These are the old west cowboy terms you’ll find in Longhorns and Outlaws.
Above snakes — Above ground; alive
Afeared — Afraid
Among the Willows — Dodging the Law
Bed ground — Where cattle are held at night
Beeves — Cattle
Best bib and tucker — Best clothes
Between hay and grass — Half grown; not a boy anymore but not yet a man
Big pasture — Jail or penetentiary
Burn the breeze — Ride at full speed
Buzzard bait — A worn-out horse or nag
Choking the horn — Holding on to the pommel or saddle horn (something no cowboy wants to be seen doing)
Chow — Food; dinner
Churn twister — Farmer (an insult referring to using a churn to make butter)
Conchas — Ornamentation that resembles shells
Corral dust — Lies or tall tales
Cow chip — Dried cow manure
Cuttin’ more dirt — Going faster
Diggings — Home, either lodgings or community
Draw cuts — Also called to draw straws or decide something by blindly drawing stalks of grass cut to different lengths)
Drover — Cowboy driving cattle
Dry gulched — Ambushed (surprised by someone hiding in a dry creek bed or gully)
Dusted — Thrown from what you’re riding
Flapping your gums — Talking
Goose flesh — Goosebumps
Got wind of — Heard about
Grub pile — Meal or the contents of the chuck wagon
Flea-trap — Cowboy’s bedroll
Hang your hat — Make yourself at home
Hard pushed for cash — Short of money
Hear tell — Hear a report of
Jawing — Talking
Like lickin’ butter off a knife — Something is easy, not hard
Lynching bee — An event around the hanging (of a person)
Night hawk — Cowboy taking night watch with the herd
No ways bridlewise — Not controllable
One-horse — Small or inferior
Painting the town red — Having a good time
Peck of trouble — Lot of trouble
Pilgrim — Someone from the city, thus unfamiliar with frontier ways
Pull in their horns — Back off and quit looking for trouble
Puncher — Cowboy taking care of cattle
Remuda — Herd of spare horses
Scooped in — Tricked
Shank of the evening — Late afternoon
Slipe — Considerable distance
Sowbelly — Side pork or bacon
String party — Term for a hanging or lynching
Toad strangler — Heavy rain storm
Trampous — Wander
Wake snakes — Raise a ruckus
Linda Aksomitis 