| 释义 |
▪ I. bully, n.1|ˈbʊlɪ|
Also 6 bullye.
[Etymology obscure: possibly ad. Du. boel ‘lover (of either sex)’, also ‘brother’ (Verwijs & Verdam); cf. MHG. buole, mod.Ger. buhle ‘lover’, earlier also ‘friend, kinsman’. Bailey 1721 has boolie ‘beloved’ as an ‘old word’. Bully can hardly be identical with Sc. billie, brother, but the dial. sense 2 seems to have been influenced by that word. There does not appear to be sufficient reason for supposing that the senses under branch II. are of distinct etymology: the sense of ‘hired ruffian’ may be a development of that of ‘fine fellow, gallant’ (cf. bravo); or the notion of ‘lover’ may have given rise to that of ‘protector of a prostitute’, and this to the more general sense. In the popular etymological consciousness the word is perhaps now associated with bull n.1; cf. bullock v.]
I.
†1.
a. A term of endearment and familiarity, orig. applied to either sex: sweetheart, darling. Later applied to men only, implying friendly admiration: good friend, fine fellow, ‘gallant’. Often prefixed as a sort of title to the name or designation of the person addressed, as in Shakes., ‘bully Bottom’, ‘bully doctor’. Obs. exc. arch.
1538Bale Thre Lawes 475 Though she be sumwhat olde It is myne owne swete bullye My muskyne and my mullye. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 8 What saist thou, bully Bottome? 1598― Merry W. ii. iii. 18 'Blesse thee, bully-Doctor. 1599― Hen. V, iv. i. 48 From heartstring I loue the louely Bully. 1610― Temp. v. i. 258 Coragio Bully-Monster Corasio. 1688A. Pulton Refl. Missioner's Arts 8 A Band of Bully Scholars, marching under ground with their Black-Bills. 1754Richardson Grandison IV. xv. 115, I haue promised to be with the sweet Bully early in the morning of her important day.
b. attrib., as in bully-boy.
1609T. Ravenscroft Deuterom., He that is a bully boy, Come pledge me on the ground. a1687Cotton æn. Burlesqued (1692) 53 From each part runs yon bully rustick, To take advantage of the first kick. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 143 The bully-boys of the Helderberg. 1818Scott Rob Roy viii, You are not the first bully-boy that has said stand to a true man. 1880Webb Goethe's Faust i. ii. 53 My over jolly bully-boy, let be.
2. dial. Brother, companion, ‘mate’.
1825Brockett North Country Gloss. 32 Now generally used among keelmen and pitmen to designate their brothers, as bully Jack, bully Bob, etc. Probably derived from the obsolete word boulie, beloved. 1860Fordyce Hist. Coal, &c. 60 They [the keelmen] are remarkably friendly to each other, being all ‘keel bullies’, or keel brothers. 1862Smiles Engineers III. 12 ‘Bully’..an appellation still in familiar use amongst brother workers in the coal districts. 1863Tyneside Songs 61 Marrows, cries a bully, aw've an idea..We'll find Sir John Franklin.
II.
3. a. A blustering ‘gallant’; a bravo, hector, or ‘swash-buckler’; now, esp. a tyrannical coward who makes himself a terror to the weak.
1688Shadwell Bury F. iv. Wks. (1720) 193 A lady is no more to be accounted a Beauty, till she has killed her man, than the bullies think one a fine gentleman, till he has kill'd his. 1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Pref. (1851) 10 Those furious Hectors we value not of a rush. We have been accustomed to rout such Bullies [L. istos minaces] in the Field. 1732Pope Ep. Bathurst 340 Where London's column, pointing at the skies Like a tall bully, lifts the head, and lyes. 1780Duncan Mariner's Chron. (1804) II. 296 The most swaggering, swearing bullies in fine weather, were the most pitiful wretches on earth, when death appeared before them. 1863Dicey Federal St. II. 245 A low-minded, unscrupulous bully, notorious for his pro-Slavery sympathies.
b. A ruffian hired for purposes of violence or intimidation. arch.
1730Fielding Tom Thumb ii. i, Were he..a bully, a highway-man, or prize-fighter, I'd nab him. 1813Shelley Q. Mab. ix. 179 These are the hired bravos who defend The tyrant's throne—the bullies of his fear. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 204 A gang of bullies was secretly sent to slit the nose of the offender.
4. spec.
a. The ‘gallant’ or protector of a prostitute; one who lives by protecting prostitutes.
1706De Foe Jure Div. i. 8 Mars the Celestial Bully they adore, And Venus for an Everlasting Whore. 1707Farquhar Beaux' Strat. iii. iii. 37, Sull. What! Murther your Husband to defend your Bully. Mrs. Sull. Bully! for shame..Bullies wear long Swords. 1711Swift Lett. (1767) III. 249 A bully that will fight for a whore, and run away in an army. 1749Chesterfield Lett. (1792) II. ccxii. 312 Shew yourself..the advocate, the friend, but not the bully of Virtue. 1750Johnson Rambl. No. 107 ⁋12 The bully and the bawd, who fatten on their misery. 1817M. Bennet in Parl. Deb. 861 Would he be less the bully of a brothel?
5. attrib. and comb., as bully-critic, bully-fop, bully-killer, bully-rake, bully-royster, bully-ruffian, bully-swordsman; also † bully-back, a bully who supports another person; hence † bully-back v.; bully-boy, (a) (see sense 1 b); (b) a young ruffian; a ‘tough’; esp. = sense 3 b; † bully-cock n., † bully-cocked a., (a hat) worn as a bully wears it (cf. billy-cock); † bully-huff, a boaster who is also a bully; † bully-scribbler, a writer who bullies.
1726Amherst Terræ Fil. xxxiii. 179 They have spiritual bravoes on their side, and old lecherous *bully-backs to revenge their cause.
1759Dilworth Pope 43 Supported and *bully-backed by that blind hector impudence.
1932B. de Voto Mark Twain's America iii. 60 Or pulled at the end of ropes which the *bully-boys lugged through swamp and mire. 1952S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xii. 197 Typical of this whole generation of bully-boy, movie-tough-guy, Hemingway idolaters. 1963New Statesman 30 Aug. 245/1 Tenants..told one how Rachman's bully-boys had beaten them up.
1726Amherst Terræ Fil. xlvi. 255 A broad *bully-cock'd hat, or a square cap of above twice the usual size. 1882Daily News (Leader) 3 Feb., In a ‘bowler’ hat, or in the form which our ancestors called a ‘bully-cock’.
1690B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Bully-fop, a Maggot-pated, huffing, silly ratling Fellow.
1680Cotton in Singer Hist. Cards 334 They will rarely adventure on the attempt, unless they are backed with some *bully-huffs. 1690B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Bully-huff, a poor sorry Rogue that haunts Bawdy-houses, and pretends to get Money out of Gentlemen. 1815Scott Guy M. xxviii, ‘Here mother,..never mind that bully-huff’.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. iii. 145 M. Boyer..is at the head of Fifty Spadassinicides, or *Bully-killers.
1711E. Ward Quix. I. 33 He combats like that *Bully-Rake That only fights for Fighting's sake.
1687T. Brown Saints in Upr. Wks. 1730 I. 74 Why, how now, *bully Royster! what's the meaning of this outrage in the face of Justice?
1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xi, Pick-lock, Pioneer, *Bully-ruffin, Smell-smock. 1671Dryden Mock Astrol. iii. i, Snatch the Money like a Bully-Ruffin. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 233 Peter..strode up to the brawling bully-ruffian.
a1715Wycherley Posth. Wks. 5 (Jod.) The *bully scribbler..is beat out of his bravadoes only for assuming them.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. iii. 142 *Bully-swordsmen, ‘Spadassins’ of that party, go swaggering.
▸ bully court n. (in the United Kingdom) a school meeting at which, under teacher supervision, pupils adjudicate on instances of bullying.
1989Times 18 Oct. 3/1 *Bully courts have been set up at 30 primary schools in England and Wales. Punishments have included bans on school trips and on using playgrounds and tasks such as tidying classrooms. 1994Oxf. Star 13 Oct. 74/3 Go-ahead Marston Middle School was one of the first in the country to set up a bully court. 2001Mirror (Electronic ed.) 30 Aug. 11 A pilot study by the charity Kidscape found that some schools using bully courts had reduced the level of bullying 90 per cent in only six months.
▪ II. bully, n.2|ˈbʊlɪ|
1. Eton Football. A mêlée, a scrimmage.
1865W. L. C. Etoniana xv. 213 Knees put out in the fierce football bully. 1873M. Collins Sqr. Silchester II. xvii. 213 A youngster who has held his own in a football bully.
