ranch

American  

[ranch] / ræntʃ /

noun

1. an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions.

2. Chiefly Western U.S. and Canada. a large farm used primarily to raise one kind of crop or animal.

   a mink ranch.

3. a dude ranch.

4. the persons employed or living on a ranch.

5. ranch house.

6. ranch dressing.

   I’ll have the small salad, with ranch on the side.

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verb (used without object)

1. to manage or work on a ranch.

ranch British  

/ rɑːntʃ /

noun

1. a large tract of land, esp one in North America, together with the necessary personnel, buildings, and equipment, for rearing livestock, esp cattle

2. 1. any large farm for the rearing of a particular kind of livestock or crop

      a mink ranch

   2. the buildings, land, etc, connected with it

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verb

1. (intr) to manage or run a ranch

2. (tr) to raise (animals) on or as if on a ranch

Other Word Forms

• ranchless adjective
• ranchlike adjective
• unranched adjective

Etymology

Origin of ranch

An Americanism dating from 1800–10; from Spanish rancho “farm, cattle farm, ranch”; rancho

Explanation

A ranch is a large farm that raises animals, generally grazing animals like cows or sheep. If you dream of raising big, strange-looking birds, you could decide to have an emu or an ostrich ranch instead. Ranches raise animals for meat, and in the case of sheep or alpacas, for wool. When you work on a ranch, you can say that you ranch. A ranch is also a type of single-story, simple house architecturally influenced by the western, informal style of working ranches, which first appeared in the 1950s in the Western US. Ranch comes from the Spanish rancho, first "group of people who eat together" and later "group of farm huts."

Example Sentences

Within the monument, we rambled along Soda Lake Road, admiring windmills, an old ranch house now reserved for bats, and a few hills dotted with lazy cows.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

I fell for it outside of hummus in a tahini-miso ranch from Bon Appétit that I now make on instinct, and since then, it’s found its way into everything.

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2026

Only five monks were still living on the ranch when it was sold for its sky-high price.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 24, 2026

That is now allowing the company to lean on those urban hubs to speed up deliveries in ranch country, Sullivan said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026

She’d been named to the US senior team that year, but this was my first time at the ranch with her.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

Related Words

• dairy farm
• estate
• homestead
• land
• plantation