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 cows) are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius. Cattle are raised as livestock for meat (beef and veal), as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products, and as draft animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel. In some countries, such as India, cattle are sacred. It is estimated that there are 1.3 billion cattle in the world today. In 2009, cattle became the first livestock animal to have its genome mapped.