Definition of "cattle" in English

noun

1. Domesticated animal of the species Bos taurus (cows, bulls, steers, oxen etc), and other hoofed mammals of the genus Bos.

   • Many cattle were suffering from a disease called BSE.

2. Certain other livestock, such as sheep, pigs or goats. Also rarely applied to horses.

3. (derogatory, figuratively) People who resemble domesticated bovine animals in behavior or destiny.

4. (obsolete, English law, sometimes countable, plural cattles) chattel

   • goods and cattle

5. (uncountable, rare) Used in restricted contexts to refer to the meat derived from cattle.

   • If a particular whale species isn't endangered, then there's not a blind bit of difference between butchering them or cattle.

verb

1. (transitive, Cockney rhyming slang) Ellipsis of cattle truck (“to fuck: to break, destroy”).