jackeroo

American  

[jak-uh-roo] / ˌdʒæk əˈru /

Or jackaroo

noun

jackeroos plural

1. an inexperienced person working as an apprentice on a sheep ranch.

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verb (used without object)

jackerooed, jackerooing

1. to work as an apprentice on a sheep ranch.

jackeroo British  

/ ˌdʒækəˈruː /

noun

1. informal a young male management trainee on a sheep or cattle station

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• jackeroos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of jackeroo

1875–80; jack ¹ + (kang)aroo; cf. -eroo

Example Sentences

In 1964, he signed up as a ranch hand, known as a jackeroo, after embellishing his abilities on horseback, and was sent to the Kimberley, a vast region in northwestern Australia.

From Washington Post • Apr. 12, 2023

The trek doesn’t go quite as planned, and Lola takes a job as a jackeroo — the term is explained — at the winery’s nearby sheep farm.

From New York Times • May 18, 2022

"Can't I get the coat, sir?" asked the willing jackeroo.

From The Shadow of a Man by Hornung, E. W. (Ernest William)

They called the German missionaries of 1838 "jackeroo," a gabbler, because they were always talking.

From Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Morris, Edward Ellis

Ives the jackeroo, a weak youth wearing spectacles, had put on nothing but the long-suffering smile with which he was in the habit of receiving the storekeeper's grape-shot.

From The Shadow of a Man by Hornung, E. W. (Ernest William)