ranch

RANCH/ɹænt͡ʃ/UKRAHNCH/ɹɑːnt͡ʃ/

6 meanings of ranch

1
large cattle farmnouncountable
A large tract of land where livestock, such as cattle or sheep, are raised.
Cowboys from the Bar T ranch rode into town every Saturday night.
Their ranch covers so much ground that the cattle are rounded up by helicopter.
UsageUsually live or work on a ranch, as on a farm. Often named by animal: a cattle ranch, a sheep ranch.
Similarspread
2
salad dressingnoununcountable
A shortened name for ranch dressing, a creamy dressing served on salads and also used as a dip.
The wings come with a choice of blue cheese or ranch.
He drizzled ranch over the salad and handed me a fork.
UsageUsually no article: ask for ranch, some ranch, extra ranch, a side of ranch.
3
nouncountable
A dwelling or other property that stands on land given over to ranching.
The ranch, a weathered two-story building with a tin roof, overlooks the pastures where the family still runs a few hundred head of cattle.
From the highway you can spot the ranches scattered across the grazing land, each a cluster of barns and a house under a few cottonwoods.
Similarhomestead, farmhouse
4
raise livestockverbtransitive or intransitive
To manage a ranch or take part in its work.
Her family has ranched the same valley for four generations.
After retiring from the army, he moved to Montana to ranch.
UsageWith or without an object: ranch in Texas, ranch the valley, ranch cattle.
Similarfarm
Note
The verb covers both running a ranch and doing its daily work, so the owner who manages the place and the hired hand who feeds the cattle can both be said to ranch.
5
one-story housenouncountable
A one-story house with a long, low profile and a low-pitched roof.
They sold their two-story colonial and bought a three-bedroom ranch closer to town.
The subdivision is lined with modest ranches, each with a carport and a wide picture window.
UsageOften with a detail in front: a brick ranch, a three-bedroom ranch. Also ranch house or ranch-style house.
Note
In real estate the word names a style, not a setting. A ranch can sit on a small suburban lot far from any livestock, which sets it apart from a house on ranch land.
6
nouncountable
A modest-sized farm, especially in the US Southwest, where vegetables are grown or livestock kept.
Her grandparents kept a few goats and grew chiles on a ranch outside Tucson.
Small ranches along the river supply the farmers market with squash, beans and eggs.
Similarfarm
Note
The small farm sits nearest the word's source: American Spanish rancho meant a small farm or a cluster of farm huts, and in Spain it also named a group of people, such as soldiers, who ate together. A ranch, then, need not be a vast livestock spread at all.

Practice

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Origin

From American Spanish rancho (“small farm, group of farm huts”), which in Spanish also named a group of people, such as soldiers, who ate together. It is recorded in English since the early 1800s, in the farm sense since 1831, and is cognate with English rank.