oxen

«oxen» in Mova's school dictionary: the word for more than one ox: big strong farm animals… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun plural (ox, oxen)

meaning for a pupil

Oxen is the word for more than one ox: big strong farm animals used to pull carts and ploughs. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: animals counted, often in old problems with legs, feed or pairs; a «yoke» of oxen is 2. In history: oxen pulled covered wagons on the Oregon Trail and ploughs on farms. In stories: oxen working in the fields.

examples

• The farmer has 6 oxen. tree →
• Each pair of oxen pulls a plough. tree →
• How many legs do 5 oxen have? tree →
• The oxen eat 100 pounds of hay. tree →
• Oxen pulled the covered wagons west. tree →
• A yoke joins two oxen together. tree →
• The oxen rested in the shade after work. tree →
• In some countries, oxen still plough the fields. tree →
• He was driving a herd of cows and oxen. tree →

note

Plural of ox; a thing counted. Hidden number: 4 legs each; a «pair» or «yoke» of oxen = 2. Trap: count oxen, not pairs, unless the problem says pairs. Oxen is an old plural with «-en», like children; never say «oxens».

In the corpora

• Musk oxen form a ring facing outwards, with calves in the middle, so wolves meet only a wall of horns.
• When wolves come, musk oxen stand in a ring with the calves in the middle and their horns pointing out.
• And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and they two made a covenant.
• And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites.
• Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «oxen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.