buckaroo
Americannoun
plural
buckaroos-
Western U.S. a cowboy, especially a broncobuster.
-
Older Slang. fellow; guy.
noun
Usage
What does buckaroo mean? Buckaroo is another word for a cowboy.In its most traditional sense, the word cowboy refers to a man who herds and tends cattle on a ranch, especially in the western United States. Cowboys do most of their work on horseback, and buckaroo especially refers to a cowboy considered a broncobuster—meaning one who “breaks in” (tames) broncos and other wild horses so that they can be ridden.Buckaroo is also an older slang term used as a way to refer to a man, much like how the words guy and dude are used, as in Hey, buckaroo, what’s new with you? Example: When I went through a Wild West phase as a kid, I dreamed of living the life of a buckaroo on the range.
Etymology
Origin of buckaroo
1820–30, earlier bakhara, baccaro, bucharo < Spanish vaquero, equivalent to vac ( a ) cow (< Latin vacca ) + -ero < Latin -ārius -ary; perhaps influenced by buckra; later probably reanalyzed as buck 1 + -eroo
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.
The group disqualifies him, however, after researchers discover his buckaroo abilities are limited to wearing expensive Stetson hats and tripping on his lasso.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 28, 2022
The gathering began as a planned one-off in 1985, the idea of the Nevada folklorist Hal Cannon; the buckaroo, cowboy poet and songster Waddie Mitchell and a handful of their cohorts.
From New York Times • Sep. 26, 2018
Sundays are all-ages, so if you've got a little buckaroo looking to hear some twang, it's the ideal place to push the limits of their bedtime.•
From The Guardian • Jul. 19, 2013
The Hemingway of Hemingway & Gellhorn, trailers suggest, is an Indiana Jones-style buckaroo raging through war zones, chasing lovely dames, and wisecracking in the spirit of Jack Paar.
From Slate • Mar. 16, 2012
Brave buckaroo had heart-burnings enough for a Laura Jean Libbey romance.
From The Ranch at the Wolverine by Bower, B. M.
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.
