Maverick

Maverick Maverick A bunch of unbranded cattle, a rancher who was really a lawyer, and a bad debt, these ideas are combined in the word maverick.The basic meaning of the word maverick is an unbranded range animal. The word maverick comes from the nineteenth century, and a pioneer named Samuel August Maverick who did not brand his calves. In the middle of the nineteenth century, in the southern part of Texas, a lawyer was given 400 cattle form a client instead of money to settle a debt of 1200 dollars. Maverick did not need the cattle, neighboring ranchers took advantage of this and burned their own brand on the calves, taking them for their own. His name became part of the American language because, even though maverick sold his herd of cattle, the term maverick had already spread throughout the west, and was associated with unbranded cattle. Some cross-references for maverick are cattle ranching, cowboys and strays. Ownership of cattle was determined by the brand Without a brand, c! attle could be easily stolen. Changing a cattle brand was a serious crime in the Old West. People caught maverick, word, cattle, brand, unbranded, name, calves, west, someone, rules, part, own, nineteenth, meanings, meaning, lawyer, independent, herd, given, debt, changing, century, brands, become, because, animal, without, whoever, wander, views, very, verb, until, understanding, two