drugstore cowboy

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English

Etymology

First use appears c. 1922 in the San Antonio Evening News. The second sense derives from soda fountains and ice cream counters as a once popular meeting spot in drugstores.

Pronunciation

Noun

drugstore cowboy (plural drugstore cowboys)

  1. (dated) Someone who dresses and acts like a cowboy but has none of the skills.
    Synonym: dude
    • 1974, Film Heritage:
      When we first came to California and we started putting on Westerns, there were no riders in Hollywood; they were all drugstore cowboys.
  • 1990, Kenny Rogers, “Introduction”, in Cowboy Tales: Western Classics from American Masters, Viking Studio Books, →ISBN:
    I was raised on Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, and as a kid I dreamed of doing the things real cowboys do—not drugstore cowboys or rodeo cowboys, but the real sweat-and-dirt variety—like roping and riding, herding cattle, and breaking horses.
  • A young man who loafs around town, especially a lady's man who hangs out in public places in an attempt to pick up girls.
    • 1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 21, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan:
      When any of these jazz-age drugstore cowboys starts trying to fool around with his sister, he won't mince his words. He'll say, "See here, now, what do you mean, trying to ruin my sister?"
    • 1984, Carolyn Osborn, The Fields of Memory, Bryan, Texas: Shearer Publishing, →ISBN, page 14:
      I saw Duel in the Sun late one Friday afternoon, came out blinking at the drugstore cowboys standing in front of the fly-spattered windows of the cafe across the street []
  • See also

    Further reading