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Glite Dictionary
to cattle up

to cattle up

8.9
To gather cattle or other farm animals into one place
  • phrasal verb
  • Australian
translation icon : reunir ganado
  • It's important to cattle up the livestock properly to ensure they are safe during transport.

Examples

  • I'm running these cattle up there.

    The Last Sunset (1961)

  • They bring the cattle up in May and take them down in September.

    Where Eagles Dare (1968)

  • I can see why you don't run cattle up here; they'd walk themselves into nothing just trying to keep warm, and you wouldn't be able to see them if they turned end-on to you.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The ranchers need to cattle up the herd before the winter storm hits.

  • During the summer, we always cattle up the animals at dawn to take them to the grazing fields.

Synonyms

to wrangle
vsto cattle up
  • US
3 7.2

To herd and care for animals like cattle or horses

focuses on short events of gathering for handling or transport not ongoing care
to round up the cattle
vsto cattle up
4.4

Gather cattle into a group to move or count them

focuses on gathering for management or transport rather than general care

Surface Forms

cattle up infinitive
cattled up past
cattled up past participle
cattling up present participle
cattles up third person singular

Morphology

cattle + up

The meaning 'to gather or round up cattle' is related to the constituent meanings: 'cattle' (livestock) and the particle 'up' which in English phrasal verbs often signals gathering, completion, or bringing together. However, deriving a verb meaning from a bare noun + up is not a fully regular compositional process for B1 learners, so the specific sense (to round up) is partially inferable but not completely predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Cattle up comes from ranch life, where people would drive cattle into a pen or up a lane to bring them together. That's why cattle up means 'to gather' or 'round up' livestock.