (heading) Training teachers of rural science.
2009 Australian (Nexis) 4 Nov. 29 UNE is about to offer its first two courses—a graduate diploma in rural science and a master of education in e-learning.
rural slum n. a country dwelling or region characterized by poverty and disrepair.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > other types of dwelling > [noun] > vile or miserable
hell-holec1400
dogholec1450
cabin1594
sty1605
hole1616
hogsty1688
gourbi1738
rathole1770
pigsty1798
hell's kitchen1827
den1836
kennel1837
pigpen1872
rural slum1886
1886 Vermont Watchman 29 Dec. 2/1 While there are rural ‘slums’ to be found in some localities, the average New England farmer is an honest, thoughtful, patriotic and generally religious man.
1958 P. Pollack Pict. Hist. Photogr. iii. 350/2 The somber, seamy existence endured by Americans living in rural slums.
2002 E. Richards Highland Clearances xviii. 302 The old subsistence economy continued to decay and the region remained a rural slum far into the twentieth century.
rural tribe n. Roman History a political division of ancient Roman citizens regarded as being of rural, rather than urban, origin; a tribe (tribe n. 2a) from outside the city of Rome; cf. urban tribe n. at urban adj. and n. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World ii. xvi. 119/2 All the Rural Tribes judging they were upbraided with poverty by him [sc. Scipio], discharged their anger upon him, in refusing to give him their Votes.
1764 tr. J. J. Rousseau Treat. Social Compact iv. iv. 199 As the great and powerful thus got themselves registered in the rural tribes; and the freedmen..only filled up those of the city; the tribes in general had no longer a local distinction.
1848 D. M. Masson Hist. Rome 120 The new censors carefully removed out of the rural tribes all the ærarians, freedmen, and miscellaneous individuals of the town population..and enrolled them in the four town tribes.
1999 A. Lintott Constit. Rom. Republic v. 51 A reform..whereby liberated slaves themselves could enrol in a rural tribe, if they had a five-year-old son or a property of 30,000 sesterces in the country.
rural–urban adj. of, relating to, or characteristic of both the country and a city or town; designating interaction or comparison between the two; cf. urban–rural adj. at urban adj. and n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town and country > [adjective]
rural–urban1852
urban–rural1893
1852 Western Hort. Rev. July 486/2 This delightful place, noted for..its admirably rural-urban residences.
1949 R. K. Merton Social Theory iv. xiv. 344 Differences in rural–urban distribution of the two religions..may be seen.
2001 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Nov. 18/1 Two factions, Khalq and Parcham, that roughly corresponded to the rural-urban divide in Afghanistan.
rural urbanization n. the process or fact of the country becoming more urban in character.
ΚΠ
1936 Geogr. Rev. 26 295 (heading) Commuting and rural urbanization.
1970 J. Cotler in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. xii. 436 As a result of the confluence of urban ruralization and of rural urbanization, there has been a change in the patterns of social stratification of Mancha India.
2005 E. J. Leppman Changing Rice Bowl iv. 75 The urban environment invades the countryside—rural urbanization—in the form of small factories.
ΚΠ
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xcviijv The state of christendom was troublesome..for the late sedition and rurall warre [L. bellum rusticanum], and for disobedience within the Empyre.
1625 P. Heylyn Μικρόκοσμος (rev. ed.) 263 The late rurall warres, raised by the Boores, and scarce yet thoroughly extinct.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.c1425