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.
Livestock farming contributes around 5% of America’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
Livestock farming currently makes up 60 percent of Somaliland's economy, so minerals are expected to be "a game-changer and become the main pillar of our economy," said Barre, the energy minister.
From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026
"We are hoping that government will get this right in vaccinating the entire herd with speed," says Ntuthuko Shezi, head of investment company Livestock Wealth.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026
Livestock from Argentina, Iceland, Norway, and more produce distinctly varied types of wool, from merino to lambswool, cashmere to mohair.
From Slate • Sep. 2, 2025
At long last, we led the last of the Livestock onto the Scows.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" 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.
