Cowboy - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: Cowboy

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

cow·boy

Audio Help [kou-boi] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a man who herds and tends cattle on a ranch, esp. in the western U.S., and who traditionally goes about most of his work on horseback.

2.	a man who exhibits the skills attributed to such cowboys, esp. in rodeos.

3.	Chiefly Northeastern U.S. a reckless or speedy automobile driver.

4.	Informal. a reckless or irresponsible person, esp. a show-off or one who undertakes a dangerous or sensitive task heedlessly: They put foreign policy in the hands of cowboys.

5.	(during the American Revolution) a member of a pro-British guerrilla band that operated between the American and British lines near New York City.

–verb (used without object)

6.	to work as a cowboy.

[Origin: 1715–25; cow¹ + boy

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Cowboy

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

cow·boy Audio Help (kou'boi') Pronunciation Key
n.

A hired man, especially in the western United States, who tends cattle and performs many of his duties on horseback. Also called cowman, cowpoke, cowpuncher; also called regionally buckaroo, vaquero, waddy². See Regional Note at vaquero.
An adventurous hero.
Slang A reckless person, such as a driver, pilot, or manager, who ignores potential risks.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

cowboy
noun
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)

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ˈcowboy noun

in the United States, a man who looks after cattle on a ranch

Arabic:	راعي بَقَـر
Chinese (Simplified):	牧童
Chinese (Traditional):	牛仔,牧童
Czech:	kovboj, honák
Danish:	cowboy
Dutch:	cowboy
Estonian:	kauboi
Finnish:	cowboy
French:	cow-boy
German:	der Cowboy
Greek:	γελαδάρης
Hungarian:	lovas marhapásztor
Icelandic:	kúreki
Indonesian:	koboi
Italian:	cowboy, mandriano

Japanese:	カウボーイ
Korean:	카우보이
Latvian:	kovbojs
Lithuanian:	kaubojus, raitas piemuo
Norwegian:	cowboy, gjetergutt
Polish:	pastuch bydła
Portuguese (Brazil):	caubói
Portuguese (Portugal):	vaqueiro
Romanian:	cowboy
Russian:	ковбой
Slovak:	kovboj
Slovenian:	govedar
Spanish:	vaquero, cowboy (cine, etc)
Swedish:	cowboy
Turkish:	kovboy

See also: cow, cowherd, cowhide

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

cowboy
[Sun, from William Gibson's cyberpunk SF] Synonym for hacker. It is reported that at Sun this word is often said with reverence.
[The Jargon File]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cowboy

Cow"boy`\ (-boi`), n. 1. 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.

2. 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.

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