countryman
(ˈkʌntrɪmən)
1. A man of a (specified or indicated) country or district (country 2, 3); a native or inhabitant. Often in comb., as north-countryman, etc.
| c 1305 Life St. Kenelm 291 in E.E.P. (1862) 55 Þe contrai men þer biside..Ouertrowede wel whar hit lay. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 31 The contreemen coloured well ichone. c 1570 Thynne Pride & Lowl. (1841) 15 The other sayth he is this countreyman. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 210 Being borne a countryman of such a countrey. 1681 Trial S. Colledge 67 Mr. Ser. Holl. What Countreyman are you, Sir? Mr. Zeal. Somersetshire. 1708 tr. Erasm. Life Colet in Phenix II. 19 A Disease which seiz'd no Countrymen but English. 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. II. 57 When he knew what countryman I was, he made many inquiries respecting Salamanca. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits iv. Wks. (Bohn) II. 29 Other countrymen look slight and undersized beside them. |
| transf. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 396 The Bay-tree..a Countriman in euerie coast and quarter. |
2. A man of one's own country, a fellow-countryman; a compatriot; usually with
possessive.
| 1425 Paston Lett. No. 5 I. 19 A contreman of myne in the seyd court, Maister John Urry. 1548 Ld. Somerset Epist. Scots 239 Rather brothers then enemies, rather Countreymenne then Conquerours. 1570–76 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) p. x, You my countrie men the Gentlemen of this Countie. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. vii. 110, I am Welch you know, good Countriman. 1681 Evelyn Diary (1827) IV. 256 A countrie man of ours. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Cr. ii. iii. 31 The Earl of Strafford was born my near Neighbour (as well as my Country-man) in Yorkshire. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 454 Christian and countryman was all with him. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 154 Simonides is a countryman of yours. Mod. We are country-men. |
3. One who lives in the country or rural parts and follows a rural occupation; a husbandman.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 105 Concerning Wooddes what needefullest are for our Countriemen to plant. 1608 (title), The Great Frost..A familiar talk between a Countryman and a Citizen. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc ii. 25 Strangers, your fare is homely..But such it is as we poor countrymen Earn with our toil. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 616 Monmouth and his friends disguised themselves as countrymen. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. i. i. §4 The words ‘countryman, rustic, clown, paysan, villager’, still signify a rude and untaught person. |