livestock
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of livestock
Explanation
The animals you find on a farm are collectively called livestock. Your herd of dairy goats are livestock, but your toy poodle is just a pet. Livestock are distinguished from other animals by the fact that they're domesticated and raised for food or money — if you get wool, milk, meat, or eggs from animals, they're livestock. The word comes from the sense of stock that means "supply for future use" or "sum of money; from the 1500s, this word was also used to mean "movable property of a farm."
Vocabulary lists containing livestock
Unit 1: Telling Details
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Down on the Farm
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The United States
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Livestock farming contributes around 5% of America’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
To keep watch for rustlers, Brittain scans the classified ads in the back of Livestock Weekly for ones that look suspicious.
From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026
Livestock worrying is a criminal offence that carries a fine of up to £1,000.
From BBC • Jan. 29, 2026
Livestock from Argentina, Iceland, Norway, and more produce distinctly varied types of wool, from merino to lambswool, cashmere to mohair.
From Slate • Sep. 2, 2025
Now, the Fires having greatly advanced, Livestock was pouring out of the Folds of the Hills down towards Hog Island without any Human Encouragement.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
