| 释义 |
ˈcow-boy, ˈcowboy
1. A boy who tends cows.
1725Swift Receipt to Stella, Justices o' quorum, Their cow-boys bearing cloaks before 'um. 1787O'Keefe Farmer, A flaxen-headed Cow Boy, As simple as may be. 1887A. Lang Johnny Nut 1 A little cow-boy named Johnny Nut.
2. U.S. Hist. ‘A contemptuous appellation applied to some of the tory partisans of Westchester Co., New York, during the Revolutionary war, who were exceedingly barbarous in the treatment of their opponents who favored the American cause’ (Bartlett Dict. Amer.).
1775–83Thacher Mil. Jrnl. (1823) 285 Banditti consisting of lawless villains within the British lines have received the names of Cow-boys and Skinners. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 290 Who knows but you are one o' the tories yourself or one o' the cowboys? 1857W. Irving Washington (1865) IV. ix. 109 A beautiful region..now almost desolated by the scourings of Skinners and Cow Boys.
3. a. In the western U.S.: A man employed to take care of grazing cattle on a ranch.
It is typical of the cow-boy that he does his work on horseback, and leads a hard rough life, which tends to make him rough and wild in character.
1849J. S. Jenkins Hist. War U.S. & Mexico i. 52 The Mexican rancheros..ventured across the Rio Grande..but they were immediately attacked by the Texan ‘cow-boys’. 1882Century Mag. 511 (New North West), In place of the cow-boy we find the buffalo-hunter. 1884Miles City (Montana) Press, June, The latest troubles between cowboys and Indians will cause an outbreak of redskins. 1887Spectator 10 Sept. 1219 The rough-and-ready life of men who have cast their lot among cow-boys.
b. A boisterous or wild young man (see also quots. and drug-store cowboy). Also spec. a reckless or inconsiderate driver of a motor vehicle, esp. a lorry. slang (orig. U.S.).
1942Amer. Speech XVII. 103/1 Cowboy, reckless driver. 1952P. H. Bonner SPQR (1953) xx. 174 Two very chic girls..were sitting on bar stools..with a typical Via Veneto cow⁓boy in sports jacket and flannel slacks. 1954in P. G. Hollowell Lorry Driver (1968) vii. 191 Cowboy, a reckless driver. 1958E. Dundy Dud Avocado i. vi. 98 One of those drugstore-cowboy-motorcycle types, just past their first juvenile delinquency. 1959News Chron. 7 Dec. 5/2 Coffee bar cowboys..are the teenagers with black jackets and fast motor cyclists who gather in cafés. 1964Sunday Times 23 Aug. 1/1 By slogging, an experienced haulage driver can earn perhaps {pstlg}30 a week. He will not touch the {pstlg}16-a-week job. So ‘the cowboys’ take over—the new boys ‘just off minis’, the sacked ‘C’ licence drivers, the rough-necks, the maniacs. 1977Custom Car Nov. 5/3 No sane rodder would risk hundreds of pounds worth of paint and effort by driving when he was smashed, surely? Are we talking about the cowboy element again? 1984Truckin' Life Jan. 45/1 Equipment Manager Lindsay King demands..minimum of five years interstate driving..and a steady nature and background... ‘We have to weed out the cowboys{ddd}we need the top professional drivers.’
c. A policeman. slang.
1959C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 70 ‘They didn't seem to me like cowboys.’.. ‘I can smell a copper, in the dark, a hundred feet away, blindfolded.’ 1959Encounter Aug. 32 Who should come round the corner but a cowboy..with..a helmet not too secure.
d. Cowboys and Indians, the name of a children's game in which the participants imitate the actions of, and esp. battles between, cowboys and Indians.
[1887N.Y. Herald 21 Feb. 9/1 A Chinaman..was passing through City Hall Park..yesterday afternoon when a mixed lot of ‘cowboys and Injuns’ swooped down upon him.] 1916N. Douglas London Street Games 120 They get some games out of the cinematograph, by the way, such as Cowboys—Indians. 1949Chicago Tribune 17 July (Comics) 4 We'll play cowboys and Indians. 1969I. & P. Opie Children's Games 4 Each child's attitude is..changing from the ritualistic to the romantic (i.e. the free-ranging games, ‘Hide and Seek’, ‘Cowboys and Indians’), and from the romantic to the severely competitive.
e. A person without qualifications who competes against established traders or operators, providing shoddy goods or services usu. at low (or inflated) prices; one who is recklessly unscrupulous in business. Freq. attrib. slang.
1972Times 9 May 20/7 The unscrupulous ‘cowboys’ in our business..are a constant menace with their cut price low quality job quotations. 1973Times 11 May 26/6 He does not mention the decline in site discipline or control consequent upon self-employment, nor the growth in cowboy employers as well as employees. 1977Listener 17 Mar. 351/3 In the next decade, as the rich seams of double glazing, wall coating and so on get worked out, it is likely that the cowboys will move into quite new areas. 1978Daily Tel. 22 Aug. 2/1 Proposals for legislation to improve standards of electrical installation and to squeeze ‘cowboy’ contractors out of the industry are to be presented to the Government. 1980Observer 24 Feb. 5/1 The British authorities have still failed to trace either the aircraft or its ‘cowboy’ crew. 1982Times 30 Oct. 416 Westminster City Council has been{ddd}licensing traders in key tourist spots in the hope of eliminating the ‘cowboys’. 1985Punch 23 Jan. 24/2, I started by ringing a few cowboys through the Yellow Pages, just to check on prices.
4. A local name for the Ring Ouzel.
(Tipperary: Swainson Bird Names 1885.)
5. attrib. and Comb.
1881G. W. Romspert Western Echo 173 The average cow-boy saddle weighs forty pounds. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 273/2 Largest line of cow boy hats in America. Ibid. 519/3 The style of the regular cowboy boot. 1897Daily News 4 June 8/2 The New South Wales men..looked very smart in their well-fitting uniforms. The cloth is of a grey-brown shade, and the ‘cowboy’ hats of the same shade. 1937Discovery Feb. 43/2 A famous cowboy actor rode his horse round an arena. 1958J. Kerouac On Road v. 33 All the cowboy-dudded tourists and oilmen and ranchers. 1964Economist 29 Aug. 799/1 The Front, which is called the ‘cowboy government’ by its Rhodesian opponents. 1970T. Hillerman Blessing Way xvi. 163 The young man..wore cowboy boots. |