country-dance 
country-dance (kun ' tri - dans), . [< country 
+ tlaiice. Of. centre-dance.] A dance in which 
the partners are arranged opposite each other 
in lines, and dance in couples down the lines 
and back to their original places. 
A minuet I could have forgiven I should not have 
minded that I say I should not have regarded a minuet 
but country-dances ! Sheridan, The Rivals, 11. 1. 
countryman (kun'tri-man), . ; pi. countrymen 
(-men). [< ME. contraiman, cuntreman; < coun- 
try + man.] If. An inhabitant or a native of 
a particular region. 
At whose come the cunlre-men [Trojans] comford were all, 
And restoret the stithe fight stuernly agayn. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6884. 
Tra. Whs.t countryman, I pray? 
Ped Of Mantua. 
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 2. 
2. One born in the same country with another. 
In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of rob- 
bers, in perils by mine own countrymen. 2 Cor. xi. 26. 
3. One who dwells in the country, as opposed 
to the town ; hence, a rustic ; a farmer or hus- 
bandman. 
A simple countryman, that brought her figs. 
Shak., A. and C., v. 2. 
COUntry : rock (knn'tri-rok), n. In mining, the 
rock in which a mineral lode occurs ; the coun- 
try. See country, 8. 
The <reat diversity of character exhibited by different 
sets of fissure veins which cut the same country rock seems 
incompatible with any theory of lateral secretion. 
Quoted in Set. Amer. Supp., No. 446. 
country-seat (kun'tri-set), n. A dwelling in 
the country ; a country mansion. 
So Merchant has his House in Town, 
And Countru-Seat near Bansted Down. 
Prior, Alma, ii. 
COUntryshipt (kuu'tri-ship), n. [< country + 
-ship.'] Nationality. Verstegan. 
country-side (kun'tri-sid), . 1. A section of 
country ; a piece of land ; a neighborhood. 
Like some great landslip, tree by tree, 
The country-aide descended. 
Tennyson, Amphion. 
2. The inhabitants or dwellers of a district or 
section of country; a neighborhood: as, the 
whole country-side was aroused by the news. 
countrywoman (kun'tri-wum"an). n. ; pi. coun- 
trywomen (-wim"en). If. A female inhabitant 
or native of a particular country or region. 2. 
A woman born in the same country with an- 
other person. 3. A woman belonging to the 
country, as opposed to the town. 
countship (kount'ship), . [< COWI& + -ship.'] 
The rank or dignity of a count ; lordship. 
He addressed several remarks to him in a half jesting, 
half bitin" tone, saying, among other things, that his count- 
ship might have spared him the trouble of making this 
long journey in his old age. Motley, Dutch Republic, II. 113. 
COtmt-wheel (kount'hwel), . A wheel with a 
notched edge which governs the stroke of a 
clock in sounding the hours. 
county 1 (koun'ti), n. and a. [Early mod. E. 
countie, < ME. countee, counte, < OF. counte, con- 
tee, F. comte = Pr. comtat, contat = Sp. Pg. con- 
dado = It. eontado, < ML. eomitatus, the office 
or jurisdiction of a count or earl, L. an escort, 
company, train, retinue (see eomitatus), < comes 
(comit-), a companion, ML. a count : see count 2 .] 
I. n. ; pi. counties (-tiz). 1. (a) Originally, the 
domain or territory of a count or earl. (6) Now, 
a definite division of a country or state for po- 
litical or administrative purposes. In the United 
States the county is the political unit next below the 
State (except in Louisiana, which has an analogous divi- 
sion into parishes). Each county has, generally speaking, 
one or more courts, a sheriff, treasurer, clerk, and various 
officials engaged in the administration of justice, etc. The 
number of counties varies greatly in the different States. 
England has 40 counties (the greater number of which are 
also called shires), Wales 12, Scotland 33, and Ireland 32. 
