Noun

Singular cattle

Plural countable and uncountable; plural cattle

cattle (countable and uncountable; plural cattle) (usually used as plural)

1. Domesticated bovine animals (cows, bulls, steers etc).

   Do you want to raise cattle?

2. Certain other livestock, such as sheep, pigs or horses.
3. (pejorative, figuratively) People who resemble domesticated bovine animals in behavior or destiny.
   • 1961, Gerald Hanley, The Journey Homeward, page 155:

     "I always knew it, but I always denied it, because I'm one of them, and I'm like them." ¶"We're just cattle," the Prison Governor said, relieved now.

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

   goods and cattle

   • 1552, Parliament of England, An Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer, and Service in the Church, and Administration of the Sacraments:

     That then every person so offending and convict, shall for his third offence, forfeit to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, all his goods and cattles, and shall suffer imprisonment during his life.

   • 1684, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England, published 1856:

     1684 July. Mistris Dorothy Gray, Adminnestratrix of the Goods and Cattles of Mr Edward Gray, late of Plymouth, deceased, […]

5. (uncountable, rare) Beef.

   I hate eating cattle.

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat (called beef and veal), dairy products (milk), leather and as draft animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). In some countries, such as India, they are honored in religious ceremonies and revered. It is estimated that there are 1.3 billion cattle in the world today. In 2009 the cattle became the first livestock animal to have its genome mapped.