| 释义 |
cattle, n.|ˈkæt(ə)l|
Forms: 3–5 (occas. 6) catel, (4 cadel, catil, catele, cathel, katel, -ell, ketele, 4–5 (occas. 6–7) catell, catelle, 4–6 catayl, 5 catail, catayll(e, catal, -ale, 5–8 -all); 6–8 cattel, cattell, (6–7 cattal, -all, cattaile, 6 cattayle); 7– cattle. See also chattel.
[ME. catel, a. ONF. catel (= central OF. chatel, Pr. captal, capdal):—late L. captāle, L. capitāle, neuter of the adj. capitālis head-, principal, capital, used subst. in mediæval times in the sense ‘principal sum of money, capital, wealth, property’; cf. mod. Eng. capital = stock in trade. Thus Papias has ‘capitale, caput pecuniæ, capitis summa’, the Catholicon ‘capitale, pecunia’. Under the feudal system the application was confined to movable property or wealth, as being the only ‘personal’ property, and in English it was more and more identified with ‘beast held in possession, live stock’, which was almost the only use after 1500, exc. in the technical phrase ‘goods and catells (cattals)’ which survived till the 17th c. In legal Anglo-French, the Norman catel was superseded at an early period by the Parisian chatel; this continued to be used in the earlier and wider sense (subject however to legal definition), and has in modern times passed into a certain current use as chattel, so that the phrase just cited is now also since 16th c. ‘goods and chattels’. Down to 1500 the typical spelling was catel; in the 16th c. this became cattel, cattell; only since 1600, and chiefly since 1700, spelt cattle. As this spelling is never found in earlier use, and, hence, never in the earlier sense, it would be possible to treat this sense as a separate word Catel, property; but on the other hand the modern sense has all the forms catel, cattel(l, cattle, according to date, and the history is better elucidated by treating the word as a historical whole. chattel, however, as a distinct modern form and sense, is dealt with in its own place.
OF. (besides the ch- forms, for which see chattel) had, according to dialect and date, the forms catel, katel, cathel, cateul, cateil. Hence the ME. variants cathel, catail, -ayl. The Norman word was again latinized as catellum, catallum, the latter esp. current in English law-Latin, whence the forms catal(l, cattal(l, so frequent in 15–16th c., esp. in the legal phrase ‘goods and cattals’.]
†I. Property, article of property, chattel. Obs. (Forms catel, cattel(l.)
†1.
a. Property, substance; strictly personal property or estate, wealth, goods. Obs.
c1275Lay. 30673 He nam tonnes [gode] and þat catel [1205 æhte] dude [þer] ine. a1300Sarmun 46 in E.E.P. (1862) 6 Siþ þat þe world nis noȝt and catel nis bot vanite. c1300Cursor M. 27934 It wastes bodi and als catel [v.r. ketele]. c1325Metr. Hom. (1862) 131 An unseli knafe That wald gladli katel have. 1387Trevisa Higden vi. ix, Clerkes..spende the catayle of holy chyrche in other places at theyr owne wille. a1400Manuale Sarisb., Sponsalia in Maskell Mon. Rit. (1882) I. 58 With all my worldely cathel I the endowe. a1400Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 6 Robes or reches or oþer catell. c1440Promp. Parv. 63 Catelle [K. catal], catalum, census. 1495W. de Worde ed. Barth. De P.R. iii. iii. 57 By loue of worldly catall.
†b. Money; esp. capital, as distinct from interest.
c1330Amis & Amil. 1855 Al her catel than was spent Saue tvelf pans. a1340Hampole Psalter xiv. 6 He þat gaf noght his katel til okyre. 1340Ayenb. 36 Þet hi habbe huet cas yualle: hire catel sauf. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 267/1 Fader I haue wonne nothyng but haue lost your catayll.
†c. fig. Obs.
1388Wyclif Ecclus. xxx. 15 No catel is aboue the catel [1382 monee] of helthe of bodi. c1400Mandeville Prol. 2 More precious Catelle, ne gretter Ransoum ne myghte he put for us then his blessede body.
†d. Sometimes used in conjunction with other terms for ‘property’: see 3.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 229 Þey þat..gadereþ money and corn and catel of oþer men. 1393Gower Conf. II. 128 Of golde, of catel, or of londe. c1394P. Pl. Crede 116 Oþer catell oþer cloþ to coveren wiþ our bones.
e. fig. Rubbish, trash. (But cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9.)
1643Milton Divorce iv. (1851) 28 Certainly not the meere motion of carnall lust, not the meer goad of a sensitive desire; God does not principally take care for such cattell.
†2.
a. As an individual sing. = chattel, with collective pl. originally in association with ‘goods’ or other pl. noun. Obs.
This use was evidently derived from law-Latin, in which catallum, catalla were so used. Cf. cum suis catallis omnibus mobilibus, cited by Du Cange, from Leg. Edw. Conf. p. 894, and the phrase melius catallum the best chattel, droit de meilleur catel, the heriot, ibid.
1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 68 Sapience..can not be lost as other catalles and wordely goodes may. 1502Arnolde Chron. (1811) 245 The residew of alle my goodis, catellis, and dettis. 1641Termes de la Ley 49 Catals comprehend in it selfe all goods mooveable & immooveable, except such as are in nature of freehold..Catals are either reall or personall. 1644Jus Populi 37 The condition of a slave is worse than of a beast or any inanimate Cattels. 1720Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) II. v. xxvi. 457/1 That they ought not to be taxed of their rents and Catalls.
†b. fig. (see 1 c.) Obs.
1489Caxton Faytes of A. iii. xv. 203 They setten in aduenture so dere a catell as is..the lyffe. 1567Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) I. 273 Superstitions and feyned cattells onlye deuised to illud the symple and vnlerned.
3. Often used in the phrase goods and cattel; later more frequently goods and cattels, of which the extant form is goods and chattels: see chattel.
As in this sense the form cattals is specially prevalent, it looks like a translation of a legal Anglo-Lat. bona et catalla. Du Cange quotes from Leg. Edw. Conf. c. 35 Cum decimis omnium terrarum, ac bonorum aliorum sive catallorum.
c1430Freemasonry 468 Take here goodes and here cattelle Unto the kynges hond, everydelle. 1436Test. Ebor. (1855) II. 76 Y⊇ residewe of all my godes and my catell. 1464in Paston Lett. 493 II. 167 The administracion of the goods and catell. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, xlv, Londes, tenementes, godes, catail, and all other the premysses.
1418E.E. Wills (1882) 35 The Residue of alle my Godes and my Catallys mebles. 1450in Paston Lett. 107 I. 144 Whiche riotous peple..bare awey alle the goodes and catalx. 1454in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 38 I. 121 And toke godes and catals. 1528in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 61 Y⊇ goods or catells of y⊇ said schollers. 15971st Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. i. 185 It's all the goods and cattels thy father lefte thee. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 211 All contributions to the see of Rome..were forbidden upon pain of forfeiture of all the goods and cattals for ever.
¶ The transition to sense 4 is seen in the following:
1529Frith Pistle to Chr. Reader 10 Commaunded to destroye the Kynge of Amelech and all his goodes, howbeit he spared the kinges liffe & y⊇ fayrest goodes & catelles, makinge sacrifice with them. 1547Homilies i. Falling from God i, Yt he should kyl al the amalechites, and destroye them clerely with their goodes and cattals: yet he..saued..all the chief of their cattall [ed. 1574 has cattel, cattell], therwith to make sacrifice.
II. Live stock. (Forms catel, cattel(l, cattle.)
4. a. A collective name for live animals held as property, or reared to serve as food, or for the sake of their milk, skin, wool, etc.
The application of the term has varied greatly, according to the circumstances of time and place, and has included camels, horses, asses, mules, oxen, cows, calves, sheep, lambs, goats swine, etc. The tendency in recent times has been to restrict the term to the bovine genus, but the wider meaning is still found locally, and in many combinations. As this sense was originally comprised under 1, distinct instances before 1500 are scarce.
a1300Cursor M. 6002 Hors, asse, mule, ox, camell, Dun þan deid all þair catell. 1375Barbour Bruce xviii. 274 Bot cattell haf thai fundyn nane, Outane a kow that wes haltand. c1425Wyntoun Cron. i. xiii. 8 And tyl all catale pasture gwde. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §37 Shepe in myne opynyon is the mooste profytablest cattell that any man can haue. 1535Fisher Wks. i. (1876) 391 When hee goeth to hys pastures to see hys Cattayle. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 125 b, The Camel is cheefly used in y⊇ east parts, which some suppose to be the serviceablest cattell for man that is. Ibid. 153 b, The Dogge (though the Lawyer alloweth him not in the number of cattel) and though he yeeldes of himselfe no profite, yet is he..to be esteemed. 1580Sidney Arcadia iii. 400 Blithe were the common cattell of the field. 1604E. G[rimston] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xvi. 170 There are great numbers of cattell, especially swine. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 183 The goatherds of the countrey do give thereof to their cattel. 1650Fuller Pisgah. ii. ii. 80 How came the Gadarens, being undoubtedly Jews..to keep such a company of useless cattell [= swine]? 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 590 Is Wool thy Care? Let not thy Cattle go..where Burs and Thistles grow. 1741–2Act 15 & 16 Geo. II, xxxiv, By cattle, in this act, is to be understood any bull, cow, ox, steer, bullock, heifer, calf, sheep, and lamb, and no other cattle whatever. 1767A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 297 Cattle of no kind will thrive but in the master's eye. a1856Longfellow Psalm of Life, Be not like dumb driven cattle, Be a hero in the strife. 1875Jevons Money (1878) 89 The former use of cattle as a medium of exchange.
†b. Extended to fowls, bees, etc. Obs. or arch.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 1057 So made that lysardes may not ascende, Ne wicked worme this catell [bees] for to offende. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 163 I wilnot refuse to shew you somwhat also of my feathered cattel. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 17 Take heed, thine owne Cattaile sting thee not. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman D'Alf. i. 139 In breeding of Cattell, as Pigs, Hens, and Chickens, and the like. 1830Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 129 Among all manner of bovine, swinish and feathered cattle.
c. Now usually confined to, or understood of, bovine animals.
1555Eden Decades W. Ind. i. x. (Arb.) 104 Neat or cattall becoome of bygger stature. 1570Levins Manip. 55 Cattel, boves, jumenta. 1605Camden Rem. 1 Replenished with cattell both tame and wilde. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. 57 Their Horse and Cattel. 1756Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 73 Fair for the sale of black cattle once a fortnight..There is belonging to Chillingham Castle a large park where there is a kind of wild cattle which are all white. 1836Penny Cycl. VI. 378/2 In the usual acceptation of the word [cattle] it is confined to the ox. 1887Daily News 11 Jan. 2/4 A fair demand for both cattle and sheep.
d. In the language of the stable, applied to horses.
a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 224 Such as a Carrier makes his Cattle wear, And hangs for Pendents in a Horse's Ear. 1733Fielding Quix. in Eng. i. iii, Your worship's cattle are saddled. 1750Coventry Pompey Litt. ii. iv. (1785) 58/1 He kept a phaeton chaise, and four ‘bay cattle’. 1826Scott Woodst. xxxii. 1835Sir G. Stephen Search of Horse ii. 34 All the disabled cattle of the summer stages to Brighton, Southampton, and so forth. 1886J. S. Winter In Quarters, To cast reflections unfavorable to..the color of their uniform, the class of their cattle.
e. Applied by slaveholders to their slaves.
1850Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiii, What have any of you cussed cattle to do with thinking what's right?
5. a. Used also as an ordinary plural of number. †b. rarely as a singular = beast, ox, etc.
1624Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 123 We found there in all one hundred twentie eight cattell. 1725Minute Bk. Soc. Antiq. (Brand s.v. Funerals), A hundred black cattle are killed. 1796W. Marshall Yorksh. (ed. 2) I. 158 A cattle, when it goes into a drinking pit..throws the chief part of its weight upon its fore feet.
6. With attributes; neat cattle, horned cattle: oxen, bovine animals. black cattle: ‘oxen, bulls, and cows’ (J.); prob. at first properly applied to the black breeds found in the highlands of Scotland, Wales, and other districts, to which it is still by some restricted, but as other colours appear in the progeny of these, the name has come to have a general application.
