cowstealer

English

Etymology

From cow +‎ stealer.

Noun

cowstealer (plural cowstealers)

1. (possibly obsolete) One who steals cattle.
   • 1695, François Maximilien Misson, A New Voyage to Italy, page 15:

     They fixed his Skeleton to a Gibbet, upon that of an Oxe, because he had been a Cowstealer; they made Shoes of his Skin, and a Shirt of his Bowels.

   • 1823, Mathew Carey, Vindiciae historicae: or Ireland vindicated, page 304, quoting Ormond:

     "They find it more honourable and safe to be king's evidence, than a cowstealer, though that be their natural profession."

   • 1881, Folklore Society (Great Britain), Publications, page 248:

     A Cowstealer's Trick.—“Some cowstealers will make a hole in a hott lofe newly drawn out of the oven, and putt it on an oxe's horn for a convenient time, and then they can turn their softned hornes the contrary way, so that the owner cannot [identify them].

   • 2005, David Dobson, More Scottish Settlers, 1667-1827, Genealogical Publishing Com, →ISBN, page 91:

     […]
     MCHWOIL, DONALD, a cowstealer, who was banished to the Plantations, at Inverness ...

See also

• abigeus