| 词源 |
barbed wire. When in the 1850s farmers began fencing in their land with barbed wire—twisted strands of wire fence with sharp barbs at regular intervals—ranchers tore the fences down so their herds could pass. This led to barbed wire fence wars in the West, notably one that broke out in Texas in 1884, and helped end the reign of the cowboy by the close of the century. |