1535Coverdale 1 Kings iv. 23 Ten fat oxen, and twenty small catell, and an hundreth shepe. 1701Col. Rec. Penn. II. 27 That there shall be no neat Cattle kill'd. 1725Min. Book Soc. Antiq. 21 July (Brand), After the body [of a Highland chief] is interred, a hundred black cattle and two or three hundred sheep are killed for the entertainment of the company. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Cattle, Black Cattle more particularly denotes the cow kind. These are also denominated neat cattle. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xlii. 555 Their sheep and horned cattle were large and numerous. 1803J. Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 450 We now turned due west over the mountains, and..met some black-cattle drovers. 1815Scott Guy M. iv, Green pastures, tenanted chiefly by herds of black cattle, then the staple commodity of the country. 1836Penny Cycl. VI. 378/2 [Cattle] In the usual acceptation..is confined to the ox, or what is called black cattle or horned cattle. But as many varieties are not black, and several have no horns, the name neat cattle is more appropriate. 1864D. Mitchell Wet Days at Edgew. 257 Known for his stock of neat cattle. 1868G. Duff Pol. Surv. 209 The horned cattle, horses, and sheep are remarkably fine.
7. In various extended uses; mostly contemptuous:
a. of vermin, insects, and the like. ? Obs.
1616Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 170 In the holes of this wicked cattell [Rats]. Ibid. 318 Lizards and serpents, and other noysome cattell. a1656Bp. Hall Invis. World iii. iii, Doth he fetch frogs out of Nilus?..they can store Egypt with loathsome cattle as well as he. 1639T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 100 It hath caused the Horse to voyd many of these bad Cattle [worms]. 1673Cave Prim. Chr. ii. vii. 169 Flies, Wasps, and such little Cattel. 1685R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. iv. 86 Tame Cattel they have none except lice.
b. of men and women, with reference to various preceding senses. arch.
1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 27 We haue infinite Poets, and Pipers, and suche peeuishe cattel among vs in Englande, that liue by merrie begging. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 435 Boyes and women are..cattle of this colour. 1682Evelyn Diary 24 Jan., The Dutchess of Portsmouth, Nelly,..concubines, and cattell of that sort, as splendid as jewells..could make them. 1690B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Sad Cattle, Impudent Lewd Women. 1768H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 11 To have consulted astrologers and such like cattle. 1823Scott Peveril xx, To sweep this north country of such like cattle [priests].
III. attrib. and Comb. (all belonging to branch II, and referring mainly to bovine animals).
8. General relations:
a. objective or obj. gen. with verbal n. or agent noun, as cattle-breeder, cattle-breeding, cattle-dealer, cattle-driving, cattle-drover, cattle-farming, cattle-hougher, cattle-houghing, cattle-killing, cattle-maiming, cattle-raiding, cattle-raiser, cattle-raising, cattle-rearing, cattle-rustler, cattle-rustling, cattle-stealing, cattle-thief.
1827Whately Logic in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) 234/1 Bakewell, the celebrated *cattle-breeder.
1877tr. Tiele's Hist. Relig. 17 Without neglecting *cattle-breeding and agriculture.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 103 A rich and liberal *cattle-dealer in the neighbourhood.
1878Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 60 If *cattle-driving was to be interpreted as levying war.
1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 260 The object of *cattle-farming is chiefly breeding.
1886Pall Mall G. 8 May 1/1 Executing the just judgment of offended Heaven upon *cattle-houghers, traitors, and assassins.
1831Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 217 B ―..is literally a *cattlejobber.
1907Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 5/1 The renewed outbreak of *cattle-maiming in this parish [sc. Great Wyrley]. 1965K. H. Connell in Pop. in Hist. xvii. 433 Arson and murder, the boycott and cattle-maiming were some of their weapons.
1899Daily News 13 Nov. 7/4 The real object of this *cattle-raiding expedition.
1853‘P. Paxton’ Yankee in Texas 122 He lived on the frontier amid the Ingens, and *cattle-raisers. 1896Daily News 16 Jan. 5/6 All the victims were well-known cattle-raisers.
1878I. L. Bird Lady's Life in Rocky Mts. (1879) x. 170 Perry's Park is one of the great *cattle-raising ranches in Colorado. 1883Athenæum 2 June 693 In Galicia cattle-raising is rapidly superseding tillage. 1923Daily Mail 15 Feb. 8 A great crisis has fallen upon the cattle-raising industry of this Republic. 1953E. Smith Guide to Eng. Trad. 3 Some livestock farmers..specialize in sheep-rearing rather than in cattle-raising.
