Pecos Bill
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A cowboy of American legend who performed superhuman prodigies on the frontier in early days. One of his feats was to dig the Rio Grande river.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Pecos Bill” mean?
A cowboy of American legend who performed superhuman prodigies on the frontier in early days. One of his feats was to dig the Rio Grande river.
Is “Pecos Bill” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.