A cowboy or ranch worker, especially in the western United States; a skilled rider who tends cattle.
From Spanish 'vaquero' (cow herder), which comes from 'vaca' (cow). English settlers in the American West borrowed the Spanish term and adapted it phonetically to 'buckaroo' in the 1800s. It represents one of many Spanish-origin words in American ranching vocabulary (also: bronco, lasso, rodeo).
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