cowstealer

English

Etymology

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
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