COWBOY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cowboy mean? 

• COWBOY (noun)
  The noun COWBOY has 3 senses:

1. a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback

2. a performer who gives exhibitions of riding and roping and bulldogging

3. someone who is reckless or irresponsible (especially in driving vehicles)

  Familiarity information: COWBOY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COWBOY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

cattleman; cowboy; cowhand; cowherd; cowman; cowpoke; cowpuncher; puncher

Hypernyms ("cowboy" is a kind of...):

ranch hand (a hired hand on a ranch)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cowboy"):

buckaroo; buckeroo; vaquero (local names for a cowboy ('vaquero' is used especially in southwestern and central Texas and 'buckaroo' is used especially in California))

cowgirl (a woman cowboy)

gaucho (a cowboy of the South American pampas)

horse wrangler; wrangler (a cowboy who takes care of the saddle horses)

roper (a cowboy who uses a lasso to rope cattle or horses)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A performer who gives exhibitions of riding and roping and bulldogging

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

cowboy; rodeo rider

Hypernyms ("cowboy" is a kind of...):

performer; performing artist (an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Someone who is reckless or irresponsible (especially in driving vehicles)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("cowboy" is a kind of...):

adventurer; venturer (a person who enjoys taking risks)

 Context examples 

We have no foolish ideas about wealth, but comfort is another matter, and our daughter should at least marry a man who can give her that—and not a penniless adventurer, a sailor, a cowboy, a smuggler, and Heaven knows what else, who, in addition to everything, is hare-brained and irresponsible.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He saw cowboys at the bar, drinking fierce whiskey, the air filled with obscenity and ribald language, and he saw himself with them drinking and cursing with the wildest, or sitting at table with them, under smoking kerosene lamps, while the chips clicked and clattered and the cards were dealt around.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)