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.
It comes from the surrounding landscape, including farm fields, livestock operations, diesel exhaust and unpaved roads.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
Over time, they can enter freshwater and marine environments, raising increasing concerns about potential health risks to humans, livestock, and wildlife.
From Science Daily • Apr. 8, 2026
Each option reduces overall productivity, cutting supplies of basic foods, feed for livestock and key ingredients used in a wide range of food products.
From Salon • Apr. 8, 2026
Agriculture companies generally require an outsider to wear washed clothes they provide before working with livestock to avoid any contamination.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
So far, I’ve emphasized direct and indirect values of crops and livestock as food.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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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.