cowboy
part of speech
noun (a cowboy, cowboys); adjective use (cowboy builders, a cowboy hat)
meaning for a pupil
1) A man, especially in the western USA, who rides a horse and looks after cattle on a ranch. tree →
2) A character in western films and stories who rides horses, wears a wide hat and boots. tree →
3) (UK, Australia, informal) A worker or company that does careless, bad or dishonest work, often to make quick money: «cowboy builders». tree →
4) A person who acts in a wild, reckless way and ignores the rules. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and films cowboys stand for the old American West, horses, cattle drives and adventure. In everyday British and Australian talk «a cowboy» is a warning: someone who will do a bad job and overcharge you. Phrases: «cowboy hat», «cowboy boots», «cowboys and Indians» (old game, now seen as unfair to Native Americans), «cowboy builder», «cowboy outfit».
examples
- The cowboy rode his horse across the dusty plain. tree →
- My little brother wore a cowboy hat to the party. tree →
- Cowboys drove the cattle to the market town. tree →
- Don't hire them — they're a bunch of cowboys who left our roof leaking. tree →
- Some cowboy builders took the money and never finished the wall. tree →
- The film was about a lonely cowboy and his dog. tree →
- Stop driving like a cowboy, you'll crash! tree →
- The cowboy roped the calf with a lasso. tree →
- The cowboy and the Gruagach stood by the fire. tree →
note
Plural is «cowboys» (not «cowboies»). A woman who does the same work is a «cowgirl». In Australia a similar worker is a «stockman» or «jackaroo». The informal «cowboy» meaning of a bad worker is an insult, so be careful using it about real people.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «cowboy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.