The often large, luxurious country house of a well-to-do person, A country-seat; a rural or suburban mansion; a country residence, properly one of some size and pretension, though the name is commonly misapplied, especially in Great Britain, to a cottage, or to one of the class of cheap houses built on speculation in the suburbs of a city; in old English law, a manor, A house, often larger and more expensive than average, in the countryside or on the coast, often used as a retreat