Cowboy

Quick meaning: Cowboy is a noun meaning A man who tends free-range cattle, especially in the American West.

Meaning

A man who tends free-range cattle, especially in the American West.

More Meanings

1. A man who identifies with cowboy culture, including wearing a cowboy hat and being a fan of country and western music.
2. (informal) A person who engages in reckless behavior, especially for the purpose of showing off.
3. (British, New Zealand, informal) A dishonest or incompetent independent tradesman.
4. (card games, slang) A playing card of king rank.
5. (uncountable) Ellipsis of cowboy pool.
6. (intransitive) To work as a cowboy, herding cattle.

Example Sentences

Derwood Bailey cowboyed for 50 cents a day, a noon meal, and a gallon of oats for his horse.

Besides cowboying he worked at a small sawmill that cut logs into "four slabs and a tie" and sold ties to the railroad.

I still had never ridden or cowboyed, and I wanted to learn something about it. I'd been making the damn saddles for years but didn't know how to use them.

There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”

Word Forms

• cowboys
• cowboying
• cowboyed

Synonyms for cowboy

Depending on context, synonyms include cowpoke, puncher, cattleman, cowhand, cowpuncher, cowherd.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include cowhand, cowpuncher, cowpoke, cowherd, cowman, cattleman.

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