Dictionary

countrify en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈkʌn.tɹɪ.fʌɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /-tɹi-/ (General-American)
• (UK) audio
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈkən.tɹəˌfaɪ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Italic *-teros Proto-Italic *komterosder. Proto-Italic *komterād Latin contrā Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin -āta Vulgar Latin *(terra) contrāta Old French contreebor. Middle English contre English country English -fy English countrify From country + -fy.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To make rural or rustic.
   • 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. 1916, Albert Shaw, editor, The American Review of Reviews, volume 54, New York, N.Y.: Review of Reviews, →OCLC, page 69:
   • 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. 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:
   • Even whitebread folk-rockers like the Byrds were, thanks to Gram Parsons, countrifying soul hits like "You Don't Miss Your Water." 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:
2. (especially, of a cover version, transitive) To make more like country music.

Forms

Antonyms

citify

Coordinates

rockify · jazzify · jazz up

Relateds

countrylike · countryish · go country