DCHP-1 Online

cowboy ((n.))

• 1 † n. a man who works as a rider on a cattle or horse ranch.

  See also: cow hand  cowpoke  cow-puncher  puncher (def. 1)  

  • 1882  Davy, chief cow-boy in . . . this place, says his birthday always comes on Easter Sunday.
  • 1912  (1914)  But you must not think of Edmonton as a rough primitive place with cow-boys "shooting up the town," and so forth.
  • 1962  Many of the early cowboys . . . remained on the open ranges of the Canadian territories. . . .

• 2 n. Slang in mining, a greenhorn.

  • 1959  Cowboy alone has acquired a romantic connotation (except in the mines where it is a synonym for "greenhorn").