Cowboy vs. Redneck

Cowboynoun

A man who tends free-range cattle, especially in the American West.

Rednecknoun

A poor, rural, usually white and male, person from the Southern United States or parts of the Midwest and northeast, especially one who is unsophisticated and backward; sometimes with additional connotations of being rude, racist, and/or arrogant.

Cowboynoun

A man who identifies with cowboy culture, including wearing a cowboy hat and being a fan of country and western music.

Rednecknoun

Any of the miners who wore red bandanas for identification during the West Virginia mine war of 1921.

Cowboynoun

(informal) A person who engages in reckless behavior, especially for the purpose of showing off.

Rednecknoun

A member of a certain Baltimore street gang, active in 1859.

Cowboynoun

A dishonest and/or incompetent independent tradesman.

Rednecknoun

A Roman Catholic.

Cowboynoun

A playing card of king rank.

Rednecknoun

a poor white person in the southern United States

Cowboyverb

(intransitive) To work as a cowboy, herding cattle.

Rednecknoun

a working-class white person from the southern US, especially a politically reactionary one

‘redneck towns’;

Cowboynoun

A cattle herder; a drover; specifically, one of an adventurous class of herders and drovers on the plains of the Western and Southwestern United States.

Redneck

Redneck is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States. Its usage is similar in meaning to cracker (especially regarding Texas, Georgia, and Florida), hillbilly (especially regarding Appalachia and the Ozarks), and white trash (but without the last term's suggestions of immorality).

Cowboynoun

One of the marauders who, in the Revolutionary War infested the neutral ground between the American and British lines, and committed depredations on the Americans.

Cowboynoun

a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback

Cowboynoun

a performer who gives exhibitions of riding and roping and bulldogging

Cowboynoun

someone who is reckless or irresponsible (especially in driving vehicles)

Cowboynoun

(especially in the western US) a man who herds and tends cattle, performing much of his work on horseback

‘they are always playing cowboys and Indians’;

Cowboynoun

a dishonest or careless person in business, especially an unqualified one

‘cowboy coach firms are alleged to have flouted safety rules’;

Cowboyverb

work as a cowboy.

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend.