wrangler
English
Etymology
Noun
wrangler (plural wranglers)
- Someone who wrangles or corrals.
- A brawler or disputant.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
- The Seas and Windes (old Wranglers) tooke a Truce, / And did him ſeruice; he touch'd the Ports desir'd,
- (US) A cowboy who takes care of saddle horses.
- 1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 5, in Arizona Nights[1]:
- Even as I stretched my arms and shivered a little, the two wranglers threw down their tin plates with a clatter, mounted horses and rode away in the direction of the thousand acres or so known as the pasture.
- (US) A cowboy who takes care of tourists.
- An animal handler or trainer.
- (UK, education, Cambridge University) A student who has completed the third year of the mathematical tripos with first-class honours.
- 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
- During all this excursion, she condescended to say civil things to him: she quoted Italian and French poetry to the poor bewildered lad, and persisted that he was a fine scholar, and was perfectly sure he would gain a gold medal, and be a Senior Wrangler.
- (US, education, New England, derogatory) A special education teacher.
Usage notes
In the Cambridge sense, the student taking the first place in the class is the senior wrangler, the second is the second wrangler, and so on.