ranch

[ranch]

noun

1. an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions.

2. Chiefly Western U.S. and Canada.,  a large farm used primarily to raise one kind of crop or animal.

   a mink ranch.

3. a dude ranch.

4. the persons employed or living on a ranch.

5. ranch house.

6. ranch dressing.

   I’ll have the small salad, with ranch on the side.

verb (used without object)

1. to manage or work on a ranch.

ranch

/ rɑːntʃ /

noun

1. a large tract of land, esp one in North America, together with the necessary personnel, buildings, and equipment, for rearing livestock, esp cattle

2. 1. any large farm for the rearing of a particular kind of livestock or crop

      a mink ranch

   2. the buildings, land, etc, connected with it

verb

1. (intr) to manage or run a ranch

2. (tr) to raise (animals) on or as if on a ranch

Other Word Forms

• ranchless adjective
• ranchlike adjective
• unranched adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ranch¹

An Americanism dating from 1800–10; from Spanish rancho “farm, cattle farm, ranch”; rancho

Word History and Origins

Origin of ranch¹

C19: from Mexican Spanish rancho small farm; see _rancho

Example Sentences

My late grandmother, in particular, had a predictable, beloved spread: shrimp cocktail with horseradish-laced sauce; the supermarket veggie platter with ranch; crockpot meatballs simmered in barbecue sauce and grape jelly; salsa with Tostito’s scoops.

From Salon

A few Irvine ranch hands rode up with guns, and that put an end to that.

From Los Angeles Times

Play with contrasts: drizzle ranch, shake hot sauce or brown-sugary barbecue.

From Salon

And for their friend and business partner, Raleigh Scott, who ran a sheep ranch in neighboring Curry County, Oregon, where Dock hid after the purges.

From Los Angeles Times

The ranch was renamed the “Olive Dell RV Park and Resort” so ownership could circumvent the California Mobilehome Residency Law, the suit states.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dairy farm 
• estate 
• homestead 
• land 
• plantation