cattle

cattle
   1. a category of despised persons
   More dysphemism than euphemism. Evelyn used the word of prostitutes:
    Nelly... concubines and cattell of that sort.
   A similar derogatory use was of slaves in the Southern States:
    Could be payin' [a right nice price] for the right kind of cattle. (Fraser, 1971, writing in 19th-century style about a slave owner)
   2. an act of copulation
   Rhyming slang on cattle truck, and used figuratively, if at all:
    I don't give a flying cattle if you give me fifteen thousand pounds a week. (Kersh, 1936)

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

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  • Cattle — Cat tle (k[a^]t t l), n. pl. [OE. calet, chatel, goods, property, OF. catel, chatel, LL. captale, capitale, goods, property, esp. cattle, fr. L. capitals relating to the head, chief; because in early ages beasts constituted the chief part of a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • CATTLE —    Cattle had been reared since the Neolithic in central Italy, although it has recently been suggested by geneticists that some of the white cattle distinctive of northern Etruria today may have had a more recent eastern Mediterranean origin.… …   Historical Dictionary of the Etruscans

  • cattle — mid 13c., from Anglo Fr. catel property (O.N.Fr. catel, O.Fr. chatel), from M.L. capitale property, stock, neuter of Latin adj. capitalis principal, chief, from caput head (gen. capitis; see HEAD (Cf. head)). Cf. sense development of FEE …   Etymology dictionary

  • cattle — [n] bovine animals beasts, bovid mammals, bulls, calves, cows, dogies*, herd, livestock, longhorn*, moo cows*, oxen, shorthorns, stock, strays; concept 394 …   New thesaurus

  • cattle — ► PLURAL NOUN ▪ large ruminant animals with horns and cloven hoofs, domesticated for meat or milk or as beasts of burden; cows and oxen. ORIGIN Old French chatel chattel …   English terms dictionary

  • cattle — [kat′ l] pl.n. [ME & Anglo Fr catel (OFr chatel) < ML captale, property, stock < L capitalis, principal, chief < caput, HEAD: orig. sense in var. CHATTEL] 1. Archaic farm animals collectively; livestock 2. domesticated oxen collectively; …   English World dictionary

  • Cattle — Cow redirects here. For other uses, see Cow (disambiguation). For other uses, see Cattle (disambiguation). Cattle …   Wikipedia

  • cattle — n. 1) to breed; raise (esp. AE), rear (BE) cattle 2) to drive; graze; round up cattle 3) to brand cattle 4) dairy; prize cattle 5) cattle graze 6) a head of cattle; a herd of cattle 7) young cattle are calves 8) female cattle are cows 9) male… …   Combinatory dictionary

  • CATTLE — The domestication of cattle began in prehistoric times. Ancient Sumerian inscriptions refer to the raising of cattle, and from the third millennium B.C.E. they are depicted in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian drawings as used for plowing (see… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • cattle — cattleless, adj. /kat l/, n. (used with a pl. v.) 1. bovine animals, esp. domesticated members of the genus Bos. 2. Bib. such animals together with other domesticated quadrupeds, as horses, swine, etc. 3. Disparaging. human beings. [1175 1225; ME …   Universalium

  • cattle — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ beef, dairy ▪ Highland, longhorn, shorthorn ▪ native ▪ wild ▪ …   Collocations dictionary

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