Name of an English county, applied to (a) a breed of sheep, (b) a kind of ‘smoked’ bacon, (c) a kind of cheese (also Wilts).
1794. T. Davis, Agric. Wilts, 22. The Wiltshire Horned Sheep. Ibid. A flock of Wiltshire ewes. Ibid., 29. The old Wiltshire bacon.
1805. Luccock, Wool, 279. The sheep most commonly met with [in Buckinghamshire] are derived from the blood of the Dorset, the Wiltshire, and from a mongrel kind.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 17. A smoky taste … such as that we find in Wiltshire bacon.
1837. Youatt, Sheep, 245. These Wiltshires have now passed quite away.
1881. J. P. Sheldon, Dairy Farming, 246. Different-sized cheeses, from flat Wilts to ‘truckles’ and Cheddars.
1894. Oliver, Milk, Cheese, etc., 255. The small cylindrical cheeses known as ‘Wiltshire loaves.’
1912. Times, 19 Dec., 20/4. Bacon…. Canadian was steadier, with Wiltshires 1s. dearer.
