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cattle

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Cattle

English

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EnglishWikipedia has an article on:
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EnglishWikipedia has an article on:
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Taurinecattle (Bos taurus)
Gaur (Bos gaurus)

Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishcatel, fromAnglo-Normancatel(“personal property”), fromOld Northern French (compareFrenchcheptel,Old Frenchchetel,chatel, also Englishchattel) fromMedieval Latincapitāle, fromLatincapitālis(“of the head”) (whence alsocapital, fromcaput(“head”) +-alis(“-al”)). For the sense evolution, comparepecuniary andfee. Also compare Russianпоголо́вье(pogolóvʹje,“total number of livestock”) from Russianголова́(golová,“head”).Doublet ofcapital andchattel.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cattle pl (normally plural,singularcattle)

  2. Domesticated animal of the speciesBos taurus (cows,bulls,steers,oxen etc), and otherhoofed mammals of the genusBos.
    Manycattle were suffering from a disease calledBSE.
  3. Certain otherlivestock, such assheep,pigs orgoats. Also rarely applied tohorses.
    • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 29, inVanity Fair‎[1], page246:
      Mr. Jos had hired a pair of horses for his open carriage, with whichcattle, and the smart London vehicle, he made a very tolerable figure in the drives about Brussels.
    • 1859, Charles Dickens,A Tale of Two Cities‎[2], Book the First, chapter 2:
      The Dover mail was in its usual genial position that the guard suspected the passengers, the passengers suspected one another and the guard, they all suspected everybody else, and the coachman was sure of nothing but the horses; as to whichcattle he could with a clear conscience have taken his oath on the two Testaments that they were not fit for the journey.
    • 1923,Norwegian Trade Review, numbers6-8, page39:
      Mangcorn is utilized partly as human food, and partly as fodder forcattle, especially for fattening swine, for which purpose it is considered peculiarly adapted.
  4. (derogatory, figuratively)People who resemble domesticated bovine animals in behavior or destiny.
    • 1961, Gerald Hanley,The Journey Homeward‎[3], page155:
      "I always knew it, but I always denied it, because I'm one of them, and I'm like them." ¶"We're justcattle," the Prison Governor said, relieved now.
  5. (obsolete, English law, sometimes countable, pluralcattles)chattel
    goods andcattle
    • 1552, Parliament of England,An Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer, and Service in the Church, and Administration of the Sacraments‎[4]:
      That then every person so offending and convict, shall for his third offence, forfeit to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, all his goods andcattles, and shall suffer imprisonment during his life.
    • 1684,Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England, published1856:
      1684 July. Mistris Dorothy Gray, Adminnestratrix of the Goods andCattles of Mr Edward Gray, late of Plymouth, deceased,[…]
  6. (uncountable, rare)Used in restricted contexts to refer to the meat derived from cattle.
    • a.1964,Stephen Henry Roberts,The Squatting Age in Australia, 1835-1847‎[5], Melbourne University Press, published1964, page315:
      The temptation of a lone white man was too great for any gathering ofmyall-natives, and sheep-fat andcattle-steak seemed there for the spearing, so that a stockman always ran the risk of attack, especially if his shepherds interfered with the native women.
    • a.1978, Barry Hannah, “Eating Wife and Friends”, inAirships, Grove Press, published1994,→ISBN,page137:
      “But you cooked a human being and ate him,” say I.
      “I couldn’t help it,” says she. “I remember thecattle steaks of the old days, the juicy pork, the dripping joints of lamb, the venison.”
    • 1996 April 3, Emmett Jordan, “Re: AR activist arrested for spreading 'Mad Cow' disease in US”, inrec.food.veg‎[6] (Usenet):
      Believe it or not Big Mac is one of the ultra radicals who provide fast foodcattle burgers to interstate vehicles who drive all over the place providing scraps for rats, cats, flies, etc, so that the Mad Cow Disease might spread even faster than it would otherwise do.
    • 2005 June 25, "Serge" (username), "Re: WOW!!!! WHALE BURGERS...... McDonalds[sic]Don't You Get Any Ideas", inaus.politics and other newsgroups,Usenet:
      If a particular whale species isn't endangered, then there's not a blind bit of difference between butchering them or cattle.
      Whale burgers.Cattle burgers......no difference!

Usage notes

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  • For the animals themselves, "cattle" is normally only used in the plural.
  • A:How manycattle do you have ? B:I have fifteencattle.

There is no universally accepted singular generic word for "cattle", although the termcattlebeast is used in some regions, and there is the archaicneat. When a precise formal term is required, constructions such as "domestic bovine" or "domestic bovine animal" can be used. For many people, only sex-specific words such as "bull" and "cow" are used for adults, "calf" for the young, etc., though especially children will use "cow" for all three (as incowboy).

  • There are fivecows and acalf in that herd ofcattle.

Where the sex is unknown, "cow" is sometimes used (although properly acow is only an adult female).

  • Is that acow in the road?

The phrase "head of cattle" may be used without regard for sex. Chiefly inIndian English, this has also given rise to the compoundcattlehead.

  • Onehead of cattle
  • He sold 50head of cattle last year.

Occasionally "cattle" may be found in singular use:

  • First I saw the mandible, which looked a bit like a strange-shapedcattle; then I saw the cervical vertebrae, which looked like a horse ("Intact Ottoman 'war camel' found in Austrian cellar", BBC, 2015 April 02)

Quotations

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Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Related terms

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Translations

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domesticated bovine animals
livestock
certain other livestock
pejorative: people who resemble cattle in behavior or destiny
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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Other entries associated with cattle

Verb

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cattle (third-person singular simple presentcattles,present participlecattling,simple past and past participlecattled)

  1. (transitive, Cockney rhyming slang)Ellipsis ofcattle truck(“tofuck: to break, destroy”).
    • 2002 February 8, The Natural Philosopher, “Re: Rayburn problems”, inuk.d-i-y‎[7] (Usenet):
      I would talk to rayburn, and the people who converted it..I have assumed from what you said that it was an old coal burner converted...or is it a revamped oil burner? In which case the revampers may havecattled it..

Related terms

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Anagrams

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