- Badlands: barren areas; other inhospitable western locations.
- Barbed Wire: Wire with sharp points used to fence off land, revolutionizing ranching in the West.
- Branding: Marking livestock with a hot iron to indicate ownership.
- Branding Iron: A heated metal tool used to mark livestock with a design to identify ownership.
- Bronc Buster: A cowboy who could tame wild horses.
- Bronco: An untrained or semi-wild horse, often known for bucking.
- Buckboard: A four-wheeled wagon with a flat, flexible platform.
- Bunkhouse: A building where cowboys sleep and live on a ranch.
- Cantankerous: Bad-tempered, irritable, or argumentative
- Cattle Drive: The process of moving a herd of cattle from one place to another. The act of herding cattle over long distances to market.
- Cattle Guard: A metal grid embedded in the ground to prevent cattle from crossing a specific area.
- Chaps: Leather leg coverings worn by cowboys to protect their legs from cactus, brush, and thorns.
- Chow: Food.
- Chuckwagon: A wagon that carries food and cooking equipment for cowboys on a cattle drive.
- Chuckwagon Cook: The person responsible for preparing meals on a cattle drive.
- Chute: A narrow passage used to direct livestock, especially during branding or loading.
- Cinch: The strap that secures a saddle to a horse.
- Corral: A pen or enclosure for confining livestock.
- Cowboy Up: Tuff-up, get back on yer horse, don’t back down, don’t give up, and do the best you can with the hand you’re dealt, give it all you’ve got.
- Cowpoke: Another term for a cowboy, particularly one who works with cattle.
- Cutting Horse: A horse with the ability to cut cows out of a herd.
- Dogie: A motherless calf or small calf; by extension, any cattle.
- Dry Gulch: To ambush or attack someone, often in a secluded area.
- Dude: Commonly, the term applied to an Easterner, or anyone in up-scale town clothes,
- Feller: Fellow. “That big feller over there is the sheriff.”
- Foreman: A supervisor or manager on a ranch.
- Frontier: The region near a border; unsettled or developing land.
- Grub: Food, especially the provisions carried on a cattle drive.
- Hacienda: A large estate or plantation with a dwelling house.
- Hitching Post: A post where horses are tied.
- Lariat: A long rope used to catch livestock, also known as a lasso
- Hold Your Horses: Stay calm.
- Homesteader: A person who acquires and lives on land given by the government.
- Hoss: A horse, used informally.
- Howdy: A Western greeting meaning “hello.”
- Lasso: A rope with a loop used to catch animals.
- Livery Stable: A place where horses are kept, fed, and rented out.
- Loco: Crazy.
- Loping: A slow, easy gait of a horse, similar to a canter.
- Marshal: A law enforcement officer in the Old West.
- Maverick: An unbranded calf or yearling, also used to describe an independent-minded person
- Mustang: A wild horse.
- Night Hawk: While the rest of the cowboys slept under the stars on a cattle drive, one unlucky soul who drew the short straw, the “night hawk”, had to stay up all night standing guard.
- One-horse: Small, limited, inferior. “Well, if that ain’t a one-horse town.”
- On The Fence: Neutral or undecided.
- Outlaw: A bandit or criminal operating outside the law; also used to describe a wild or a dangerous horse.
- Pony Express: A mail delivery service that used relays of horse riders in the 1860s.
- Posse: A group of people, often armed, gathered to enforce the law or pursue criminals.
- Prairie Dog: A small, burrowing rodent that lives in social groups.
- Pull in your Horns: Back off, quit looking for trouble
- Ranch: A large tract of land for raising livestock, especially cattle or horses
- Range: Open land over which livestock can roam and graze.
- Range War: Conflicts over control of land or water between farmers and ranchers.
- Ride For the Brand: To be loyal to the ranch and rancher that pays a cowboy.
- Rip-roaring, Rip-staver, Rip-snortin’: An impressive person or thing.
- Rocky Mountain Oysters: Fried or roasted calves’ testicles. Also called Prairie Oysters.
- Rodeo: A competitive event where cowboys display their skills in activities such as riding broncs & bulls and roping.
- Roping: The act of throwing a lariat to catch an animal.
- Roundup: The process of gathering cattle together, typically for branding, sorting, or sale.
- Rustler: A cattle thief.
- Rustling: The act of stealing cattle.
- Saddle Horn: The knob at the front of a saddle used for holding a lariat or securing a rider.
- Saddle: A leather seat fastened on the back of a horse for riding.
- Saddlebags: Leather bags attached to the back of a saddle for carrying supplies.
- Saddle Bum: A drifter or worthless person.
- Saddle Up: To prepare to ride a horse
- Saloon: A bar or tavern in the Old West.
- Sand: Guts; courage; toughness. “You got sand, that’s fer shore.”
- Shave: A narrow escape, a false alarm, a hoax.
- Sheriff: The chief law enforcement officer in a county.
- Shindig: A dance, party, celebration.
- Shootout: A gunfight between two or more individuals.
- Sidewinder: A rattlesnake; also used to describe someone who is sneaky or deceitful.
- Six-Shooter: A revolver with six chambers for bullets, commonly used by cowboys in the Old West.
- Sodbuster: A homesteader who plows and cultivates the prairie land for farming.
- Someone to Ride the River With: A person to be counted on; reliable; got it where it counts.
- Spell – Time; for a while.
- Spur: A device with sharp points worn on a rider’s boots to urge a horse to go faster.
- Stagecoach: a closed four-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses and used for transporting passengers and goods along established routes.
- Stampede: A sudden, panicked rush of a herd of animals, often cattle, often caused by fright.
- String: A line of horses.
- Tack: Equipment used for riding horses, including saddles, bridles, and reins.
- Tenderfoot: A person new to the job, or a young person.
- Ten-Gallon Hat: A large, wide-brimmed hat traditionally worn by cowboys.
- Tit For Tat: I shall treat you as you treat me.
- Trail Boss: The leader of a cattle drive.
- Trail Hand: A cowboy who works on a cattle drive.
- Tumbleweed: A plant that breaks away from its roots and is blown by the wind, often seen in Western movies.
- Vamoose: To disappear or leave quickly.
- Vaquero: The Spanish term for a cowboy or cattle herder.
- Varmints: A small or medium-sized unwanted animal, or a disreputable individual.
- Watering Hole: A place where animals drink water; also a term for a bar or saloon.
- Wrangler: A cowboy who handles horses or other livestock.
- Yammerin’: Talking. “Drink yer coffee an’ quit yer yammerin’.”