Noun

(countries)

(label) An area of land; a district, region.

* 2010 , David Vann, The Observer , 7 Mar 2010:

We walk along flat, open country , red dirt and spinifex grass, a few short trees.

A set region of land having particular human occupation or agreed limits, especially inhabited by members of the same race, language speakers etc., or associated with a given person, occupation, species etc.

* 2007 , Chris Moss, The Guardian , 17 Feb 2007:

This is condor country - the only region this far east where you can see the magnificent vulture - and a small national park straddling the passes, El Condorito, is a good stopover for walkers and birders.

The territory of a nation, especially an independent nation state or formerly independent nation; a political entity asserting ultimate authority over a geographical area.

*{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild

, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country .}}

* 1994 , (Nelson Mandela), Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 3:

It is a beautiful country of rolling hills, fertile valleys, and a thousand rivers and streams which keep the landscape green even in winter.

* 2010 , The Economist , 3 Feb 2011:

These days corporate Germany looks rather different. Volkswagen, the country ’s leading carmaker, wants to be the world’s biggest by 2018.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries' by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax ' countries , is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}

*, II.17:

*:I was borne and brought up in the Countrie , and amidst husbandry.

* 2000 , Alexander Chancellor, The Guardian , 4 Mar.:

I have always thought that one of the main reasons for the popularity of blood sports in the country is the pointlessness of going outdoors with no purpose or destination in mind.

Country music.

(label) The rock through which a vein runs.

Noun

(en noun)

(countable) The act of uniting or joining two or more things into one.

(uncountable) The state of being united or joined.

(countable) That which is united, or made one; something formed by a combination or coalition of parts or members; a confederation; a consolidated body; a league.

(countable) A trade union; a workers' union.

* , chapter=22

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.}}

(countable) A joint or other connection uniting parts of machinery, such as pipes.

(countable, set theory) The set containing all of the elements of two or more sets.

(countable) The act or state of marriage.

(uncountable, archaic, euphemistic) Sexual intercourse.

(countable, computing) A data structure that can store any of various items, but only one at a time.

A large, high-quality pearl.

*, II.3.3:

Nonius the senator hath a purple coat as stiff with jewels as his mind is full of vices; rings on his fingers worth 20,000 sesterces, andan union in his ear worth an hundred pounds' weight of gold […].