ox
1 Americannoun
plural
oxen, oxes-
the adult castrated male of the genus Bos, used chiefly as a draft animal.
-
any member of the bovine family.
-
Informal. a clumsy, stupid fellow.
abbreviation
noun
-
an adult castrated male of any domesticated species of cattle, esp Bos taurus, used for draught work and meat
-
any bovine mammal, esp any of the domestic cattle
Usage
Plural word for ox The plural form of ox is oxen. This is one of the few remaining irregular nouns whose plural derives directly from its original pluralization in Old English. A similar change is made when pluralizing woman (women), man (men), and child (children). In some rare instances, ox is pluralized in the more conventional fashion as oxes, but this form is often considered incorrect and should be avoided.
Other Word Forms
- oxlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of ox1
First recorded before 900; Middle English oxe, Old English oxa; cognate with Old Frisian oxa, Old Saxon, Old High German ohso, Old Norse uxi, oxi; akin to Welsh ych
Origin of ox-1
Short for oxygen
Origin of Ox.1
From the Medieval Latin word Oxonia
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.
There has been some success with the Australian government's crown-of-thorns starfish culling programme, which has killed over 50,000 starfish by injecting them with vinegar or ox bile.
From BBC
They had an open front space where items of food were laid out, in this example loaves of bread, a lettuce and an ox's head.
From BBC
Therefore, the official order for the zodiac animals is as follows: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
From Salon
"They say he's strong as an ox, leaps tall buildings in a single bound, we don't have that kind of warped reality on our side."
From Salon
“They say he’s strong as an ox, leaps tall buildings in a single bound. We don’t have that kind of warped reality on our side.”
From Salon
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.
