| All of the following terms were used in the cattle-driving era (1867-1885): |
| afoot |
said of a cowboy on foot without a horse |
| Arbuckle's |
the most common brand of coffee used on the range |
| bedroll |
a couple of blankets rolled out near a fire, where one would "roast on one side and freeze on the other" |
| bed-wagon |
a wagon used by the larger cattle outfits to carry bedding, branding irons, hobbles, ropes, and other range supplies |
| big fifty |
nickname for the .50 caliber Sharps rifle, used for hunting buffalo and other game |
| blacksnake |
a long, cruel whip |
| bogged cattle |
cattle stuck in mud. One of the cowboy's most difficult job was to extricate cattle from thick mud. |
| brand |
the emblem or identifying letter of a ranch burned onto the hides of cattle by a red hot iron |
| bronc buster |
one who broke or trained wild horses for riding |
| buckaroo |
Northwestern term for a cowboy |
| buck out in smoke |
to die in a gunfight |
| buttermilk |
motherless calf |
| calico |
cowboy's slang for a woman |
| cash in one's six shooter |
outlaw's term for holding up a bank |
| chaps |
short for chaperejos, leather breeches worn over a cowboy's pants to help protect his legs |
| chuck |
cowboy term for food; grub |
| cinch up |
to fasten a saddle on a horse's back |
| cow town |
a town at the end of a cattle trail |
| dead man's hand |
a combination of aces and eights, which was considered bad luck throughout the West because Wild Bill Hickock was holding this hand when he was killed by Jack McCall during a poker game |
| derringer |
a short, easily concealed one-shot pistol for close-range assaults |
| dogie |
an emaciated calf that has suffered through a rough winter with little food; a motherless calf |
| dry drive |
a cattle drive through waterless expanses |
| farmer (nicknames) |
nicknames for farmers: churn-twister, drylander, forker, hay slayer, nester, plow chaser, sod-buster, squatter |
| forty-niner |
anyone who took part in the California gold rush of 1849 |
| get the drop |
to beat one's opponent to the draw |
| gone over the range |
said of one who had died |
| hasta la vista |
Spanish for "see you later" |
| hobble |
device used to prevent horses from running away |
| homestead |
land claimed by a squatter or settler |
| Homestead Act of 1862 |
guaranteed ownership of a 160 acre tract of land to any head of household after he had improved the land and lived on it for five years |
| John Law |
frontier nickname for any officer of the law |
| Justin's |
high-quality, Texas-made boots |
| lariat |
a rope |
| lasso |
a fifty-foot rope made of rawhide and having a running noose |
| longhorns |
the long-horned cattle of Texas |
| maverick |
an unbranded cow or calf of unknown ownership |
| muleskinner |
a muledriver |
| muleys |
hornless cattle |
| nester |
cattleman's negative term for a squatter who claimed range land and farmed it |
| night herder |
one who herded cattle at night |
| pay |
pay for cowboys was typically around forty dollars a month |
| posse |
a group of men who banded together to track down and apprehend criminals |
| red-eye |
slang for whiskey |
| roundup |
conducted twice per year, in the spring to brand new calves and in the fall to drive the cattle to market. Roundups were over the open range - hundreds of miles. |
| rustle |
to steal cattle |
| shakin' a hoof / shindig |
cowboy term for dancing |
| Sharp's rifle |
single-shot, lever-action rifle used by frontiersmen to hunt big game, especially buffalo |
| shooting iron |
slang for gun |
| vaqueros |
Spanish term for cowboys |
| war-bag |
a sack used by cowboys for carrying belongings |
| wrangle |
to herd horses |
| wrangler |
one who herded horses |
