ox
noun
the adult castrated male of the genus Bos, used chiefly as a draft animal.
ox
1 American
[oks]
/ ɒks /
noun
-
oxen,
plural
-
oxes
plural
-
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.
ox-
2
American
Chemistry.
Ox.
3
American
abbreviation
ox
British
/ ɒks /
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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-2
Short for oxygen
Origin of Ox.3
From the Medieval Latin word Oxonia
Vocabulary lists containing ox
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:
One of Giovanni's most notable miracles involved healing an ox with a broken leg.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2026
The patrolmen are equipped with rifles and handguns, to be used as a last resort against angry polar bears and musk ox.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
They don’t really care about “the reasons” or how others were experiencing America, whose ox the past few decades was being gored.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
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 ● Aug. 5, 2025
But he felt that the musk ox needed some cheer, so he took a chance.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
One man relates that he and a friend or two were out in a hunting party with an ox- team.
From Abraham Lincoln: a History — Volume 01 by John George Nicolay
Hollo!" cried Mr. Van Brunt, who was standing under the apple-tree, cutting a piece of wood for the tongue of the ox- cart, which had been broken "I'm glad to see you can run.
From The Wide, Wide World by Susan Warner
The afternoon was already half spent when Mr. Van Brunt's ox- cart was seen returning.
From The Wide, Wide World by Susan Warner
She used to take long rambles with Mr. Van Brunt when business led him to the woods, sometimes riding part of the way on the ox- sled.
From The Wide, Wide World by Susan Warner
Then their places on the trail are taken by ox- and pony carts.
From Across Mongolian Plains A Naturalist's Account of China's 'Great Northwest' by Roy Chapman Andrews
In some species the legs are very slender, as the Zebu, Manilla Buffalo, and Domestic Ox. 5th.
From Delineations of the Ox Tribe The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes. Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos. by George Vasey
As a teen, he divided his time between school and driving oxen to till the land.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
How that happens will depend on whose oxen are gored.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
In her introduction, she swoops over the poppy fields to free the enslaved oxen forced to build the Yellow Brick Road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2025
They put one broken half of Plymouth Rock into the wagon, and the 30 oxen had an easier trip up Cole’s Hill, and they deposited it beside the liberty pole.
From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2024
The snow was almost a foot deep and already the oxen were having trouble on the hills, slipping and stumbling when their hooves would strike an icy patch or a pothole hidden beneath the snow.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
With protectionist trade policies, there's a very strong likelihood that there may be more oxes gored than lambs saved.
From New York Times ● Jan. 3, 2017
Partly it’s cultural inertia, but I suspect it also has something to do with the fact that the companies whose oxes are being gored own some of the nation’s tallest soapboxes.
From Forbes ● Jul. 11, 2011
She jumps on the cart and Wilf snaps the reins on his oxes.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
Wid my chyart an' oxes stan'in' 'roun', Her pretty liddle foot needn' tetch de groun'.
From Negro Folk Rhymes Wise and Otherwise: With a Study by Thomas Washington Talley
Gwineter hitch my oxes side by side, An' take my gal fer a big fine ride.
From Negro Folk Rhymes Wise and Otherwise: With a Study by Thomas Washington Talley
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.
