buckeroo


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buck·a·roo

also buck·er·oo  (bŭk′ə-ro͞o′)
n. pl. buck·a·roos or buck·er·oos
Western US See cowboy.

[Alteration (perhaps influenced by buck) of Spanish vaquero, from vaca, cow, from Latin vacca.]
Word History: The iconic figure of the cowboy has gone by many other names in American English, including buckaroo, cowhand, cowman, cowpoke, cowpuncher, vaquero, and waddy, and two of these words, buckaroo and vaquero, come from Spanish. In the early 1800s, Spain and Mexico had tried to increase settlement in the sparsely populated grazing lands that are now the American Southwest. English speakers from the United States began to venture out into this Spanish-speaking region too, and in the late 1820s and early 1830s, the words buckaroo and vaquero start to appear in English. From the point of view of etymology, buckaroo and vaquero are in fact the same word. In Spanish, vaquero simply means "a man who deals with cows"—that is, a cowboy. It is derived from the word vaca, "cow," by means of the suffix -ero. When vaquero was borrowed into English in southwest and central Texas, it kept the original Spanish spelling. In California, however, the Spanish word vaquero was Anglicized to buckaroo. (In Spanish, the letter v is pronounced like b, so this Anglicized spelling actually represents the sound of the Spanish word well. The change of a Spanish o, pronounced like English (ō) to an English oo in buckaroo can be seen in several other English words, such as calaboose and vamoose.) Craig M. Carver, noted American dialectologist and author of American Regional Dialects, points out that the two words vaquero and buckaroo also reflect cultural differences between cattlemen in Texas and California. The Texas vaquero was typically a bachelor who hired on with different outfits, while the California buckaroo usually stayed on the same ranch where he was born or had grown up, and raised his own family there.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.buckeroo - local names for a cowboy (`vaquero' is used especially in southwestern and central Texas and `buckaroo' is used especially in California)buckeroo - local names for a cowboy (`vaquero' is used especially in southwestern and central Texas and `buckaroo' is used especially in California)
cowboy, cowhand, cowherd, cowman, cowpoke, cowpuncher, puncher, cattleman - a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
If it's OK to disappear for yet another climate protest then surely it's no problem to give the Buckeroo a bye at the end of term and head for the sun a few days early?
Following, Ozzy, Ruby, and Buckeroo of Brooklyn and Manhattan were born in 1985; Genevieve, Guy, and Zadie followed suit in 1987.
There I stood like a Wild West buckeroo, and swung a small Danforth anchor around my head on its line and flung it far out in the water.
Cowbucker also has developed a kids' version called the "Buckeroo," and "The Fiver," a more traditional-looking five-panel cap.
Leaving aside the buckeroo leather interior it comes lavishly appointed, a panoramic sun roof, blind-spot monitor and adaptive cruise control with forward collision detection are backed up buy standard equipment which leaves nothing out, heated seats all round powered tailgate, you get the picture.