1872Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 37 *Cattle-rearing formed an important branch of Egyptian agriculture.
1903A. Adams Log Cowboy vii. 86 The stampede..was the work of *cattle rustlers. 1907S. E. White Arizona Nights i. iii. 60 We..saw the beginning of the cattle rustling. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 75/1 The alleged case of cattle-rustling.
1803Edin. Rev. I. 404 The renown of *cattle-stealers.
1862T. E. DeVoe Market Bk. I. 172 A foraging party, under..the city's former governor..extensively known as a ‘*Cattle Thief’. 1903A. Adams Log Cowboy vii. 101 The biggest cattle-thief ever born in Medinah County.
b. attrib., as cattle-cabbage, cattle-camp (camp n.2 4 c), cattle-close, cattle-country, cattle-culture, cattle-dropping, cattle-farm, cattle-feed, cattle-food, cattle-herd, cattle-kraal, cattle-market, cattle-park, cattle-path, cattle-pen, cattle-show, cattle-track, cattle-trade, cattle-trough, cattle-yard, etc.; (connected with the transport of cattle), as cattle-boat, cattle-car, cattle-ship, cattle siding, cattle-steamer, cattle-train, cattle-truck, cattle-wagon, etc.
c. instrumental and parasynthetic, as cattle-specked, cattle-sprent, etc.; cattle-proof adj.d. cattle-farm vb. (rare).
1860Sala Make your Game 14 Not a *cattle-boat luckily, though, in some pens forward, there were a few sheep. 1889C. Edwardes Sardinia 375 This Black Hole of a cattle-boat. 1945Wyndham Lewis Let. 13 Mar. (1963) 381 There still is no alternative: a cattle-boat..or stop here.
1900H. Lawson Verses Pop. & Humorous 219 The old bark-school..Is a *cattle-camp in winter. 1931V. Palmer Separate Lives 122 Its wild horns and glossy red coat had become a familiar figure on the cattle-camp when he mustered to cut out the half-yearly mob of fats.
1864C. H. Cooke Let. 4 May in Wisconsin Mag. Hist. (1921) V. 65 We took the train for Chattanooga. Our cars were *cattle cars. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 23/1 Why doesn't somebody write of a last-minute gamble for happiness in a cattle car headed for Buchenwald?
1865A. Cary Ball. & Lyrics 5 She..found him In the dusty *cattle-close.
1886T. Roosevelt in Cent. Mag. July 340/1 The *cattle country of western Dakota. 1943Collier's 28 Aug. 11/1 This stirring tale of the cattle country.
1886Bazaar 18 Oct. 415 We devote the greatest attention to oyster-culture, bee-culture, *cattle-culture.
1810F. Clater (title), Every Man his own *Cattle Doctor.
1883G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxxiv. (1884) 267 In a place where *cattle-droppings were abundant.
1881Mrs. Praed Policy & P. I. 51 He *cattle-farms a few thousand acres.
1832H. Martineau Demerara iii. 34 We have the *cattle-feed to gather.
1821in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 29 My..system of *cattle-food husbandry.
1844Marg. Fuller Woman 19th C. (1862) 45 Penelope is no more meant for a baker or a weaver solely than Ulysses for a *cattle-herd.
1897J. Bryce Impressions S. Afr. ix. 86 All round on the lower ground are large inclosures rudely built of rough stones, and probably intended for *cattle-kraals. 1932C. Fuller L. Trigardt's Trek xi. 142 When this area was first settled by Europeans, old cattle-kraal sites..were found in the fly country.
1838Dickens O. Twist xvi, Pens for beasts: and other indications of a *cattle-market.
1813Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. X. 428 If..our *Cattle parks are to be plundered with impunity.
1838Hawthorne Amer. Note-Bks. 9 Sept. (1868) I. 257 Followed a *cattle-path till I came to a cottage. 1887Outing (U.S.) May 117/2 The bank was worn away on the other side by a cattle-path just wide enough for one.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. i. ii, Hurled in thither as into *cattle-pens.
1882Armstrong & Campbell Austral. Sheep Husbandry xvii. 187 This fence possesses the advantage over the ordinary wire fence of being *cattle-proof, or nearly so. 1908Daily Chron. 17 Sept. 7/2 A twelve-foot barrier of cattle-proof wire. 1915N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 20 Feb. 190 Can you advise me as to the best hedge to grow..to make a good cattle-proof fence?
1630J. Winthrop Hist. New Eng. (1908) I. 29 Mr. Weatherell, whose father was master of one of the *cattle ships. 1891Scribner's Mag. X. 610 The loading of cattle-ships.
1815N. Amer. Rev. II. 136 The *Cattle show..at Pittsfield. 1844Ainsworth's Mag. VI. 534 Farmers,..who had been in town enjoying the spectacle of the ‘cattle-show’. 1877C. M. Yonge Womankind i. 2 African chieftainesses are fattened on milk like pigs for a cattle-show.
1870Daily News 23 Apr., The *cattle sidings have been lately set apart for goods waggons.
1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. viii. lxiv. 574 She saw the *cattle-specked fields.
1800J. Hurdis Favourite Vill. 195 Its *cattle-sprent enclosures.
1858T. Viele Following the Drum 150 It was a beaten *cattle-track cut thru the chapparal. 1905Hubbard Neolithic Dew-Ponds & Cattle-Ways iii. 55 A quarry has been formed cutting through the lines of the cattle-tracks.
1883Fortn. Rev. 1 Aug. 188 If the *cattle-truck and *cattle-steamer had not brought some inveterate plague.
1887Whitaker's Almanack 98 On 1st June 1886 there were in London 633 *cattle-troughs and 594 drinking-fountains.
1860W. G. Clark in Vacat. Tour. 62, I found a train of empty trucks and *cattle-waggons just starting.
1825J. Lorain Pract. Husb. 357 The back of them forms the *cattle yard fence. 1840Kyle Farm Rep. in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III. 36 A farm dependent on the cattle-yard for manure. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 9 Feb. 98/1 The three small cattle-yards which house the remaining 300 hogs.
9. Special combs.: cattle-bell, a bell borne by the leader of a herd of cattle; cattle-bird U.S. (see quot. 1837); also gen. (quot. 1932); cattle-bush, any of various Australian shrubs or trees used as fodder for cattle during periods of drought; cattle chips U.S., dried cattle-dung used for fuel; cattle creep = creep n. 4; cattle-dog Austral. and N.Z., a dog bred and trained for ‘working’ cattle; cattle-duffer Austral., a cattle-rustler; hence (as back-formations) cattle-duff v. intr.; cattle-duffing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; cattle-egret, a small Egyptian heron belonging to the genus Bubulcus; cattle-feeder, a mechanical arrangement for regulating the supply of food to cattle; cattle-fever = Texas fever; cattle-gate, a ‘walk’ or pasture for one's cattle, beast-gate; cattle-grid (see quot.); cattle king U.S., an owner or rearer of cattle on a large scale; cattle-leader, a nose-ring to lead dangerous cattle; cattle lick U.S., a salt-lick for cattle; cattle-lifter, a marauder or robber who practises the stealing of cattle; so cattle-lifting; cattle-pad Austral., a cattle-path, cattle-track; cattle-piece, a painting representing cattle; cattle-pit (see quot.); cattle-post, -ranch (so cattle-ranching vbl. n.), -range, -run, station, a district, tract of country, etc., occupied for the pasturing of cattle; cattle-pump, a contrivance by which cattle coming to drink, are made to raise the water out of the well; cattle-puncher, a ‘cow-puncher’; also cattle-punching vbl. n.; cattle-racket (see quot.); cattle-raik (Sc.), ‘a common, or extensive pasture, where cattle feed at large’ (Jam.); cattle-road, a road made for the use of cattle; cattle-sickness, sickness of cattle; spec. = bush-sickness; cattle-stop N.Z., = cattle-grid; cattle-tick, any of several ticks (esp. of the genus Boöphilus) attacking cattle in the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand; cattle-trail, a trail or path made by cattle; cattle-way, = cattle-road. Also cattle-guard, -man, -plague.
1872Ellacombe Bells of Ch. vii. 154 Judging from..its size, may it not be considered to have been a *cattle bell?
