I. -chə(r) noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin pastura, from Latin pastus (past participle of pascere to pasture, feed, graze) + -ura -ure — more at food
1.
a. : grass or other plants grown for the feeding of grazing animals : herbage
grows quickly and makes excellent pasture for cattle
b. archaic : food , nourishment
2.
a.
(1) : land that is used for the grazing of animals or is suitable for such use
makes me lie down in green pastures — Ps 23:2 (Revised Standard Version)
buffalo pastures on the prairie — R.L.Neuberger
(2) : a lot used for grazing
a small, fenced-in holding pasture — John Bird
his lease was cut into two separate pastures — F.B.Gipson
(3) : a large enclosed section of a cattle ranch
b. : feeding ground
whales, like seals, feed in different pastures at different seasons — National Geographic
c. : a scene of activity
people in more distant pastures, even in literature and science — Dallas Finn
d. : a place or state of retirement
eased out and retired to pasture to make room for the younger man — James Jones
3. : the feeding of livestock : grazing
only about 19 percent is used for the pasture of animals — P.E.James
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English pasturen, from Middle French pasturer, from pasture, n.
intransitive verb
1. : to feed on growing grass or herbage : graze
men and women holding cows on a rope in a field while the cows pastured — Arnold Bennett
2. : to feed as if in a pasture
the very early morning when the animals are pasturing on the seaweed — Nautilus
transitive verb
1. : feed , nourish
a sufficiently unwashed citizen may pasture more than ten thousand lice at one time — Gove Hambidge
2.
a. : to cause or permit to feed on growing grass : put out to pasture
pastured his cattle on the open range
b. : to supply growing grass as food for : let graze
rich grassland that could pasture many cattle
3.
a. : to eat down in grazing
the field was pastured bare
b. : to put livestock to graze on : use as pasture
a conflict between those who wanted to farm the land and those who wanted to pasture it
some growers pasture young sweet clover as soon as the plants are large enough — D.C.McIntosh & D.M.Orr
Synonyms: see feed