vaquer

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin vaccārius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bəˈke]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [vəˈke]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [vaˈkeɾ]

Adjective

vaquer (feminine vaquera, masculine plural vaquers, feminine plural vaqueres)

1. denim

   Synonym: texà

Noun

vaquer m (plural vaquers, feminine vaquera)

1. cowherd, cowboy

Derived terms

• vaqueria

See also

• cowboy

Further reading

• “vaquer” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “vaquer”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “vaquer” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “vaquer” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French vaquer, itself borrowed from Latin vacāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.ke/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

vaquer

1. (archaic) to vacate
2. (archaic) to discontinue
3. to busy oneself with, to be occupied with
4. to scurry about looking for food
5. to get down to business

Conjugation

Conjugation of vaquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	vaquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	vaquant /va.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		vaqué /va.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	vaque /vak/	vaques /vak/	vaque /vak/	vaquons /va.kɔ̃/	vaquez /va.ke/	vaquent /vak/
	imperfect	vaquais /va.kɛ/	vaquais /va.kɛ/	vaquait /va.kɛ/	vaquions /va.kjɔ̃/	vaquiez /va.kje/	vaquaient /va.kɛ/
	past historic2	vaquai /va.ke/	vaquas /va.ka/	vaqua /va.ka/	vaquâmes /va.kam/	vaquâtes /va.kat/	vaquèrent /va.kɛʁ/
	future	vaquerai /va.kʁe/	vaqueras /va.kʁa/	vaquera /va.kʁa/	vaquerons /va.kʁɔ̃/	vaquerez /va.kʁe/	vaqueront /va.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	vaquerais /va.kʁɛ/	vaquerais /va.kʁɛ/	vaquerait /va.kʁɛ/	vaquerions /va.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	vaqueriez /va.kə.ʁje/	vaqueraient /va.kʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	vaque /vak/	vaques /vak/	vaque /vak/	vaquions /va.kjɔ̃/	vaquiez /va.kje/	vaquent /vak/
	imperfect2	vaquasse /va.kas/	vaquasses /va.kas/	vaquât /va.ka/	vaquassions /va.ka.sjɔ̃/	vaquassiez /va.ka.sje/	vaquassent /va.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	vaque /vak/	—	vaquons /va.kɔ̃/	vaquez /va.ke/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “vaquer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Alternative forms

• vacquer

Etymology

From Old French vaquer.

Verb

vaquer

1. (intransitive) (of an object) to be empty
2. (intransitive) (of a charge, an office) to lack a holder, to be temporarily vacant
3. (intransitive) (of a person, group of people) to be idle, to stop or suspend a regular activity, be in a state of rest
4. (intransitive) (of a parliament, court of justice) to be in recess
5. (transitive) to occupy one's time with something/somone, to consecrate one's time to

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of vaquer

infinitive	simple	vaquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	vaquant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		vaqué
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	vaque	vaques	vaque	vaquons	vaquez	vaquent
	imperfect	vaquois, vaquoys	vaquois, vaquoys	vaquoit, vaquoyt	vaquions, vaquyons	vaquiez, vaquyez	vaquoient, vaquoyent
	past historic	vaqua	vaquas	vaqua	vaquasmes	vaquastes	vaquerent
	future	vaquerai, vaqueray	vaqueras	vaquera	vaquerons	vaquerez	vaqueront
	conditional	vaquerois, vaqueroys	vaquerois, vaqueroys	vaqueroit, vaqueroyt	vaquerions, vaqueryons	vaqueriez, vaqueryez	vaqueroient, vaqueroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	vaque	vaques	vaque	vaquons	vaquez	vaquent
	imperfect	vaquasse	vaquasses	vaquast	vaquassions	vaquassiez	vaquassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	vaque	—	vaquons	vaquez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).