2. Hockey. The procedure of putting the ball in play by two players, one from each side, who strike with their sticks, first the ground then their opponent's stick, three times, after which the ball is in play. Also bully-off.
1883Boy's Own Paper 13 Oct. 30/1 The game shall be commenced and renewed by a bully in the centre of the ground. 1895Battersby Hockey 92 From the bully off until his opponents' ‘twenty-five’ is invaded. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 516/2 A penalty bully is given for deliberately unfair play by the defending side in their own circle. 1901Daily News 28 Feb. 7/5 The Oxford centre-forward got away directly after the bully-off. 1963Times 18 Feb. 3/7 West's centre forward put the ball into the net almost before South had moved from the bully.
▪ III. † ˈbully, n.3 Obs.
Also bullie.
[Cf. booly.]
A cottage, hut.
1598Florio, Tugurio, a shepherds cottage, bully or shead. 1611Cotgr., Tugure..a shepheards shed, or bullie.
▪ IV. ˈbully, n.4
Also 8 bullet.
[Etymology uncertain: variously referred to Eng. bully, dial. form of bullace (cf. the 2nd quot.), and to F. boulet de canon (lit. cannon-ball) ‘fruit d'un arbre de la Guiane’ (Boiste). The form bullet occurs only late, and the F. name may be due to popular etymology.]
attrib. in bully bay, bully-berry tree, bully tree, names for certain genera of the order Sapotaceæ, also for a species of Mimusops (all natives of the W. Indies and of Guyana).
1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 14 Lofty trees, as the Palmeto, Royal..Bully, Redwood. Ibid. 73 The Bully tree..bears a fruit like a Bullis in England. 1693Phil. Trans. XVII. 621 The Sope-Berry..Indian Damozen, and the Bully Bay. 1725Sloane Jamaica II. 124 When old it had a great many sulci not unlike the Bully tree. 1750G. Hughes Barbados 177 The Bully-Berry tree..a very durable timber tree. 1796Stedman Surinam II. xxviii. 335 The bullet-tree..the bark is grey and smooth, the timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. 1866Treas. Bot., Bully or Bullet Tree..a species of Mimusops.
▪ V. bully, n.5|ˈbʊlɪ|
[? f. bull, or corruption of F. bouilli boiled meat.]
Pickled or tinned beef. Also as bully beef.
1753Smollett Ct. Fathom I. xxiv. 160, I could get no eatables upon the ruoad, but what they called Bully, which looks like the flesh of Pharaoh's lean kine stewed into rags and tatters. 1788J. Woodforde Diary 18 Sept. (1927) III. 47 We had for Dinner some Hare Soup, a Couple of Chicken boiled and Ham—Some Beef Bulley, Stewed Pork—Partridges,..&c. 1883Clark Russell in Longm. Mag. III. 2, I have been shipmates with a man who grew white-haired at thirty on soup and bully. 1884J. Macdonald in 19th Cent. June 1002 The colonel..was..quietly consuming..his luncheon of ‘bully beef’ and whiskey.
▪ VI. ˈbully, n.6
A pattern of miner's hammer, varying from ‘broad bully’ to ‘narrow bully’. Raymond Mining Gloss.
▪ VII. bully, n.7
a. Dial. name for some kind of fish; cf. bull-head. (Also short for bullfinch1.)
1857Kingsley Two Y. Ago ii. (D.) Turning the stones for ‘shannies’ and ‘bullies’, and other..fish left by the tide.
b. Abbrev. of cockabully. N.Z.
1912B. E. Baughan Brown Bread fr. Colonial Oven 2 The beloved creek where bullies wait the hook. 1943G. E. Mannering 80 Years in N.Z. xxi. 158 In the North Island the bully run follows the whitebait.
▪ VIII. bully, a.1|ˈbʊlɪ|
[f. bully n.1]
I. [Orig. bully n.1 I., used attrib.; cf. brother.]
1. Of persons: Worthy, ‘jolly’, admirable.
1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. (1689) Pref., From such Bully fishers, this Book expects no other reception. 1852Hood Lamia v. 231 Here, bully mates, These, lady, are my friends.
2. a. U.S. and Colonial. Capital, first-rate, ‘crack’. Also spec. in the earlier bully-boat (U.S.).