1837C. F. Partington Brit. Cycl. Nat. Hist. II. 158 Cow-bunting or *Cattle-bird (Molothrus pecoris Swainson)... The American cattle-bird..is a small bird about the size of the European sky-lark. 1932W. B. Yeats Words for Music 12 The heron-billed pale Cattle-birds.
1889J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants 116 *Cattle Bush... The leaves of this tree are eaten by stock, the tree being frequently felled for their use during seasons of drought. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 7 June 25/2 A tall shrub with dense foliage and long leaves is cattle bush. Sheep as well as cattle eat it with avidity and thrive on it.
1903A. Adams Log Cowboy xiii. 210 We were frequently forced to resort to the old bed grounds..for *cattle chips.
1893N. & Q. 8th Ser. III. 151 *Cattle-creep.., a low arch, just high enough to enable cattle to pass under a railway. 1922Joyce Ulysses 486 What did you do in the cattlecreep behind Kilbarrack? 1940Gloss. Terms Highway Engin. (B.S.I.) 26 Cattle Creep, a shallow subway constructed to permit the passage of cattle underneath a road or railway. 1955Times 6 July 10/1 Big motorways like this were not going to be popular with farmers, but the authorities would..arrange for ‘cattle creeps’ under roads which divided farms.
1878E. S. Elwell Boy Colonists 48 Fricker..[was] delighted to shew the ‘new chum’ how to work a *cattle dog. 1920N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 20 July 55 A cattle-dog which has gone lame. 1930W. K. Hancock Australia xiii. 289 In the evolution of an Australian cattle-dog, the native dingo strain has been decisive. 1963A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 40 A blue-heeler cattle-dog.
1886Melbourne Punch 15 July (Morris), *Cattle-duffers on a jury may be honest men enough, But they're bound to visit lightly sins in those who cattle duff. 1963A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 161 Horse- and cattle-duffers.
1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. xiii. 165 My word, this is a smart bit of *cattle-duffing. 1928‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country xiii. 212 I'll take no second place for any bastard of a cattle-duffing lag. 1930Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Mar. 23/2 Cattle-duffing is as far removed from sheep-stealing as expert forgery is from snow-dropping among suburban clotheslines.
1905Spectator 14 Jan. 47/1 In Egypt the *cattle-egret, a small white heron, is pointed out by the dragoman, and accepted..as the true sacred ibis. 1963Times 27 Feb. 11/6 Little egrets predominate, followed by cattle egrets and night herons.
1893U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau Anim. Ind., Bull. No. 1, Investigation into the nature, causation, and prevention of Texas or Southern *cattle fever. 1909Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 7/3 The cattle-fever epidemic.
1817W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius II. 663 Ejectment for 10 acres of pasture and *cattlegates, with their appurtenances, in a close, called, etc. in Yorkshire. 1880J. Williams Rights Common 83 The phrase cattle gate or beast gate was a popular mode of expressing the ownership of an undivided share in the soil..by putting thereon so many cattle in common with the cattle of the other owners.
1940Gloss. Terms Highway Engin. (B.S.I.) 26 *Cattle Grid, a system of bars so laid at road level upon the carriageway, or adjacent thereto, as to prevent cattle straying, while permitting the passage of other traffic.
1874Chicago Times 2 Jan. 5/4 They are..‘the *cattle kings’ of the United States. 1888T. Roosevelt in Century Mag. Feb. 500 Anything more foolish than the demagogic outcry against ‘cattle-kings’ it would be difficult to imagine. 1921Mulford Bar-20 Three ix. 106 Soon a bundle of handbills was on its way to the office of the cattle king.
1887Harper's Mag. Feb. 349/1 Large blocks of it [sc. salt] are sent to the Western Plains for ‘*cattle licks’.
1860Froude Hist. Eng. V. 195 The services of the mountain *cattle-lifter were made valuable to Exeter.
1860G. H. K. in Vacat. Tour. 158 His every tradition pointed to *cattle-lifting as an honourable pursuit.
1931F. D. Davison Man-Shy (1934) ii. 25 The cattle-pad..had been worn deep and narrow by the upward and downward passing of many generations of station cattle. 1954B. Miles Stars my Blanket xvii. 122 The one [sc. track] we were on now was nothing but a wandering cattle-pad, honeycombed with steep creeks.
1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. vi. 264 From that time *cattle-pieces become frequent..Cuyp's are the best.
