corral
Americannoun
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an enclosure or pen for horses, cattle, etc.
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a circular enclosure formed by wagons during an encampment, as by covered wagons crossing the North American plains in the 19th century, for defense against attack.
verb (used with object)
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to confine in or as if in a corral.
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Informal.
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to seize; capture.
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to collect, gather, or garner.
to corral votes.
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to form (wagons) into a corral.
noun
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an enclosure for confining cattle or horses
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(formerly) a defensive enclosure formed by a ring of covered wagons
verb
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to drive into and confine in or as in a corral
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informal to capture
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has corralledperfect 3rd person singular
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have corralledperfect
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are corrallingprogressive
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is corrallingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am corrallingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been corrallingperfect progressive
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has been corrallingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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corralssingular 3rd person
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corrallingparticiple
Past
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had corralledperfect
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was corrallingprogressive singular
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were corrallingprogressive plural
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had been corrallingperfect progressive
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corralledparticiple
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corralledsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of corral
1575–85; < Spanish < Late Latin *currāle enclosure for carts, equivalent to Latin curr ( us ) wagon, cart (derivative of currere to run) + -āle, neuter of -ālis -al 1
Explanation
A corral is a pen for horses, cows, or other livestock. If your sheep get out of the corral, you'll have to take the dogs out to help you round them up again. The word corral comes either from the Spanish word corro, which means ring, or from the Old Portuguese word curral, meaning pen or enclosure. As a verb, corral means to gather up or collect. If you're in charge of the big library book sale, you'll have to corral lots of people into helping you. If you make a defensive circle with wagons or other vehicles, you have also corralled the wagons.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
