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ranch

[ranch]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ranch ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions.

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

the persons employed or living on a ranch.

verb (used without object)

to manage or work on a ranch.

Origin of ranch

1800–10, Americanism; < Spanish rancho rancho

Related formsranch·less, adjectiveranch·like, adjectiveun·ranched, adjective

Can be confusedranch wrench

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ranch

plantation, land, estate, homestead, hacienda, acreage, farmstead

Examples from the Web for ranch

Contemporary Examples of ranch

My dad had worked for a while as a ranch hand, and his “Open Road” was a remnant of those days.
My Love Letter to the Stetson
Mark McKinnon
December 24, 2014
On November 23, from his ranch in Texas, Johnson spoke on the phone with acting Secretary of State George Ball.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis
Nina Strochlic
November 23, 2014
He does not remember exactly when they first moved onto the ranch.
Gay Talese on Charlie Manson’s Home on the Range
Gay Talese
October 31, 2014
Manson might get out, Spahn suggested, or there might still be people on the ranch who were loyal to him.
Gay Talese on Charlie Manson’s Home on the Range
Gay Talese
October 31, 2014
The police nonetheless warned the hippies against trespassing, and for a long time it was again very quiet on the ranch at night.
Gay Talese on Charlie Manson’s Home on the Range
Gay Talese
October 31, 2014

Historical Examples of ranch

He was tough, but the ranch horses of John Merchant came out from a night of rest.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
It's Bill that bled me, and bled me until I've had to soak a mortgage on the ranch.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
It was dark most of the way, and it was midnight when I got to the ranch.
The Penance of Magdalena and Other Tales of the California Missions
J. Smeaton Chase
Old Blake would give him work on his ranch over there, that was a cinch.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower
Nimrod and I had been lured to the Cuttle Fish ranch to go on a wolf hunt.
A Woman Tenderfoot
Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson

British Dictionary definitions for ranch

ranch

noun

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

any large farm for the rearing of a particular kind of livestock or cropa mink ranch
the buildings, land, etc, connected with it

verb

(intr) to manage or run a ranch

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

Word Origin for ranch

C19: from Mexican Spanish rancho small farm; see rancho

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ranch

n.

1808, "country house," from American Spanish rancho "small farm, group of farm huts," from Spanish rancho "mess-room," originally, "group of people who eat together," from ranchear "to lodge or station," from Old French ranger "install in position," from rang "row, line" (see rank (n.)).

Sense of "large stock-farm and herding establishment" is from 1831. Of houses, "single-story, split-level" (adj.) from 1950; as a noun from 1960. Ranch-house attested from 1862.

v.

1866, from ranch (n.). Related: Ranched; ranching.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper