ranch hand
10
4.4
- noun
- /ræntʃ hænd/
- US
:
vaquero
- The ranch hands worked together to round up the cattle in the early morning light.
Examples
-
Wouldn't be so bad to be a ranch hand around here, would it?
-
I knew who it was: Renee, a lean, grim-faced ranch hand, not much older than I was.
Fiction book (1991) -
I was just a ranch hand.
-
I figure that the best experience to be had Is to become a ranch hand.
-
You could hire a couple of ranch hands, your boys could go to school, grow up smart.
-
Honey, I used to work for this boy's daddy as a ranch hand.
-
You move back to a small town in the country where you meet a local ranch hand who writes poetry in his free time.
-
I think it's your ranch hand, Mr. Coffey.
-
One of the ranch hands volunteered to take his place.
Fiction book (1991) -
He's a ranch hand from Texas.
Synonyms
458
1.8
A person who looks after cattle, often riding horses
12
8.3
A ranch worker who uses a lasso to catch cattle or horses
10
7.4
A person who cares for riding horses on a ranch or cattle drive
9
6.8
A person who owns or works on a ranch
7
3.6
A person paid to do manual work on a farm or ranch
6
9.1
A person who works on a ranch and looks after cattle, often on a horse
4
4.6
A person who cares for cattle and works on a ranch, often riding a horse
4
3.2
A man who works on a farm for pay
1
6.8
A person who looks after cows, often riding a horse on a farm
1
8.4
A person who looks after cattle on a ranch, often on horseback
1
9.9
A person who looks after cattle on a ranch, often on horseback
1
5.5
A person who looks after cows on a farm or ranch, often riding a horse
1
7.1
A person who cares for and handles horses on a ranch or film set
A woman who works on a farm or ranch for pay
How Skilled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a person employed to do manual work on a ranch' is directly derivable from 'ranch' (a cattle farm) + 'hand' (a worker), since 'hand' commonly denotes an employee who performs physical labor. This noun+noun compositional pattern is frequent and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand the MWE.
Etymology
Ranch hand comes from the simple image of a worker whose hands are busy on a ranch, feeding cattle, fixing fences and riding horses. So, it means 'a person who does manual work on a ranch'.