Plural of feedlot; large enclosures where livestock are raised and fattened for meat production, often using concentrated feeding systems.
From 'feed' plus 'lot' (Old English 'hlot,' meaning a piece of land), a 20th-century compound that emerged as industrial cattle raising became dominant in American agriculture.
The term 'feedlot' is relatively recent—it gained prominence in the mid-20th century as cattle ranching industrialized, showing how economic and technological changes create new vocabulary to describe new practices and environments.
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