Synonyms for cowboys
- bronco
- buckaroo
- cattleman
- cowhand
- cowpoke
- cowpuncher
- drover
- gaucho
- herdsman
- rancher
- stockman
- vaquero
- wrangler
- bronco-buster
- cattle herder
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR COWBOYS
Four of the cowboys had already disappeared in different directions.
It was a cowboy party, and one of the cowboys was Donald Morrison.
A vivid portrayal of the experience of an Eastern author among the cowboys.
Most of them are more farmhands than cowboys, but Kid will be apt to lead off.
The gamblers laughed at him and the cowboys "played horse" with him.
He turned to the cowboys and asked them to help, but they refused to touch Du Sang.
By this time the youngest of the cowboys had steadied and was thinking hard.
Very few of them were cowboys, and they were not shooting into the air.
A moment later came the whoop of the cowboys in the rescue party.
Cowboys left their partners standing in the middle of the floor.
WORD ORIGIN
1725, "boy who tends to cows," from cow (n.) + boy. Sense in Western U.S. is from 1849; in figurative use by 1942 for "brash and reckless young man" (as an adjective meaning "reckless," from 1920s). Cowhand is first attested 1852 in American English (see hand (n.)). Cowpoke (said to be 1881, not in popular use until 1940s) was said to be originally restricted to the cowboys who prodded cattle onto railroad cars with long poles.