Definify.com

Definition 2024


bum_calf

bum calf

English

Noun

bum calf (plural bum calves)

  1. A young heifer or bull which has been orphaned or abandoned; it must therefore be adopted by another cow, steal milk, or be bottle-fed in order to survive, and is therefore often a runt.
    • 2005, Lynn Parr, Cowgirl: A Home on the Wyoming Range, p. 149:
      At the start of calving season, there was another bum calf, Ferdinand, whose mother had abandoned him.
    • 2002, Judy Blunt, Breaking Clean, p. 291:
      I could do it all — I could play their game until I dropped — but I would never own a square foot of land, a bushel of oats or a bum calf in my own name.
    • 1992, Teresa Jordan, Cowgirls: Women of the American West, p. 83:
      She usually manages to be busy feeding some bum calf or wrangling the horses or something.
    • 1989, Gretel Ehrlich, Heart Mountain, p. 114:
      "I feel like a bum calf when you do this to me," Madeleine said and when her mother said, "What?" Madeleine said, "Never mind."

Synonyms