cow town
3
7.3
- noun
- /kaʊ taʊn/
- US
:
pueblo ganadero
- Without a railroad or a road bridge to link it to the outside world, Fort Myers remained a muddy cow town, or a dusty one, depending on the season.
- a little cow town
Examples
-
We were best known as a cow town with never-ending blizzards and a punishing Orange Crush defense.
Blog text (18) -
Somewhere over the salad course, Topsy's conspiratorial lament about the horrors of cow town living broadened to the surrounding territories, and she asked me, "Surely you understand, Emmy?"
Fiction book (1995) -
- Los Angeles is still a cow town.
-
We are able to put a whole city under the Christmas tree where once we could only afford a small cow town.
Blog text (16) -
Oh, you mean that broken-down cow town that used to be here, hm?
-
My city, Columbus, the state capital, has grown from a cow town to the biggest and most energized city in the state.
Blog text (18) -
In Borden, another cow town eleven miles east, a cop shot an Indian in the back the year before and got away with it.
Fiction book (1995) -
This little cow town wasn't half classy enough for then, even if they were still in the beginning of the big career climb.
Fiction book (1995) -
Nestled in the heart of the prairie, the little cow town thrived on cattle ranching and the annual rodeo.
-
Growing up in a remote cow town, she learned the importance of community and the cowboy traditions.
Synonyms
1
9.1
A small town in a cattle region known for rodeos and cowboy life
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a town associated with cattle-raising' is directly and compositionally derived from the constituents 'cow' + 'town' via a common noun–noun compounding pattern; a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer this sense. This is a straightforward, non-idiomatic construction found across languages, so the expression is transparent.
Etymology
Cow town comes from small towns that grew up around the cattle business, where real herds of cows moved through the town and were kept in pens and markets. That's why it means 'a small town in a cattle-raising area'.