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The cowboy is one of the great archetypes of American manliness. <\/span><\/p>\n He embodies many of the virtues Americans prize, such as grit, freedom, and independence. The cowboy followed a code of honor that, rather than being set by an aristocracy, came from the ground up and worked itself out within a posse. <\/span><\/p>\n While many of our ideas of cowboy life are a myth, the romantic ideal of it has had an outsized influence on American culture, including in language. <\/span><\/p>\n Because the cowpuncher was typically uneducated, he often used slang to communicate with his horse-riding, steer-roping peers.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1936, American folklorist Ramon Adams published an ethnography called <\/span>Cowboy Lingo<\/span><\/i><\/a> that focused on the unique language of American cowboys. In it, he cataloged the colorful slang words used by cowboys in the American West from the 19th century to the early 20th.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Adams, cowboy slang is characterized by the use of picturesque metaphors. The cowboy drew from his everyday life to create phrases and words that could be used more broadly. For example, a cowboy might have noticed that when a bull gets angry, it starts aggressively pointing its horns at would-be targets. To tell a fellow cowpoke to quit looking for trouble, a cowboy might say to his compadre: \u201cPull in your horns!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Below, we give you a sampling of common cowboy slang words. You might notice some of them sprinkled in a Western movie<\/a> or novel<\/a>, and you\u2019ll even notice some that are still in use today.<\/span> Ace in the hole<\/b>. A hideout or a hidden gun.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Hoyle.<\/b> Correct, by the book. \u201cHoyle\u201d is a dictionary of rules for card games.<\/span><\/p>\n Acknowledge the corn.<\/b> To admit the truth, to confess a lie, or acknowledge an obvious personal shortcoming.<\/span><\/p>\n Addle-headed.<\/b> Empty-headed, not smart.<\/span><\/p>\n A hog-killin\u2019 time.<\/b> A real good time. \u201cWe went to the Rodeo Dance and had us a hog-killin\u2019 time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A lick and a promise. <\/b>To do a haphazard job. \u201cShe just gave it a lick and a promise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n All-fired.<\/b> Very, great, immensely; used for emphasis. \u201cHe is just too all-fired lazy to get any work done around here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Amputate your timber.<\/b> Go away, run off.<\/span><\/p>\n Apple peeler.<\/b> Pocket knife.<\/span><\/p>\n Apple pie order.<\/b> In top shape, perfect order.<\/span><\/p>\n Attitudinize.<\/b> To assume an affected attitude.<\/span><\/p>\n Bach (pronounced \u201cbatch\u201d).<\/b> For a man to keep house without a woman\u2019s help.<\/span><\/p>\n Backdoor Trots. <\/b>Diarrhea.<\/span><\/p>\n Ballyhoo.<\/b> Sales talk, advertising, exaggeration.<\/span><\/p>\n Barber\u2019s cat.<\/b> Half-starved, sickly-looking person.<\/span><\/p>\n Barber\u2019s clerk.<\/b> A conceited, over-dressed fellow who tries to act like a \u201cgentleman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Barkin\u2019 at a knot.<\/b> Doing something useless; wasting your time, trying something impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n Barrel boarder.<\/b> A bum.<\/span><\/p>\n Between hay and grass.<\/b> Neither man nor boy, half-grown.<\/span><\/p>\n Biggest toad in the puddle.<\/b> The most important person in a group.<\/span><\/p>\n Biggity.<\/b> Large, extravagant, grand, haughty.<\/span><\/p>\n Black-eyed susan. <\/b>A six-gun.<\/span><\/p>\n Blue devils.<\/b> Dispirited. \u201cI have the blue devils today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bone orchard.<\/b> Cemetery.<\/span><\/p>\n Bosh.<\/b> Nonsense. \u201cIt was absolute bosh what he said.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Boss.<\/b> The best, top. \u201cThe Alhambra Saloon sells the boss whiskey in town.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Buckaroo.<\/b> A cowboy, usually from the desert country of Oregon, Nevada, California, or Idaho.<\/span><\/p>\n Buckle to. <\/b>Set about any task with energy and determination.<\/span><\/p>\n Calico queen. <\/b>Prostitute.