Definition of "ranch"

ranch

/ɹɑːntʃ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural ranches
1. A large plot of land used for raising cattle, sheep or other livestock.
  Quotations
  There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”
  1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock
2. A small farm that cultivates vegetables and/or livestock, especially one in the Southwestern United States.
3. A house or property on a plot of ranch land.
4. (uncountable) Ranch dressing.
verb
third-person singular simple present ranches, present participle ranching, simple past and past participle ranched
1. To operate a ranch; to engage in ranching.
2. To work on a ranch.