husbandry

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noun hus·band·ry \ ˈhəz-bən-drē \

Definition of husbandry

1 archaic :the care of a household

2 :the control or judicious use of resources :conservation

3 a :the cultivation or production of plants or animals :agriculture

b :the scientific control and management of a branch of farming and especially of domestic animals

See husbandry defined for English-language learners

See husbandry defined for kids

Examples of husbandry in a Sentence

in accordance with his practice of good husbandry, he never buys anything on credit
a family of winemakers whose tradition of vineyard husbandry goes back several generations

Recent Examples of husbandry from the Web

Our hosts, Barry and Anita Hansen, grow acres of them, along with a supermarket aisle's worth of vegetables and eight-foot-tall sunflowers, the plot surrounded by the requisite Montana husbandry mix of pigs, chickens, and sheep.

— boris fishman, Smithsonian, "This Lake Is One of Montana’s Best Kept Secrets," 16 Aug. 2017
The focus of 4-H these days is more on community service and visual arts but still includes animal husbandry centered on rabbits and chickens.

— suzanne baker, Naperville Sun, "County fair a throwback to DuPage's agricultural past," 28 July 2017
In this library, instead of tomes divided into fiction and nonfiction, books are grouped by husbandry, conservation and animal species.

— meg jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "This librarian makes sure the Milwaukee County Zoo is well-read," 26 July 2017
Such long barrows date to an interesting period in the history of this region, when a hunter-gathering lifestyle gave way to permanent settlements supported by domesticated animal husbandry and farming, the researchers noted.

— tia ghose senior writer, Fox News, "Ancient House of the Dead unearthed near Stonehenge," 17 July 2017
In this Tuesday, July 6, 2017, photo provided by Alaska SeaLife Center, Dr. Kathy Woody, veterinarian at the Alaska SeaLife Center, left, and Brett Long, husbandry director, examine a walrus calf currently in the Center’s I.Sea.

— Washington Post, "Rx for orphan walrus calf: touch, massage, cuddle, repeat," 7 July 2017
For generations, kids have been raising livestock and poultry through organizations like 4-H clubs in rural communities, where animal husbandry at home has long been regarded almost as a rite of passage.

— john carlisle, Detroit Free Press, "Quirky U.P. animal swap keeps rural traditions alive," 1 July 2017
The Los Angeles Community College District campuses span the city’s poor and suburban neighborhoods and offer a wide variety of study areas, includingfashion design and horse husbandry.

— gale holland, latimes.com, "1 in 5 L.A. community college students is homeless, survey finds," 29 June 2017
The park’s animal husbandry and veterinary teams provided pre-natal care and regular ultrasounds for the expectant mother, and Kaboodle and her new calf remain under the 24-hour care of the teams.

— dewayne bevil, OrlandoSentinel.com, "SeaWorld Orlando welcomes its first baby walrus," 13 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'husbandry.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.