<\/span><\/p>\n California widow. <\/b>A woman separated from her husband, but not divorced. (From when pioneer men went West, leaving their wives to follow later.)<\/span><\/p>\n Cash in.<\/b> To die.<\/span><\/p>\n Catch a weasel asleep.<\/b> Referring to something impossible or unlikely, usually used in regard to someone who is always alert and seldom or never caught off guard. <\/span><\/p>\n Clodhopper.<\/b> A rustic, a clown.<\/span><\/p>\n Cotton to. <\/b>To take a liking to.<\/span><\/p>\n Cowboy up.<\/b> Toughen up, get back on yer horse, don\u2019t back down, don\u2019t give up.<\/span><\/p>\n Dash.<\/b> Euphemism for damn.<\/span><\/p>\n Dead-alive.<\/b> Dull, inactive, moping.<\/span><\/p>\n Didn\u2019t have a tail feather left.<\/b> Broke.<\/span><\/p>\n Docity.<\/b> Quick comprehension, usually used in a negative way. \u201cHe has no docity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t care a continental.<\/b> Don\u2019t give a damn.<\/span><\/p>\n Dry gulch.<\/b> To ambush someone, especially when the ambusher hides in a gully or gulch near a road and jumps the passersby.<\/span><\/p>\n Dude.<\/b> Commonly, the term applied to an Easterner, or anyone in upscale town clothes, rather than plain range-riding or work clothes. <\/span><\/p>\n Dull music.<\/b> A term applied to anything tedious.<\/span><\/p>\n Eatin\u2019 irons.<\/b> Silverware.<\/span><\/p>\n Eventuate.<\/b> To issue, come to an end, close, terminate.<\/span><\/p>\n Exfluncticate.<\/b> To utterly destroy.<\/span><\/p>\n Fair to middlin\u2019.<\/b> Feeling pretty good.<\/span><\/p>\n Fandango.<\/b> From the Spanish, a big party with lots of dancing and excitement.<\/span><\/p>\n Fat in the fire.<\/b> To have one\u2019s plans frustrated. \u201cIf I don\u2019t get this job completed, the fat\u2019s going to be in the fire.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Fine as cream gravy. <\/b>Very good, top-notch.<\/span><\/p>\n Fix one\u2019s flint. <\/b>To settle a matter.<\/span><\/p>\n Full chisel or full drive.<\/b> At full speed, executed with everything you\u2019ve got.<\/span><\/p>\n Get my\/your back up.<\/b> To get angry. \u201cDon\u2019t get your back up; he was only joking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Get the mitten.<\/b> To be rejected by a lover. \u201cLooks like Blossom gave poor Buck the mitten.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Go boil your shirt.<\/b> Take a hike, get lost, bug off.<\/span><\/p>\n Goney.<\/b> A stupid fellow.<\/span><\/p>\n Gospel mill. <\/b>A church.<\/span><\/p>\n Gull.<\/b> A cheat, fraud, or trick. Also, refers to a stupid animal or person, one easily cheated.<\/span><\/p>\n Gully washer.<\/b> A hard rain.<\/span><\/p>\n Hair in the butter. <\/b>A delicate situation.<\/span><\/p>\n Hang up one\u2019s fiddle.<\/b> To give up. The opposite would be to \u201chang on to one\u2019s fiddle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hard row to hoe. <\/b>A metaphor derived from hoeing corn, meaning a difficult matter or job to accomplish.<\/span><\/p>\n Hay seed.<\/b> Derogatory term for a farmer, also called a hay shaker.<\/span><\/p>\n Heeled.<\/b> To be armed with a gun. \u201cHe wanted to fight me, but I told him I was not heeled.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hitch in the giddy-up.<\/b> Not feeling well, as in: \u201cI\u2019ve had a hitch in my giddy-up the last couple days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hobble your lip. <\/b>Shut up.<\/span><\/p>\n Hot as a whorehouse on nickel night.<\/b> Damned hot.<\/span><\/p>\n Iron horse.<\/b> A railroad train.<\/span><\/p>\n Keep that dry.<\/b> Keep it secret.<\/span><\/p>\n Keep the pot a boiling.<\/b> Keep it going.<\/span><\/p>\n Leap the book.<\/b> An illegal or false marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n Lickfinger.<\/b> To kiss ass. Also called \u201click-spittle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Like bricks.<\/b> Quickly, with energy.<\/span><\/p>\n Like a thoroughbred.<\/b> Like a gentleman.<\/span><\/p>\n Lunger.<\/b> Someone with tuberculosis.<\/span><\/p>\n Mail-order cowboy. <\/b>This was a derogatory term used to chide tenderfoot, urban \u201ccowboys\u201d who arrived from the East all decked out in fancy but hardly practical Western garb.<\/span><\/p>\n Mormon tea.<\/b> Liquor.<\/span><\/p>\n Mouth-bet.<\/b> A gambling man who only gives verbal promises to pay.<\/span><\/p>\n
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