Dictionary

ranchstead en · NOUN

Etymology

From ranch + stead, modelled after farmstead.

Meanings

1. A plot of ranchland and the buildings upon it; a ranchhouse and its adjacent outbuildings.
   • Camp was a rambling old ranch-stead, comfortable bed and running water, meals cooked in an outdoor kitchen, taken outside on the porch. 2025, Craig Boddington, 50 Great Stalks: Hunting the World's Greatest Game Up Close:
   • At the crest stood Phil Grimes's tractor and lowboy trailer, and next to them the LeTourneau, and then down low on the slope he saw a ranchstead—a metal building, old barn, rock silo, outbuildings, and a house. Just past the house lay the river, curled against the base of the cliffs. He geared down and took a hard right toward the ranchstead. 2014, John Keeble, Broken Ground, page 90:

Forms