A wide and deep trench cut across a railway (under the rails), on each side of a level crossing, to prevent cattle from straying along the line; a ‘cow-pit.’ (In U.S.)
1843. in Edwards’ Chancery Cases, III. 489. The first cattle guards he saw were in one thousand eight hundred and thirty six.
1881. Decatur Daily Republican, 17 May, 3/5. The night was rainy and very dark, and in groping along the track the negro fell into a cattle guard and sustained severe injuries.
