Ranches

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large area of land typically used for raising livestock, where herding and farming practices take place
2. A specific type of agricultural establishment focusing on the breeding and management of various animals for food production
3. An expansive outdoor space allowing for the cultivation of crops and the support of domesticated fauna for agricultural purposes

Etymology: The plural "ranches" is simply the form of "ranch," so the story belongs to the singular. English took the word from American Spanish "rancho," which by the early 1800s described a small farm or a cluster of farm huts. That is a long way from the sprawling cattle operations the plural now names. The Spanish word carried a surprising original sense. In Spanish it meant a group of people who ate together, a messing party or mess, and only later shifted to a place where such a group lived and worked. The root connects it to "rank," through a shared idea of people arranged in a row or line, so the English word and its distant relative are cousins rather than borrowings of each other. Ranch first appeared in English in 1808, and the farm sense followed in 1831. The meaning grew with the American West, where "rancho" became attached to the enormous grazing operations that "ranches" now describes.

Synonyms: farms, estates, properties, homesteads, lands