# ranch

Pronunciation: US say "RANCH" /ɹænt͡ʃ/; UK say "RAHNCH" /ɹɑːnt͡ʃ/

## Noun

1. A large tract of land where livestock, such as cattle or sheep, are raised.
   - Simple: A big area of land where people raise cows, sheep or other farm animals.
   - _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._
2. A shortened name for ranch dressing, a creamy dressing served on salads and also used as a dip.
   - Simple: A short name for ranch dressing, a creamy sauce for salads that people also dip food in.
   - _The wings come with a choice of blue cheese or ranch._
   - _He drizzled ranch over the salad and handed me a fork._
3. A dwelling or other property that stands on land given over to ranching.
   - Simple: A house or a piece of property on land where farm animals are raised.
   - _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._
5. A one-story house with a long, low profile and a low-pitched roof.
   - Simple: A long, low house with all its rooms on one floor and a roof that is not steep.
   - _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._
6. A modest-sized farm, especially in the US Southwest, where vegetables are grown or livestock kept.
   - Simple: A small farm, often in the southwestern US, that grows vegetables or keeps animals.
   - _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._

## Verb

4. To manage a ranch or take part in its work.
   - Simple: To run a ranch, or to work on one.
   - _Her family has ranched the same valley for four generations._
   - _After retiring from the army, he moved to Montana to ranch._

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ranch (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).