mustang
Americannoun
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mustangs
plural
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a small, hardy horse of the American plains, descended from Spanish stock.
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U.S. Navy Slang. a naval officer who received his commission while still an enlisted man.
verb (used without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mustang
1800–10, < Spanish mestengo stray or ownerless beast, noun use of masculine adj.: pertaining to a mixed lot of beasts, equivalent to mest ( a ) such a mixed lot (< Latin ( animālia ) mixta mixed (beasts), neuter plural adj., taken as feminine singular noun; see mixed) + -engo adj. suffix
Explanation
A mustang is a type of wild horse. Most mustangs roam free in the western part of the United States. It's actually more accurate to call mustangs feral horses, since they live like wild animals but are directly descended from horses that were domesticated. These ancestors were Spanish horses brought to North America by explorers during the 1500s. The cowboys who caught and sold mustangs during the 18th and 19 centuries were known as mustangers. The word mustang comes from the Spanish mestengo, "wild, stray, or having no master."
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.
See Examples For:
The image shows a dirt-caked wild mustang kicking up dust in north-western Colorado, USA.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2022
Another inspiring sequence spotlights the late Velma “Wild Horse Annie” Johnston, a longtime mustang activist whose galvanizing efforts led to the passage of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2021
And the novel’s mustang spirit diminishes into a ho-hum horse movie.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2020
Even Raymond the mule, who lived with the wild horses until he retired last year to the farm, has Spanish mustang ancestry from his mother, said Meg Puckett, manager of the Corolla wild horse herd.
From Washington Times ● May 30, 2020
Or about the time he wrestled a pack of wild dogs that had surrounded a lame mustang.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Some subsequently appeared in the slaughter pipeline; inspection records showed mustangs ending up on trucks bound for Canadian slaughter plants.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
But other sources suggest they descended from mustangs lost in the High Sierra in 1871 during a wrangler’s trek from Stockton to Texas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Government lawyers said in court filings Monday the horse advocates are trying to inflame emotions with photos and videos of injured mustangs trying to flee helicopters and wranglers on horseback.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
A longtime observer and defender of the mustangs caught the animal’s struggle on video.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 19, 2023
The British cavalry didn’t need him anymore, so he had been forced to leave the mustangs and find a new job.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
