ranch

American  

[ranch] / ræntʃ /

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.

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verb (used without object)

1. to manage or work on a ranch.

ranch British  

/ 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

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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

Etymology

Origin of ranch

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

Example Sentences

The couple purchased the two neighboring ranch houses in April 2022, records show.

From MarketWatch

“When we bought the ranch, there was only one working water well on it,” Bamberger told a New Yorker writer over lunch in 1991, “and it produced water the color of this Bloody Mary.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Manning Beef was founded in the 1920s as a ranching business.

From Los Angeles Times

There are also results for restaurants, hotels, and dude ranches.

From Literature

Bowman’s family owns a farm and ranch as well as a small-town bank where she used to work, overseeing compliance and even shoveling snow when the job required.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• dairy farm
• estate
• homestead
• land
• plantation