An English county has a lord lieutenant, a custos rptu- 
r of r 
1308 
(see palatine); but all such powers are now vested in the 
crown. The counties palatine in England are Lancaster, 
Chester, and Durham, which were no doubt made Mparat 
regalities on account of their respective proximity to W ales 
and to that turbulent Northumbrian province which conic 
be accounted a portion neither of England nor of Scotland. 
II. a. Of or pertaining to a county: as, county 
families; county society Board of county com- 
missioners, an elective board to which, in most counties in 
the United States, the administration of many important af- 
fairs of the county is intrusted. In some States it consists i .f 
the supervisors of the townships (or towns) comprised with- 
in the county. The duties of the board vary in different lo- 
calities.-County clerk. See cto*.-County court, a 
court having jurisdiction for a county, usually over actions 
for alimited amount, and often having soniendministrativc 
powers established to facilitate minor litigation. In early 
English history the county court was a local parliament, 
containing, in its full session, the archbishops, bishops, ab- 
bots priors, earls, barons, knights, and freeholders, with 
representatives from each township and each borough. 
It sat once a month, but these monthly sessions were at- 
tended by none but those who had special business, and 
by the officers of the townships with their qualified jury- 
men. The existing county courts of England were estab- 
lished under a statute of 1846, each comprising a denned 
circuit and sitting usually once a month in each of certain 
divisions called county-court districts. They have juris- 
diction for the recovery of small debts, and also certain 
powers in equity and bankruptcy, and sometimes in admi- 
ralty. In the United States each county has a county court 
for local jurisdiction. In some of the States it is formed 
by associating all the justices of the peace of the county, 
and is charged with the administration of connty police. 
See police. County rates, in Great Britain and Ire- 
land, rates which are levied upon the county, and col- 
lected by the boards of guardians, for the purpose of de- 
fraying the expenses to which counties are liable, as re- 
pairing bridges, jails, houses of correction, etc. County 
sessions in England, the general quarter sessions of the 
peace for each county, held four times a year. County 
town, the chief town of a county ; a county-seat. 
county 2 t (koun'ti), n. [An extension of counf*.] 
A count; an earl or lord. 
The gallant, young, and noble gentleman, 
The county Paris. Shak., R. and J., ill. 5. 
county-seat (koun'ti-set), n. The seat of gov- 
ernment of a county ; the town in which the 
county and other courts are held, and where 
the county officers perform their functions 
n ngs couny as a o , - 
lorum or keeper of records, a sheriff, and other officials. 
Certain larger British cities are counties in themselves, or 
counties corporate. Abbreviated Co. or co. 
The town and the county have shaped the life of the 
States of the Union. In this respect there are three classes 
of States; those in which the town is the political unit 
the six States of New England ; the second, those in which 
the county is the unit the States of the South ; the third 
those of the " compromise system," as it has been called 
a mixed organization of county and township, prevailing 
in the Middle States and the West. 
Austin Scott, Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, III. 
2. Collectively, the inhabitants of a county. 
County corporate, in England and Ireland, a city or town 
possessing the privilege of being governed by its own sheriffs 
and other magistrates, irrespective of the county or coun- 
ties in which it is situated, as Bristol, Newcastle, Dublin, 
etc. County palatine, in England, formerly, a county 
distinguished by particular privileges : so called because 
the owner or holder had royal powers, or the same powers in 
the administration of justice as the king had in his palace 
The original "camp " in many places became a county- 
seat, though still retaining strong evidence in local cus- 
toms of its growth and previous history. 
C. H. Shinn, Mining Camps, p. 5. 
The county-seat village of Moscow. 
E. Eggleston, The Century, XXXV. 42. 
COUp 1 (koup), )'. [Also written cowp ; < ME. 
coiqien, coicpen, caupen, can-pen, strike, fight, < 
OF. couper, coper, colper, F. couper, cut, cleave, 
slit, carve, hew, etc. (orig. to strike, cut with 
a blow), = Sp. Pg. golpear = It. colpire, strike, 
smite, hit ; in Rom. from the noun, but in E. re- 
garded rather as the source of the noun: see 
coup 1 , n. This verb and its variant cope 3 seem 
to have been confused with forms of chop (D. 
koppen, etc. ) : see cope 3 , and cf . chop 1 .] I. trans. 
