pasture

1 of 2

noun

pas·​ture ˈpas-chər How to pronounce pasture (audio)
1
: plants (such as grass) grown for the feeding especially of grazing animals
2
: land or a plot of land used for grazing
3
: the feeding of livestock : grazing

pasture

2 of 2

verb

pastured; pasturing

transitive verb

1
: to feed (animals, such as cattle) on pasture
2
: to use as pasture

Examples of pasture in a Sentence

Noun The horses were grazing in the pasture. Most of their land is pasture. Verb The horses are pastured on several acres of land. pasturing sheep on town lands was actually a cheaper alternative to mowing
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Livestock pastures with trees have been shown to hold more carbon than open pasture lands. Journal Sentinel, 7 Mar. 2024 The storied running back who set the Tigers’ single-season rushing record last season is off to new pastures. Calum McAndrew, Kansas City Star, 2 Mar. 2024 At the time, Phillips and her husband, Mike, were in the midst of developing a resort in the Wasatch Mountains, just outside of Park City, and had just built a barn and some pastures to house horses and offer trail rides on the property. Gabby Shacknai, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 But the sheep and their new caretakers faced a rapidly developing problem: soggy pastures and flooding barn stalls. Hilary Howard, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2024 Drought has reduced pasture for raising cows, leading to smaller cattle herds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 13 Feb. 2024 These pastoral nomads would often travel long distances searching for green pastures and food for their livestock, which included goats, sheep, yaks and cattle, and survived through hunting and moving with the seasons. Laura Kiniry, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Feb. 2024 Over time the trees die off, which creates a savanna that’s more open − less like a woodland and more like a lightly wooded pasture. Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 26 Jan. 2024 Onward and upward, to the relatively peaceful pastures of … uh, Shogun? Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
Verb
So, what sort of romantic connections were snuffed out in those dark hours when Feeld was out to pasture? Gina Cherelus, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2023 Even in decades after WWI, putting ships out to pasture on the Neches was common practice, the man said. David K. Li, NBC News, 31 Aug. 2023 Otherwise, these carcasses are likely to attract wolves, and the wolves might then become habituated to finding food in an area where cattle are pastured. Dawn Stover, oregonlive, 12 Apr. 2023 During the rainy season from April to October, the swamp would swell, leading to a dry season where communities here would take their livestock to pasture and grow crops. Esther Castillejo, ABC News, 19 Apr. 2023 At that point, the rancher removed John’s shoes and put him out to pasture to gain more weight. Claire Panosian Dunavan, Discover Magazine, 11 Jan. 2018 And why is that a taboo, and why are we put out to pasture? Sarah Spellings, Vogue, 27 Sep. 2022 Michael Saylor, perhaps the biggest Bitcoin bull of them all, has wandered out to pasture as CEO of his analytics and software company, MicroStrategy. Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 4 Aug. 2022 Next-generation instruments could be sensitive enough to answer whether this dark matter horse wins it all — or needs to be put out to pasture. Adam Hadhazy, Discover Magazine, 15 Nov. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pasture.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin pastura, from Latin pastus, past participle of pascere to feed — more at food

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of pasture was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near pasture

Cite this Entry

“Pasture.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pasture. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

pasture

1 of 2 noun
pas·​ture ˈpas-chər How to pronounce pasture (audio)
1
: plants (as grass) for feeding especially grazing animals
2
: land or a plot of land used for grazing

pasture

2 of 2 verb
pastured; pasturing
1
2
: to feed (as cattle) on pasture

More from Merriam-Webster on pasture

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