/ɹɑːnt͡ʃ/, /ɹænt͡ʃ/
OriginRecorded since 1808, farm sense since 1831. From American Spanish rancho (“small farm, group of farm huts”), in Spanish originally “group of people who eat together." Cognate with English rank.
- countable, uncountableA large plot of land used for raising cattle, sheep or other livestock.
“There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fe”
- countable, uncountableA small farm that cultivates vegetables or livestock, especially one in the Southwestern United States.
- countable, uncountableA house or property on a plot of ranch land.
- uncountableRanch dressing.
- intransitive, transitiveTo operate a ranch; to engage in ranching.
“Formally the widow still ranches, but in fact she leaves all ranching to the foreman.”
- intransitive, transitiveTo work on a ranch.
“Bill had ranched only five years when his dad made him foreman.”
Formsranches(plural) · ranches(present, singular, third-person) · ranching(participle, present) · ranched(participle, past) · ranched(past)