cowboy, in the western United States, a horseman skilled at handling cattle, an indispensable labourer in the cattle industry of the trans-Mississippi west, and a romantic figure in American folklore. Pioneers from the United States encountered the vaquero (Spanish, literally, “cowboy”; English “buckaroo”) on ranches in Texas about 1820, and some pioneers mastered his skills—the use of lariat, saddle, spurs, and branding iron. But cattle were only a small part of the economy of Texas until…
Britannica
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