cattle

Etymology

From Middle English catel, from Anglo-Norman catel (“personal property”), from Old Northern French (compare French cheptel, Old French chetel, chatel, also English chattel) from Medieval Latin capitāle, from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (whence also capital, from caput (“head”) + -alis (“-al”)). For the sense evolution, compare pecuniary and fee.

noun

1. Domesticated bovine animals (cows, bulls, steers etc).
   Do you want to raise cattle?
2. Certain other livestock, such as sheep, pigs or horses.
   Mr. Jos had hired a pair of horses for his open carriage, with which cattle, and the smart London vehicle, he made a very tolerable figure in the drives about Brussels. 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 29, in Vanity Fair, page 246
   The Dover mail was in its usual genial position that the guard suspected the passengers, the passengers suspected one another and the guard, they all suspected everybody else, and the coachman was sure of nothing but the horses; as to which cattle he could with a clear conscience have taken his oath on the two Testaments that they were not fit for the journey. 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book the First, chapter 2
3. (derogatory, figurative) People who resemble domesticated bovine animals in behavior or destiny.
   "I always knew it, but I always denied it, because I'm one of them, and I'm like them." ¶"We're just cattle," the Prison Governor said, relieved now. 1961, Gerald Hanley, The Journey Homeward, page 155
4. (obsolete, English law, sometimes countable, plural cattles) chattel
   goods and cattle
   That then every person so offending and convict, shall for his third offence, forfeit to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, all his goods and cattles, and shall suffer imprisonment during his life. 1552, Parliament of England, An Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer, and Service in the Church, and Administration of the Sacraments
   1684 July. Mistris Dorothy Gray, Adminnestratrix of the Goods and Cattles of Mr Edward Gray, late of Plymouth, deceased, […] 1684, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England, published 1856
5. (uncountable, rare) Used in restricted contexts to refer to the meat derived from cattle.
   The temptation of a lone white man was too great for any gathering of myall-natives, and sheep-fat and cattle-steak seemed there for the spearing, so that a stockman always ran the risk of attack, especially if his shepherds interfered with the native women. a. 1964, Stephen Henry Roberts, The Squatting Age in Australia, 1835-1847, Melbourne University Press, published 1964, page 315
   “But you cooked a human being and ate him,” say I. “I couldn’t help it,” says she. “I remember the cattle steaks of the old days, the juicy pork, the dripping joints of lamb, the venison.” a. 1978, Barry Hannah, “Eating Wife and Friends”, in Airships, Grove Press, published 1994, page 137
   Believe it or not Big Mac is one of the ultra radicals who provide fast food cattle burgers to interstate vehicles who drive all over the place providing scraps for rats, cats, flies, etc, so that the Mad Cow Disease might spread even faster than it would otherwise do. April 3 1996, Emmett Jordan, “Re: AR activist arrested for spreading 'Mad Cow' disease in US”, in rec.food.veg (Usenet)
   If a particular whale species isn't endangered, then there's not a blind bit of difference between butchering them or cattle. 2005 June 25, "Serge" (username), "Re: WOW!!!! WHALE BURGERS...... McDonalds Don't You Get Any Ideas", in aus.politics and other newsgroups, Usenet