ruraladj.n.

Brit.

/ˈrʊərəl/,

/ˈrʊərl̩/, U.S.

/ˈrʊr(ə)l/

Forms: late Middle English rual (probably transmission error), late Middle English ruralle, late Middle English–1600s rurale, late Middle English–1600s rurall, late Middle English– rural, 1500s riurall, 1600s rureall, 1600s rurell; Scottish pre-1700 rurale, pre-1700 rurall, pre-1700 rurell, pre-1700 1700s– rural.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French rural; Latin rūrālis.

Etymology: < French rural, rurale of or belonging to the country as opposed to a town or city (beginning of 14th cent.), living in the country (late 14th cent.), employed in country districts (mid 15th cent.), (in depreciative use) rustic, lacking in elegance or sophistication (late 15th cent.), (as noun) person who lives in the country, peasant, rustic (2nd half of 15th cent.) and its etymon classical Latin rūrālis (of a divinity) presiding over or inhabiting the countryside (attested in an inscription), (of a place) situated in the countryside (4th cent.), concerned with land or agriculture, rustic, lacking in sophistication (from 8th cent. in British sources), (of a person) living in the country (15th cent. in British sources), (noun) peasant, rustic (from 13th cent. in British sources) < rūr- , rūs country, land in the country, country estate, qualities associated with the country, rusticity (ultimately < the same Indo-European base as room adj.) + -ālis -al suffix¹. Compare Spanish rural (late 14th cent.), Italian rurale (1598). Compare rustic adj.In early use there is little semantic distinction between rural and rustic . In modern use rural is typically used for neutral reference to location in the country, agricultural activities, or country pursuits, whereas rustic is typically used for (frequently depreciative) reference to the way or life or manners of the country as regarded as more primitive or less elegant, refined, or sophisticated than urban life. With rural dean at sense A. 4 compare classical Latin decanus ruralis (c1220, 1559 in British sources).

A. adj.

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. clxi^v 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.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 49 Ye Fawns, propitious to the Rural Swains,..Join in my Work.

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. A^v 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. G5^v 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’.

(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. 61^v 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.

†c. Of a rustic form or make; rough, plain, or simple in appearance. Obsolete.

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.

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.

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. Hh2^v 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.

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.

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.

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. cxxviii^v 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’.

†2. In plural = georgics n. 1. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

† 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.

ΚΠ

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.

ΚΠ

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.

ΚΠ

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.

† rural war n. Obsolete = Rustic war n. at rustic adj. and n. Compounds 1; also in plural in same sense.

ΚΠ

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xcviij^v 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).

单词	rural
释义	ruraladj.n. Brit. /ˈrʊərəl/, /ˈrʊərl̩/, U.S. /ˈrʊr(ə)l/ Forms: late Middle English rual (probably transmission error), late Middle English ruralle, late Middle English–1600s rurale, late Middle English–1600s rurall, late Middle English– rural, 1500s riurall, 1600s rureall, 1600s rurell; Scottish pre-1700 rurale, pre-1700 rurall, pre-1700 rurell, pre-1700 1700s– rural. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French rural; Latin rūrālis. Etymology: < French rural, rurale of or belonging to the country as opposed to a town or city (beginning of 14th cent.), living in the country (late 14th cent.), employed in country districts (mid 15th cent.), (in depreciative use) rustic, lacking in elegance or sophistication (late 15th cent.), (as noun) person who lives in the country, peasant, rustic (2nd half of 15th cent.) and its etymon classical Latin rūrālis (of a divinity) presiding over or inhabiting the countryside (attested in an inscription), (of a place) situated in the countryside (4th cent.), concerned with land or agriculture, rustic, lacking in sophistication (from 8th cent. in British sources), (of a person) living in the country (15th cent. in British sources), (noun) peasant, rustic (from 13th cent. in British sources) < rūr- , rūs country, land in the country, country estate, qualities associated with the country, rusticity (ultimately < the same Indo-European base as room adj.) + -ālis -al suffix¹. Compare Spanish rural (late 14th cent.), Italian rurale (1598). Compare rustic adj.In early use there is little semantic distinction between rural and rustic . In modern use rural is typically used for neutral reference to location in the country, agricultural activities, or country pursuits, whereas rustic is typically used for (frequently depreciative) reference to the way or life or manners of the country as regarded as more primitive or less elegant, refined, or sophisticated than urban life. With rural dean at sense A. 4 compare classical Latin decanus ruralis (c1220, 1559 in British sources). 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. clxi^v 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. A^v 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. G5^v 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. 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. 61^v 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. †c. Of a rustic form or make; rough, plain, or simple in appearance. Obsolete. 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. Hh2^v 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. 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. cxxviii^v 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’. †2. In plural = georgics n. 1. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ 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. 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 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. 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 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 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. † 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. ΚΠ 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. ΚΠ 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. ΚΠ 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. † rural war n. Obsolete = Rustic war n. at rustic adj. and n. Compounds 1; also in plural in same sense. ΚΠ 1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xcviij^v 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). < adj.n.c1425
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