1844Scribblings & Sk. 181 (Th.), A two days' race with bully-boats combines every sort of pleasing excitement. It were well to inform you that a bully-boat means a boat that beats everything on those [Mississippi] waters. 1847W. T. Porter Quarter Race Kentucky 126 (Th.), Our ‘bully’ boat sped away like a bird. 1855W. Carleton Willy Reilly v, The cook will give you a bully dinner. a1860Cairo City Times (Bartlett) The bully ‘Crystal Palace’ passed up to St. Louis on Monday. 1865Daily Tel. 20 July, The citizens of New York, who were aware that the celebration would be more ‘bully’ than usual. 1870Meade New Zeal. 331, The roof fell in, there was a ‘bully’ blaze. 1875N. Amer. Rev. CXX. 128 ‘That's bully!’ exclaimed Tweed.
b. as an exclamation, esp. in phrase ‘Bully for you!’ = bravo! well done!
1864Sanatory Commiss. U.S. Army 133 note, Others would say ‘good’, and others would use the very expressive phrase ‘bully’! 1864Daily Tel. 18 Nov., The freckles have vanished, and bully for you. 1883Punch 28 July, Lady Dufferin—bully for her, mate!
II.
3. Resembling a bully or ruffian; characteristic of a bully.
1727Swift City Shower Wks. 1755 III. ii. 40 Those bully Greeks, who, as the moderns do, Instead of paying chairmen, run them through. 1749(title) Considerations on the Establishment of the French Strolers; the Behaviour of their Bully Champions. 1885G. Meredith Diana Crossw. I. iv. 94 A bully imposition of sheer physical ascendancy.
Add:[I.] [2.] [a.] bully pulpit U.S. Pol., a public office or position of authority that provides its occupant with an outstanding opportunity to speak out on any issue.
App. orig. used by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt to explain his personal view of the presidency.
1909Outlook (N.Y.) 27 Feb. 430/1 He [sc. President Roosevelt]..swung round in his swivel chair, and said: ‘I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!’ 1977Newsweek 14 Feb. 23/3 Carter took to what Theodore Roosevelt once called the bully pulpit of the White House. 1988B. & E. Dole Doles ix. 227, I have used the bully pulpit to wage my own war on drunk driving. 1993Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 16 Jan. a12/1 What power the governor had comes from good will and the ‘bully pulpit’ of the office.
▪ IX. bully, a.2|ˈbʊlɪ|
[f. bull n.1 + -y1.]
Resembling a bull-dog.
1884M. E. Braddon Phantom Fortune vii. 47 Angelina is bully about the muzzle.
▪ X. bully, v.1|ˈbʊlɪ|
[f. bully n.1]
1. trans. To act the bully towards; to treat in an overbearing manner; to intimidate, overawe.
1710Palmer Proverbs 69 His poor neighbour is bully'd by his big appearance. 1747Gentl. Mag., The French observing that we were not to be bullied by their 17 sail, etc. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xii. 96 He saw, that he had no chance of bullying the servant. 1874Greville Mem. Geo. IV (1875) III. xxi. 8 For the purpose of bullying the House of Lords, who would not be bullied.
b. To overweigh, overbalance.
1883Harper's Mag. Aug. 449/1 A light displacement being bullied by large sails.
2. To drive or force by bullying; to frighten into a certain course; with away, into, out of, to.
1723De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 27 What ails you, to bully away our customers so? 1748Richardson Clarissa II. xxxviii. 258 They are in the right not to be bullied out of their child. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 444 They are bullied by the Plenipotentiaries to support him. 1854Bright Sp., Russia 31 Mar. (1876) 227, I have no belief that Russia..would have been bullied into any change of policy.
3. intr. and absol. To bluster, use violent threats; to swagger.
a1744Bramston (L.), So Britain's monarch once uncover'd sat, While Bradshaw bullied in a broad-brimm'd hat. 1783Johnson Lett. II. ccci. 272, I bullied and bounced..and compelled the apothecary to make his salve according to the Edinburgh Dispensatory. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 143 The officer..mounted a small horse, galloping up and down..bullying, swearing.
▪ XI. bully, v.2 Hockey.|ˈbʊlɪ|
[f. bully n.2 2.]
trans. To put (the ball) in play by a bully. Also intr., usu. with off, to start play in this manner.
1886Rules of Game of Hockey 11 The game shall be started by one player of each side bullying the ball in the centre of the ground. 1909Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 12/2 When two players are bullying-off they stand perfectly square. 1967J. Potter Foul Play vi. 77 The two centre forwards bullied. Ibid. ix. 110 Julian bent over the ball to bully-off with a stocky, close-cropped French student. |