If. To cut; slash: in the extracts, with refer- 
ence to shoes ornamentally slashed. 
His squiers habite he had 
Withoute couped shone [shoon, shoes], 
Torrent of Portugal (ed. Halliwell), I. 1191. 
As is the kynde of a knyght that cometh to be doubed, 
To geten hus gilte spores or galoches y-couped. 
Piers Plowman (C), xxi. 12. 
2. To upset; overturn; tilt over; turn upside 
down; dump: as, to coup the cart. [Scotch.] 
Stooks are coupet wi' the blast. 
Burns, 3d Epis. to J. Lapraik. 
To coup the crans, to be overturned, subverted, over- 
thrown. To coup the creels, (a) To tumble head over 
heels, (b) To die. 
II. intrans. If. To give or exchange blows; 
fight. 
He keppit hym kenely, and [thai] coupid to-gedur, 
That bothe went bakward & on bent lay. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7231. 
2. To upset; be overturned; fall or tumble 
over. [Scotch.] 
I drew my scythe in sic a fury, 
I near-hand coupit wi' my hurry. 
Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook. 
The brig brak and the cart coupit. 
E. Bamuton. 
3f. To SWOOp. 
Thane wandyrs the worme [dragon] awaye to hys heghttez, 
Comes glydande fro the clowddez, and cmvpez fulle evene. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 799. 
coup 1 (koup). n. [In Sc. also written cowp ; < ME. 
coup, caup, < OF. coup, caup, cop, colp, F. coup = 
Pr. colp, cop = Sp. Pg. golpe = It. colpo, < ML. 
colpus, a blow, stroke, a reduced form of L. 
colaphus, a blow with the fist, buffet, cuff, < Gr. 
/<JAa0of, a blow with the fist, buffet, cuff, < xoXd- 
;rraf, peck, strike : see coup 1 , v.] If. A blow; 
a stroke. 
coupe 
2t. A trick ; a snare. 
With much pain he [David] could quit himself from the 
wretched coup that the devil had once brought him good 
luck of. SP- Hooper. 
3. The act of upsetting or overturning, or state 
of being overturned ; the act of dumping. 4. 
A tumble ; a fall. 5. A fault in a seam of coal. 
6. A cart-load. [Scotch in senses, 3, 4, 5, and 
6.] Free COUP, the liberty of dumping earth or rubbish 
in a particular place without paying for the privilege. 
coup 2 (koup), v. t. [< Icel. kaupa = Sw. Jciipa, 
buy, bargain, = E. cheap, v., = D. koopen, > E. 
cope 2 : see cheap, v. , and cope 2 .] To barter ; buy 
and sell, as horses or cattle. [Scotch.] 
coup 3 , n. An obsolete or dialectal (Scotch) form 
of cup. 
coup 4 (ko), w. [F., a stroke, blow : see coup^, 
n.] 1. A stroke or blow, especially a sudden 
stroke, implying promptness and force: a 
French word used in English in various French 
phrases, or singly, with conscious reference to 
its French use. 2. Specifically, with reference 
to the northwestern tribes of the Indians of 
North America, a stroke that captures the 
weapon or horse of an enemy ; hence, victory 
over an enemy. 
Now, when all the presents had been given to the Sun, 
each warrior m turn counted his coups that is, his suc- 
cesses in war. Forest and Stream. 
He followed closely on the trail of the savages, bided his 
time struck his coup, and recovered a pair of packhorses, 
which was all he required. Life in the Far West. 
3. A coup d'etat ; a stroke of policy. See below. 
A tyranny . . . which it required the bloodshed and 
the coup of the 9th Thermidor to overthrow. 
W. R. Greg, Misc. Essays, 2d ser., p. 105. 
Coup d'archet (k(i dar-sha'), in music, a stroke of a bow. 
