Ranch

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɹɑːnt͡ʃ/

Definitions

1. A sizable agricultural property utilized for the rearing of livestock, particularly cattle, while also potentially including crop production
2. An extensive tract of land primarily focused on animal husbandry, especially cattle and horse raising, and sometimes farming activities
3. A large piece of land dedicated to the breeding and raising of livestock like cattle, and often includes areas for growing crops

Etymology: The Spanish word "rancho" originally meant a group of people who ate together, not a piece of land at all. It comes from the verb "rancharse," to form a mess or camp for eating, and the same ancestry gives English "rank," which once described a row of people standing together. Spanish speakers in the Americas later applied the term to a small farm or cluster of farm huts, and by the early 1800s the English-speaking world had borrowed it. English first recorded "ranch" in 1808 with the sense of a settlement or group of dwellings, and the meaning of a farm devoted to livestock followed in 1831. The jump from a meal-sharing company to a cattle operation covering thousands of acres is one of those shifts that makes the word's history stand out, though the word simply tracked the Spanish colonial and frontier settings where it was used.

Synonyms: farm, estate, plantation, homestead, spread

Antonyms: city, urban area, metropolis, town, suburb