A keeper of cows, a dairyman.
1680. Otway, Caius Marius, IV. i. Heav’n keep me a Cow-keeper still—I say.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., II. 10 June. Let. i. [He] had his head broke by a cow-keeper.
1842. Longf., Sp. Stud., I. ii. Now here’s my master Victorian; yesterday a cowkeeper, and to-day a gentleman.
1886. Mrs. Lynn Linton, in Fortn. Rev., Oct., 509. A lady of rank is a cowkeeper and profits by her dairy-farm.
So Cow-keeping vbl. sb., dairy-farming; ppl. a., that keeps cows, that manages a dairy farm.
1883. A. R. Wallace, Land Nationaliz., 121. The habits of thrift and forethought encouraged by cowkeeping and dairying.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 870. This bull-field has since been … occupied by a great cow-keeping landlord.