1883J. B. Pash Report on N.Z. 5/1 Cattle, sheep, horses, &c., are prevented straying on the [railway] line by what is termed a ‘*cattle pit’ or ‘catcher’. This is a pit sunk between the rails and fences, about 2 feet 6 inches deep and 10 feet wide, covered by bars of wood placed parallel with the lines, and about 5 inches apart.
1865Livingstone Zambesi xi. 223 Mosele⁓katse's principal *cattle-posts. 1887Pall Mall G. 22 Feb. 11/2 The cattle ranche business has been almost destroyed.
1928Collier's Mag. 18 Aug. 19/1 We wasn't horse breakers; we was *cattle punchers.
1907W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 282 During no time of..that first eventful day of ‘*cattle punching’..did the Gunner put in an appearance.
1847‘A. Harris’ Settlers & Convicts 294 A *Cattle-racket. The term at the head of this chapter was originally applied in New South Wales to the agitation of society which took place when some wholesale system of plunder in cattle was brought to light. It is now commonly applied to any circumstance of this sort, whether greater or less, and whether really springing from a felonious intent or accidental.
1857Olmsted Journ. Texas 160 Some live upon the produce of farms and *cattle-ranches owned in the neighborhood. 1879J. W. Boddam-Whetham Roraima 114 Two boatmen who once rowed us over..to visit a cattle ranch, were both generals. 1946Illinois State Arch. Soc. Jrnl. July 32/1 She owns and operates a large cattle ranch.
1866‘Mark Twain’ Lett. fr. Hawaii (1967) 289 The whole country is given up to *cattle ranching. 1888T. Roosevelt in Century Mag. Feb. 500 Cattle-ranching can only be carried on in its present form while the population is scanty.
1640in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. V. 1701 Ordered that none of the land within the *cattle range shall be granted..to any man. 1835C. F. Hoffman Winter West II. 130 We entered at once upon a large and beautiful park or chase (Note, called a cattle-range, if I mistake not, in Kentucky). 1948Southwestern Rev. Summer 272 They..had passed across a forbidden cattle range.
1905Spectator 18 Feb. 248/1 The important feature which the *cattle-roads make even to-day in modern embankments.
1853C. B. Hall Let. 6 Sept. in T. F. Bride Lett. Vict. Pioneers (1898) 218 Various cows and bullocks, on a *cattle run. 1887Spectator 10 Sept. 1220 Going West to hold cattle-runs. 1944W. E. Harney Taboo (ed. 3) 86 Roy Johnstone was boss of a cattle-run.
1903Pall Mall Gaz. 7 July 7/1 *Cattle-sickness is alarmingly on the increase in Rhodesia. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. July 74/1 It was in this period that cobalt was introduced as a cure for cattle sickness.
1851Lyttleton Times (N.Z.) 1 Mar. 8/3 A Canterbury colonist..would undertake the entire management of a *cattle Station or Farm. 1857Livingstone Trav. xii. 220 Numbers of cattle-stations..are dotted over the landscape.
1949D. M. Davin Roads fr. Home 250 John worked his way round the cattlestops by the..glare of the engine's fire-box. 1953M. C. Scott Breakfast at Six i. 12 Presently we came to a cattle-stop... Paul bumped noisily across.
1869Amer. Naturalist III. 51 *The Cattle Tick[s]..drop from the cattle..along the cattle paths. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 196/1 Where cattle ticks are plentiful spraying or dipping should be carried out.
1878Black Green Past. xiii. 100 Riding along a *cattle-trail on the high-lying and golden-yellow plains of Colorado.
1905Hubbard Neolithic Dew-Ponds & Cattle-Ways 38 The length of the ascending cattle-way is a quarter of a mile or more.
▸ cattle class n. slang (in airline travel) a class offering inferior service and accommodations; spec. = economy class n. at economy n. Compounds 2.
1983Wall St. Jrnl. 14 July 1/4 First-class air travel these days is ‘*cattle class’. 1995Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 19 Nov. (Travel section) 1 i, Welcome to ‘cattle class’, where knees dig into seat backs. 2006S. Shipside Getting away with It i. 3 Do you watch with envy as fellow passengers get the upgrades while you always seem to be stuck in cattle class? |