Word.ws English Dictionary

cow catcher

cow catcher is the alternative form of cowcatcher.

Meaning of cowcatcher

Noun

cowcatcher (plural cowcatchers)

  1. (principally US) A plough-shaped device affixed to the front of a locomotive (or other large vehicle), usually wedge or V-shaped so as to push or deflect objects on the tracks out of the way, to clear out the train's path and prevent the risk of derailment or major damage to it.
    • With its long tapered cowcatcher, massive headlamp and enormous diamond smokestack behind, wagon-top boiler, high running-plate above the driving-wheels reached from a front door in the square side-window cab, cylinders with slide valves mounted on top, and double bogie tender, General in its...1942 February, “Notes and News: An Historic American Locomotive”, in Railway Magazine, page 56
    Synonyms:
    pilot
  2. An advertisement at the start of a program.
    • Hitchhiker and cowcatcher plugs will be considered.1945, Broadcasting, volume 29, page 55

Forms of cow catcher

pluralcow catchers

Questions about cow catcher

What is cow catcher the alternative form of?
Cow catcher is the alternative form of cowcatcher.

Words near cow catcher in the dictionary

  1. cow biting
  2. cow bitten
  3. cow blowing
  4. cow bunny
  5. cow cat
  6. cow catcher
  7. cow catchers
  8. cow cats
  9. cow chip
  10. cow chips
  11. cow cockies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cow catcher (page history and authors); cowcatcher (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cow catcher.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cow_catcher. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.