ranch

ranch (rɑːntʃ)

—n
1.	a large tract of land, esp one in North America, together with the necessary personnel, buildings, and equipment, for rearing livestock, esp cattle
2.	a. any large farm for the rearing of a particular kind of livestock or crop: a mink ranch
	b. the buildings, land, etc, connected with it

—vb
3.	(intr) to manage or run a ranch
4.	(tr) to raise (animals) on or as if on a ranch

[C19: from Mexican Spanish rancho small farm; see rancho]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ranch

1808, "country house," from Amer.Sp. rancho "small farm, group of farm huts," from Sp. rancho, originally, "group of people who eat together," from ranchear "to lodge or station," from O.Fr. ranger "install in position," from rang "row, line" (see rank (n.)). Sense of "large

cattle-breeding estate" is from 1831. Meaning "single-story split-level house" is from 1960. Ranchero "one employed on a ranch" is from 1826.

Slang Dictionary

ranch definition

n.
semen. (Alludes to Ranch [salad] dressing. Objectionable if understood.) : God! There's ranch on the bathroom floor!
in.
to ejaculate. (Objectionable if understood.) : Just looking at her makes me want to ranch.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences

They lived in a big ranch house, with a kitchen roomy enough for a couch.

Other times, they haul them to a game ranch to be turned lose and become a problem again.

And personal experience has taught me the indispensability of a tractor for lifting and moving heavy objects on a ranch.

Most ranch operators sell their catch to foreign customers.

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back forty boundary rider breed bunkhouse caporal cattleman

Slang

raisin ranch

Matching Quote

"Turn 'em loose.... Wherever they go, they'll be on my land. My land. We're here and we're gonna stay here. Gimme ten years and I'll have that brand on the gates of the greatest ranch in Texas. The big house'll be down by the river, the corrals and the barns behind it. It'll be a good place to live in. Ten years and I'll have the Red River "D" on more cattle than you've looked at anywhere. I'll have that brand on enough beef to feed the whole country. Good beef for hungry people. Beef to make 'em strong, to make 'em grow. But it takes work, it takes sweat, and it takes time, lots of time. It takes years."

-Borden Chase