corral
[kuh-ral]
- an enclosure or pen for horses, cattle, etc.
- 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.
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- to confine in or as if in a corral.
- Informal.
- to seize; capture.
- to collect, gather, or garner: to corral votes.
- to form (wagons) into a corral.
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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 -al1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for corral
Contemporary Examples
And so the reaction seems to be to corral oneself off from disagreement.
Pew Study: Americans Are Self-Segregating Amid Proliferating Partisan MediaJohn Avlon
October 21, 2014
How can you corral all your health data in one central repository—effortlessly?
And in the land of livestock and grassland and corral and endless highway, that is more or less everything.
Senator Paul also scorned “labels” and the tendency to corral politicians and thinkers into neat, ideological camps.
Ware reaches to grab a few carts that have been left just feet away from the corral.
Historical Examples
He had led Andrew to the corral and told him to make his choice.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
That corral where he usually kept his wagon, and where the old hut stood.
The Law-BreakersRidgwell Cullum
Also, thar's nothin' in that corral bluff of Missis Rucker's.
Faro Nell and Her FriendsAlfred Henry Lewis
When the men had made a hasty end of their breakfast three of them started to the corral.
The Duke Of Chimney ButteG. W. Ogden
A fence in the Bad Lands was unknown outside a corral in those days.
The Duke Of Chimney ButteG. W. Ogden
corral
- mainly US and Canadian an enclosure for confining cattle or horses
- mainly US (formerly) a defensive enclosure formed by a ring of covered wagons
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- to drive into and confine in or as in a corral
- informal to capture
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Word Origin
C16: from Spanish, from Vulgar Latin currāle (unattested) area for vehicles, from Latin currus wagon, from currere to run
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for corral
n.
1580s, from Spanish corral, from corro "ring," Portuguese curral, of uncertain origin. Perhaps ultimately African, or from Vulgar Latin *currale "enclosure for vehicles," from Latin currus "two-wheeled vehicle," from currere "to run."
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v.
1847, from corral (n.); meaning "to lay hold of, collar," is U.S. slang from 1860. Related: Corraled.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper