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gaucho

[gou-choh; Spanish gou-chaw]
See more synonyms for gaucho on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural gau·chos [gou-chohz; Spanish gou-chaws] /ˈgaʊ tʃoʊz; Spanish ˈgaʊ tʃɔs/.
  1. a native cowboy of the South American pampas, usually of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry.
  2. gauchos. Also called gaucho pants. wide, calf-length trousers for men or women modeled after the trousers worn by South American gauchos.

Origin of gaucho

1815–25; < American Spanish < Arawak cachu comrade
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for gaucho

passenger, driver, traveler, rancher, herder, herdsman, breeder, farmer, bronco, cowboy, straphanger, gaucho, suburbanite, wrangler, vaquero, cowherd, goatherd, sheepherder, buckaroo, cowpuncher

Examples from the Web for gaucho

Historical Examples of gaucho

  • A mounted Gaucho rides on either side of him, to keep him straight.

    The Western World

    W.H.G. Kingston

  • The emphasis on the “him” points to some one not yet mentioned, but whom the gaucho has in his mind.

  • Saying this, the gaucho relapses into silence, the others also ceasing to converse.

  • And communicating this to the gaucho, he holds their horses while they return to search for them.

  • Notwithstanding all this, Gaspar the gaucho is not to be baulked in his design.

British Dictionary definitions for gaucho

gaucho

noun plural -chos
  1. a cowboy of the South American pampas, usually one of mixed Spanish and Indian descent

Word Origin for gaucho

C19: from American Spanish, probably from Quechuan wáhcha orphan, vagabond
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for gaucho
n.

1824, from Spanish, probably from a native South American language, cf. Araucanian cauchu "wanderer."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper