DCHP-1 Online

corral ((n.)) † [< Am. E < Sp. (in most senses); cf. Afrikaans kraal] Esp. West

• 1 n. Hist. a temporary enclosure of wagons, Red River carts, etc. set up overnight or under conditions of danger on the trail.

  • 1862  (1956)  After supper "a meeting was held in the centre of the correll of all musicians both vocal and instrumental. . . .
  • 1874  (1910)  About midnight . . . our horses stampeded from the corral . . . knocking over some of the wagons which encircled them.
  • 1913  The square served as a corral in which to round up the horses and oxen required for a brigade.

• 2 n. a fenced enclosure for horses or cattle.

  • 1877  Small log cabins of the new settlers, each with an enclosure called "the corral" close to it, next gladdened our eyes. . . .
  • 1960  Would we find wild horses tomorrow? And, if we did, how many could be pushed off the mountainside and hazed down into the corral on the flats?

• 3 n. a trap for game or fish.

  • 1954  The corral itself was there for two reasons--first to get the marten coming in from the right direction, and secondly because the curious little beast would be instantly attracted by the very novelty of the thing and would go in to see what it was all about.
  • 1958  . . . and at one side of the river they formed an enclosure or corral by interlacing the stakes with pliable whips to form a trap into which the fish could be driven and captured.

• 4 n. Figurative use See quotes.

  • 1904  "You can't keep an eye on all the fools unless you round 'em up in a corral."
  • 1910  Yes, the individual opinions of the whole caboodle of Grit members of parliament . . . do not vary one hair's breadth from the opinions arbitrarily laid down for them by the boss of the corrall.
  • 1958  . . . droves of disgruntled Tories who had seceded to this new party are now moving back to their old political corral. . . .