rodeo orig. U.S.
(rəʊˈdeɪəʊ, ˈrəʊdiːəʊ)
[a. Sp. rodeo a going round, a cattle-ring, etc., f. rodear to go round.]
1. A driving together of cattle in order to separate, count, inspect, or mark them; a round-up.
| 1834 Darwin Jrnl. 16 Aug. in Voy. Beagle (1839) III. 311 Once every year there is a grand ‘rodeo’ when all the cattle are driven down, counted, and marked. 1851 Laws California xcii, Every owner of a stock farm shall be obliged to give yearly one general rodeo. 1891 B. Harte First Fam. Tasajara vii, Her native-bred animal fondly believed that he was participating in a rodeo. |
2. A place or enclosure where cattle are brought together for any purpose.
| 1847 W. C. L. Martin The Ox 24/1 To collect the herd once a week, driving them from all quarters to a rodéo, or circuit, where an account is taken of their numbers. 1866 Athenæum 24 Nov. 672/3 In fine weather they are left on the ‘rodeo’, a bare piece of ground near the house, to which they are driven to pass the night. |
3. a. A public exhibition of skill, often in the form of a competition, in the riding of unbroken horses, the roping of calves, wrestling with steers, etc.
| 1914 B. M. Bower Flying U Ranch 16 They have them rodeos on a Sunday, mostly, and they invite everybody to it, like it was a picnic. 1925 Annual Rodeo Program (Tucson, Arizona) 3 We extend a cordial invitation to you to come to Tucson for our Annual Rodeo. 1938 D. Coolidge Arizona Cowboys ii. 27 The round-up had just begun. They call it rodéo, in Spanish, but the cactus cowboys pronounced it rodér. The contest riders of today have given it another twist and call it ró-deo. 1940 Arizona (Arizona Work Projects Administration Writers' Project) 72 That distinctively western entertainment, the rodeo, was originally an exhibition of cowboy skill in the regular activities of cattle ranch and range. But today it is largely commercialized and many of its features are of the circus type, remote from the cowpuncher's everyday life. 1950 Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Oct. 6/2 Madison Square Garden is presently dedicated to Gene Autry and the annual rodeo. 1976 Columbus (Montana) News 27 May 1/4 One of those injured was a prime mover and instigator of this rodeo, Ed Miller, who is currently in St. Vincent's with a broken leg. |
b. transf. A similar exhibition of competitive skill in the riding of motor-cycles, fishing, etc.; also used more generally of other types of competition. Also
fig. Cf. roadeo.
| 1927 My Oklahoma July 23/1 Oklahoma is going to have a state-wide baby rodeo next year. 1928 Daily Express 7 May 15/3 On Wednesday..a motor-cycle rodeo in the afternoon will be followed by a carnival procession through the town. 1940 Sun (Baltimore) 11 Sept. 1/7 Nazi bombers smashed at London with increasing violence early today in their fourth consecutive dusk-to-dawn rodeo of destruction. 1949 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 22 Aug. 9/1 Entries for the fishing rodeo for youngsters here must be in by Thursday. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
rodeo circuit,
rodeo clown,
rodeo cowboy,
rodeo ground,
rodeo parade,
rodeo queen,
rodeo rider,
rodeo riding (
n. and a.).
| 1961 M. S. Robertson Rodeo 101/1 The California Rodeo..is one of the Big Four, the rodeos whose pioneering and consistent greatness bridged the years from the inception of the ‘cowboy tournaments’ to the modern *rodeo circuit. 1980 Country Life 13 Nov. 1819/1 He..started bronc riding in the rodeos... Demobbed, he returned to the rodeo circuit. |
| 1927 Progressive Arizona IV. ii. 7 The arena presents a scene of animation with the judges, time-keepers, contestants, performers, event clerks, and Jolly, ‘the funniest *rodeo clown of them all’ milling about. 1941 L. B. Chaffin Sons of West xv. 222 This trick, in almost every identical move, is practiced by modern rodeo clowns of today. |
| 1958 E. H. Peplow Hist. Arizona II. xx. 405 The competitive life of a *rodeo cowboy is shorter than that of an athlete in almost any other sport. |
| 1892 G. Atherton Doomswoman xxiv, The platform on one side of the circular *rodeo-ground. 1979 Tucson Mag. Apr. 68/3 Admission is charged for this event at the rodeo grounds. |
| 1941 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Program (Tucson, Arizona) 9 Tucson and its guests spend two hours..standing on each other's toes in order to see the *rodeo parade. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 10 June 1-a/5 In Hardin, activities include a week⁓long carnival beginning Monday followed by a rodeo Friday and a rodeo parade at noon Sunday. |
| 1945 Pueblo (Colorado) Star-Jrnl. 3 June 7/3 Nine girls at the Pueblo ordnance depot will don cowboy hats, bright shirts, and jeans to vie for the honor of *rodeo queen. |
| 1975 R. Hoban Turtle Diary xxv. 115 She'd..been a *rodeo rider, done roller derbies, wrestled, had three husbands and all kinds of troubles. 1979 ‘G. Black’ Night Run from Java i. 7 A rodeo rider thrown by a bronco. |
| 1974 Times 7 Jan. 8/3 We did hunter trials, show jumping, *rodeo riding, and so on. 1976 Evening Standard 29 Dec., The Hard Breed. Rodeo-riding Cain slain by younger brother. |
Hence
rodeo v. intr., to compete in a rodeo. Also
rodeoer;
rodeoing vbl. n.| 1959 Rodeo Sports News 1 Nov. 2/1 I've wondered..what the contestants do when they quit rodeoing. Ibid. 15 Nov. 2/4 A cowboy who would rather hunt than rodeo—we've got everything in the northwest! 1970 Ibid. 15 Nov. 2/2 A top bull rider who rodeoed up through the mid-sixties stopped by and said hello the other day. 1976 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) 14 June c3/2 Because it is not a sport sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, rodeoers are free to compete in professional rodeo while they are still on the college circuit. 1977 New Yorker 6 June 74/2 They loved making cowhands of their frisky little girls—they took them riding and roping and rodeoing. |