jackeroo

or jack·a·roo

[ jak-uh-roo ]

noun

, plural jack·e·roos.

1. an inexperienced person working as an apprentice on a sheep ranch.

verb (used without object)

, jack·e·rooed, jack·e·roo·ing.

1. to work as an apprentice on a sheep ranch.

jackeroo

/ ˌdʒækəˈruː /

noun

1. informal.
   a young male management trainee on a sheep or cattle station

Word History and Origins

Origin of jackeroo¹

1875–80; jack ¹ + (kang)aroo; -eroo

Word History and Origins

Origin of jackeroo¹

C19: from jack ¹+ ( kang ) aroo

Example Sentences

In 1964, he signed up as a ranch hand, known as a jackeroo, after embellishing his abilities on horseback, and was sent to the Kimberley, a vast region in northwestern Australia.

From Washington Post

The trek doesn’t go quite as planned, and Lola takes a job as a jackeroo — the term is explained — at the winery’s nearby sheep farm.

From New York Times

And how many Americans of any century would say “jackeroo?”

From Washington Post

My boyfriend and I have set up a meeting with Father David Barry, a soft-spoken scholar who worked as a bricklayer and as a jackeroo — a cattle station worker — before joining the monastery in 1955.

From Washington Post

Happy Valley resembles the country that White rode across as a handsome young jackeroo, an unsalaried apprenticed drover.

From The Guardian