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.
Unchecked real estate growth in Phoenix, and the appetite of California farmers for alfalfa -- a lucrative, highly water-intensive crop that feeds livestock -- are both sucking up resources.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
One option is Hawaii’s small but promising ocean-tech industry, which includes firms that repair cargo ships, make sensors to detect floods, breed commercial shellfish or make livestock supplements from seaweed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
“Bears don’t like conflict. They like it easy. So the livestock issue, while fear is a real response if you are a livestock producer, can be mitigated … that’s not a deal breaker.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
"There is no insurance system here for livestock, especially goats," she says.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
We found the owner anxious and affable; Serjeant Clippinger paid him a small requisite sum for his livestock and an excellent supply of grain.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
