cowboy
/ˈkaʊˌbɔɪ/ noun, verb
Forms cowboys cowboying cowboyed
- noun A man who tends free-range cattle, especially in the American West.
- noun A man who identifies with cowboy culture, including wearing a cowboy hat and being a fan of country and western music.
- noun (obsolete) A young lad employed to tend to cattle.
- noun (informal) A person who engages in reckless behavior, especially for the purpose of showing off.
- noun (UK, New Zealand, informal) A dishonest or incompetent independent tradesman.
- noun (card games, slang) A playing card of king rank.
- verb (intransitive) To work as a cowboy, herding cattle.
Synonyms
cowpuncher puncher cowman cattleman cowpoke cowhand cowherd rodeo rider
Etymology
From cow + boy. More on Wikipedia.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A cattle herder; a drover; specifically, one of an adventurous class of herders and drovers on the plains of the Western and Southwestern United States.
- noun One of the marauders who, in the Revolutionary War infested the neutral ground between the American and British lines, and committed depredations on the Americans.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cowboy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details