countrify

English

WOTD – 20 November 2016

An abandoned house and barn in a rural area near Bastrop, Texas, USA

Etymology

From country +‎ -fy.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌn.tɹɪ.fʌɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkən.tɹəˌfaɪ/, /-tɹi-/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: coun‧tri‧fy

Verb

countrify (third-person singular simple present countrifies, present participle countrifying, simple past and past participle countrified)

1. (transitive) To make rural or rustic.
   • 1759, James Townley, High Life below Stairs. A Farce of Two Acts. As it is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, 3rd edition, London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, at the Bible and Sun in St. Paul's Church-Yard; R. Bailye, at Litchfield; J. Leake and W. Frederick, at Bath; B. Collins, at Salisbury; and S. Stabler, at York, →OCLC, page 7:

     LOVEL. When I am properly habited, you ſhall get me introduced to Philip as one of your Tenant's Sons, who wants to be made a good Servant of. / FREEMAN. They will certainly diſcover you. / LOVEL. Never fear, I'll be ſo countrify'd that you ſhall not know me.

   • 1916, Albert Shaw, editor, The American Review of Reviews, volume 54, New York, N.Y.: Review of Reviews, →OCLC, page 69:

     This tendency to move away from crowded centers of population, with their congested apartment life, to the country and small towns where the laborer and his family may have cheap breathing space—in other words, this countrifying of industries—is growing more and more evident.

   • 2004, Gene Santoro, “Buffalo Springfield”, in Highway 61 Revisited: The Tangled Roots of American Jazz, Blues, Rock, & Country Music, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 183:

     Even whitebread folk-rockers like the Byrds were, thanks to Gram Parsons, countrifying soul hits like "You Don't Miss Your Water."

Antonyms

• citify

References

• “countrify”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.