Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various chiefly domesticated mammals of the genus Bos, including cows, steers, bulls, and oxen, often raised for meat and dairy products.
- n. Humans, especially when viewed contemptuously or as a mob.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Property; goods; chattels; stock: in this sense now only in the form chattel (which see).
- Live stock; domestic quadrupeds which serve for tillage or other labor, or as food for man. The term may include horses, asses, camels, all the varieties of domesticated beasts of the bovine genus, sheep of all kinds, goats, and even swine. In this general sense it is used in the Scriptures. In common use, however, the word is restricted to domestic beasts of the cow kind. In the language of the stable it means horses.
- Human beings: in contempt or ridicule.
Wiktionary
- n. Domesticated bovine animals (cows, bulls, steers etc).
- n. Certain other livestock, such as sheep, pigs or horses.
- n. pejorative, figuratively People who resemble domesticated bovine animals in behavior or destiny.
- n. obsolete, English law, sometimes countable chattel
- n. uncountable, rare Used in restricted contexts to refer to the meat derived from cattle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Quadrupeds of the Bovine family; sometimes, also, including all domestic quadrupeds, as sheep, goats, horses, mules, asses, and swine.
WordNet 3.0
- n. domesticated bovine animals as a group regardless of sex or age
Etymologies
- From Middle English catel, from Anglo-Norman catel ("personal property"), from Old Northern French (compare French cheptel, Old French chetel, chatel, also English chattel) from Medieval Latin capitale, from Latin capitalis ("of the head"), from caput 'head' + -alis '-al'. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English catel, property, livestock, from Old North French, from Old Provençal capdal, from Medieval Latin capitāle, holdings, funds, from neuter of Latin capitālis, principal, original, from caput, head; see kaput- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“_And there was a strife between the_ HERDMEN _of Abraham's cattle and the_ HERDMEN _of Lot's cattle_".”
“LEMON: Hey, look at this, highway hazard, gives new meaning to the term cattle drive, doesn't it?”
“COLLINS: A highway hazard that gives new meaning to the term cattle drive.”
“A hazard that gives new meaning to the term cattle drive.”
“As you know, tuberculosis in cattle is one of the most damaging infectious diseases to affect agriculture.”
“It brings a whole new meaning to the term cattle class, a plane seat that is shaped like a saddle and could allow airlines to squeeze in even more passengers.”
“They shall eat thy fruit and drink thy milk; and the milk from the cattle is the fruit of the ground at second-hand.”
“The increase of our cattle is a blessing in which God is to be acknowledged.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
““Because,” replied the intrepid chief, “the cattle is my own; the Caaba belongs to the gods, and they will defend their house from injury and sacrilege.””
“Mr. Roberts, the one that adopted my father, he drove cattle from the San Josquin to the Columbia river.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cattle’.
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Cattle
cattle, cow, beef, steer, heifer, calf, bull, cattle call, Black Angus, Hereford, Holstein, Dwarf Lulu and 402 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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You animal!
Names of animals that are also used to describe kinds of people. Nouns only, preferably single word.
For a related list, see sionnach's beastly verbs.rabbit, shark, hog, pussycat, bear, bull, skunk, hawk, wildcat, buck, slug, heifer and 112 more...
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 125 more...
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Down on the Farm
All things farm and agriculture related.
barn, tractor, cow, hay, horse, pig, corn, plough, irrigation, subsidies, crops, plant and 260 more...
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tHe Best Animals Ever
giraffe, elepant, cattle, water buffalo, langur monkey, baboon, lion, antelope, cheetah, tapeworm, kangaroo, bullfrog and 102 more...
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Periodic Table of Cake
I should have known better, but once I got started on this, I realized it’s basically the same thing as Ruzuzu’s list “Let them eat cake”, with less cake.
cheese, ague, almond, alum, pan, ash, beef, tea, Baddeley, daikon, yellow, zebra and 44 more...
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Anglo-Norman
English words of Norman-French origin.
wage, wait, war, wicket, warranty, guarantee, guard, warden, guardian, glamour, grammar, catch and 30 more...
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thing
apron, lard, clove, camphor, alfalfa, amber, caraway, juniper, kohl, lute, shale, glyph and 142 more...
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strangelyrouge's Words
glockenspiel, gewgaw, jetsam, flotsam, gripe, grab, wench, whilst, betwixt, hither, thither, yonder and 1034 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Tuesday words
just the next words that come along
nasality, transignification, lapsarian, disciple, slanguage, atwitter, avast, ahoy, asleep, awake, hymnody, glissade and 573 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Bird Wirds: Adjectives
Adjectives used in actual (non-taxonomic) bird names, past and present.
roseate, glossy, whooping, neotropic, pelagic, ferruginous, crested, whiskered, marbled, tufted, horned, eared and 818 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cattle.
ruzuzu The visuals for this word are so interesting: boats, clouds, guns, Temple Grandin. Dec 17, 2011