Coup de fouet (ko de fo-a'), m fencing, the act of lash- 
ing the adversary's extended blade by a firm dry beat or 
jerk in order to disarm him. Rolando (ed. Forsyth). 
Coup de grace (ko de griis) (literally, a stroke of mercy), 
the finishing stroke, as in despatching a condemned man 
with a single blow, or an animal that is mortally wounded, 
to put it out of its misery ; hence, a quietus ; anything 
that thoroughly defeats or silences an opponent. Coup 
de main (ko de man) (literally, a stroke with the hand), 
in war a sudden attack by main force ; hence, any sudden, 
energetic action intended to effect a purpose by surprise. 
Coup de soleil (ko de so-lay'), a sunstroke. Coup 
d'etat (ko da-ta') (literally, a stroke of state), a sudden 
decisive measure in politics; a stroke of policy; specifi- 
cally, an important and usually unlooked-for change in 
the forms and methods of government, by the ruling 
power or by a party, effected illegally or by forced inter- 
pretation of law, or by violence or intrigue, for the benefit 
of an individual or a cabal. The principal coups d'etat in 
French history, distinctively so called, are that of Novem- 
ber Mil 1799(18th Brumaire, year VIII., in the republican 
calendar), when Napoleon Bonaparte forcibly suppressed 
the Directory, and that of December 2d, 1851, when Louis 
Napoleon as president broke up the National Assembly 
by force of arms and made himself temporarily dictator, 
preparatory to becoming emperor as Napoleon III. a year 
later. 
Polydamas the pert preset to Vlixes, 
With the caupe of a kene swerd kerue on his helme. 
Destruction of Troy (K. E. T. S.), 1. 10141. 
The news of the coup d'etat took England by surprise. 
A shock went through the whole country. Never probably 
was public opinion more unanimous, for the hour at least, 
than in condemnation of the stroke of policy ventured on 
by Louis Napoleon, and the savage manner in which it was 
carried to success. J. McCarthy, Hist. Own Times, xxii. 
Coup de theatre (ko de ta-a'tr), a theatrical hit; a bril- 
liant or exciting turn or trick in a play ; hence, any sud- 
den and showy action having the effect of exciting surprise 
or admiration by means more or less sensational. Coup 
d'ceil (kb dey). (a) A glance of the eye ; general view. 
An acacia tree or two on the eastern side, and behind it 
a wall-like line of mud-houses, finish the coup d'aiil. 
R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 241. 
Specifically (fc) Milit., that talent for rapid observation 
and generalization by which an officer is enabled by a 
glance to estimate the advantages and disadvantages of 
a field of battle for attack and defense, and thus to post 
his troops without delay so as to make the most of it. 
TO count a coup, to be credited with a victory won in 
battle : said of the northwestern tribes of North Ameri- 
can Indians. 
Singularly enough, the taking of a scalp does not count 
a coup, neither does the killing of an enemy. To count a 
coup, the person must take a bow or weapon or the horse 
of an enemy, and must have witnesses present to prove it. 
He must also bring with him the arms by which he counts 
his coups. Forest and Stream. 
COUpablet, a. A Middle English variant of cul- 
pable. Chaucer. 
coupe 1 !, v. and . An obsolete form of coup 1 . 
coupe'-'t A Middle English form of coop. 
coupe 3 (kop), n. [ME., < OF. coupe, F. coupe, 
a cup: see cup.] It. An obsolete form of cup. 
2. [F.] A shallow open cup or bowl of sil- 
ver, gold, or bronze, used as a mantel orna- 
ment. 3. A dry measure used in parts of Swit- 
zerland before the introduction of the metric 
system. In Geneva it was equal to 2J Winchester bush- 
els, and in liasL-1 to 3. There was also formerly a coupe 
in Lyons, otherwise called a quart, containing nine tenths 
of a Winchester peek. 
coupe 4 t, [ME., < OF. coupe, < L. culpa, fault : 
see culpc, culprit.] Fault; guilt. 
