Meaning & use
cattle grid
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A set of metal bars laid across a road that lets cars pass but stops cows and other farm animals from walking over it.
Grammar: Countable: one cattle grid, two cattle grids.
Patterns
- drive over a cattle grid
- a cattle grid across the road
Slow down before you go over the cattle grid at the farm entrance.
The cattle grid keeps the sheep on the hill side of the road.
We heard the loud rattle of the car crossing the cattle grid.
Word forms
| plural | cattle grids |
|---|
Common combinations
- go over a cattle grid
- The car bumped as it went over the cattle grid.
- a cattle grid across the road
- They put a cattle grid across the road to stop the cows wandering into the village.
- metal cattle grid
- A metal cattle grid clanged under the wheels.
- cattle grid at the entrance
- There is a cattle grid at the entrance to the field.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cattle guard
- The usual American term for the same thing; use it in US texts, and 'cattle grid' in British texts.
Word family
- cattle noun
- Cows and bulls kept on a farm, usually as a group.
- grid noun
- A pattern of crossing lines or bars, like the metal bars in a cattle grid.
Commonly confused: cattle grid or cattle guard?
cattle grid vs cattle guard
This is not a person or a dog; it is the American word for a cattle grid, a barrier in the road.
Practice
What is the main job of a cattle grid?
Choose one answer.
A cattle grid is a barrier of metal bars that cars can drive over but hooves cannot, so it stops animals crossing. It does not provide shelter, weigh vehicles, or act as a boundary marker.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cattle grid”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.