"Cowboy" as an adjective? [closed]

Question

I forget what phrases it's used in, but I'm pretty sure I've heard cowboy used an adjective to describe something someone made (most likely something poorly shimmed together on the road, just good enough to work).

Can anyone recall any usages of the word this way, or provide a proper definition? I've searched the definition of cowboy on many sites, but they all only provide definitions for it as a noun and verb.

EDIT: I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT DESCRIBING A PERSON AS A COWBOY, DONT CLOSE THIS QUESTION!

Answer 1

I've heard cowboy used an adjective to describe something (most likely something poorly shimmed together on the road, just good enough to work).

Many nouns can be used attributively as modifiers, as in cowboy boots, meaning typical of, or referring to, a cowboy or cowboy style.

It appears, however, that cowboy as a modifier can also mean jury-rigged, improvised, expedient, suboptimal, etc. as illustrated in the following examples of cowboy modifying solution, IT, and engineering. (I'm not sure how the expression is being used in the math examples, where it is contrasted with stretched out solution. Perhaps it is an allusion to lassoing or lassoing in.)

"The people we are looking for," explained the EDS futurist Jeff Wacker, "are people who can not only catch a problem, but quickly come up with a solution that will fix the problem for good, so it will never happen again...They see the problem, stop the problem, and then redesign the system so that that particular problem never, ever happens again—and it can't be a cowboy solution." Thomas Friedman; The World is Flat (2007)

Note that if a > 0, we get a straight-stretched out solution, with y = 0; whereas if a < 0, we get a cowboy solution, with ... S. Jalnapurkar; Modeling and Stabilization for Mechanical Systems (1999)

The solution on the left is called the stretched out solution, whereas the one on the right is the cowboy solution. Lawrence Sirovich; Trends and Perspective in Applied Mathematics (2012)
[See the two illustrations on the next page.]

The cowboy solution of solving problems through violence also links Holly to Harry's own more rationalized state and corporate violence, seconded by the fascist BaronKurtz, a fan who carries a copy of Martin's The Oklahoma Kid. D. Broe; Class, Crime and International Film Noir

Moreover, what IT specialists inside the organization deemed “cowboy IT" reigned: rogue IT specialists implanted in locations outside OMES headquarters would regularly jury-rig a solution to a problem... C. Fussell and C. Goodyear; One Mission (2017) (Snippet view)

I asked the metal benders to make me up a small scoop that we could install under the screen, and force more air in to the system. We did, and it worked like a champ. We had it painted to match the ship and I anticipated that the CO would be quite pleased. He viewed it as "cowboy engineering", and I had another black mark. A. Wagner and U Wagner; Aloft (2005)

It is interesting to note that in the same way that we might dismiss this as 'cowboy engineering', the control and data acquisition systems with which many of us are comfortable, are equally readily dismissed as 'North Seaed' by some of these smaller Gulf opererators. Subsea Control and Data Acquisition '98 (1998)

Answer 2

It's chiefly British slang. A label given to an incompetent worker, especially in the building trade. It usually refers to the person who does the job, or makes the object. I can't think of any examples where a shoddy object has been called 'cowboy' but I suppose it's possible.

Cowboy Builder

British English informal a house builder with no proper training or official QUALIFICATIONS who does work of a low standard
Do-it-yourself decorators and cowboy builders are ruining Britain’s historic towns.

Some examples:

Cowboy builders: 13 telltale signs so you can avoid them

Cowboys (UK sitcom)
"If a job's worth doing it's worth doing wrong"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6R7V2nYaCQ&list=PLheCx_qszp38FZ6nJKTRXxGjC1yz8BUCa

Cowboy Builders (UK investigative show, exposing incompetent workers)

Answer 3

cowboy (adj.)

reckless, impulsive, flamboyant US

To shoot a man off his front doorstep, without the mapped-out getaway, the "hot" car, the other fine details carefully worked out, was a truly a "cowboy job."—Burton Turkus and Sid Feder, Murder, Inc. p.9, 1951

T. Dalzell and T. Victor; The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2015)

---

"The media played you up as a hero. Back here in the office, I got reamed. You know how it is with the new chief—better to go by the book and have a negative outcome than do some cowboy stunt that works.” Mark Schorr; Fixation (2008)

As he turned to give the order, Langston said, “Actually sir, Spiros and I don't really see eye to eye, and like you said, we don't need any cowboy heroics. Just give me a man with a cool head, who'll do what I say. Peter Harmyk; A Wind Through Paradise (2004)

America, with its lush life of sunshine and fruit and dance orchestras and comely women and bathrooms and cocktail bars and exuberant inductions into army life and cowboy maneuvers and brass bands and epic military exercises, was remote and unreal to them. James Wellared; General George S. Patton (2017)

---

cowboy (n.)

Informal a. a person who is an irresponsible or unscrupulous operator in business b. (as a modifier) cowboy contractors; cowboy shop steward

Collins print dictionary

A person without qualifications who competes against established traders or operators, providing shoddy goods or services usually at low (or inflated) prices; one who is recklessly unscrupulous in business. Frequently attributive. slang. (OED)