bulln.1
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ I. Of animals.
1. † d. hell bull. Applied to Belial. Obsolete.† e. bull's head (Sc.): ‘a signal of condemnation, and prelude of immediate execution, said to have been anciently used in Scotland’ (Jamieson).
a. The male of any bovine animal; most commonly applied to the male of the domestic species ( Bos taurus); also of the buffalo, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bull > [noun]
bullc1175
taurc1386
bullock1535
taurine1888
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > subfamily Bovinae (bovine) > [noun] > male
bullc1175
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 990 Teȝȝre lac wass bule. &. lamb. & buckess twa togeddre.
c1380 Eng. Wycliffite Serm. li, in Sel. Wks. I. 150 A bole þat shal be kild goiþ in corn at his wille.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 10395 Þe bulles [Gött. bolys] tuelue he offrid sua.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1682 A best þat he be, a bol oþer an oxe.
1413 J. Lydgate Pilgr. of Sowle (1483) v. xi. 102 The cruell horned boole.
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iii. vi. 130 A grete bole is suffisid wyth right a lityll pasture.
c1540 Image Ipocrysy iv, in J. Skelton Poet. Wks. (1843) II. 440 As gredy as a gull, And ranke as any bull.
1587 Censure loyall Subj. (Collier) 54 When the Captain could no longer withstand the Kings importunities, he drank buls blood, and died.
a1649 W. Drummond Hist. Scotl. (1655) 42 The head of a Bull (a sign of present Death in these times) is set down before him.
1733 A. Pope 1st Satire 2nd Bk. Horace Imitated ii. i. 13 Bulls aim their horns, and Asses lift their heels.
1786 R. Burns Poems 58 An' dawtet, twal-pint Hawkie's gane As yell's the Bill.
1818 in C. Knight Once upon a Time (1854) II. 249 A bull is to be baited on Monday next.
b. bulls of brass, brazen bulls, as those that guarded the golden fleece, and Phalaris' bull (proverbial as an engine of torture).
ΚΠ
c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women 1428 Two bolys makid all of bras.
1620 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Phylaster iii. 33 The points of swords, tortures, nor buls of brasse, Should wrack it from me.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. i. i. i. 6 All maner of tortures, brasen bulls, racks, wheeles.
1724 J. Swift Let. to Shop-keepers of Ireland (new ed.) 16 To torment People by putting them into a Bull of Brass with Fire under it.
c. In phrases (mostly proverbial): †he may bear a bull that hath borne a calf, in allusion to the story of Milo of Crotona (see quot.). a bull in a china shop: the symbol of one who produces reckless destruction. to take the bull by the horns: to meet a difficulty with courage. to show the bull-horn: to make a show of resistance. (like a) bull at a (five-barred) gate: with direct violence or impetuosity; so bull-at-a-gate, used attributively to describe a direct and vigorous attack.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > courage > moral courage > one who braves danger > defy danger (person or thing) [verb]
face1570
dare1580
out-countenancec1585
to stand up to1596
outdare1598
to carry it off1663
to take the bull by the horns1711
brave1776
the world > action or operation > difficulty > opposition > oppose [verb (intransitive)] > resist > make show of resistance
show1577
baya1657
to show the bull-horn1833
to put up1881
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > incautiousness > [adjective] > rash or reckless > specifically of actions, feelings, etc.
recklessOE
racklec1405
savagec1425
rash1533
hot-brained1556
rashful1567
blindfold1593
lavish1600
wretchless1607
blind1615
hand over head1682
wild goose1770
plunging1798
wild cat1890
(like a) bull at a (five-barred) gate1896
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > incautiousness > off one's guard [phrase] > rashly or recklessly
at all adventure (also adventures)1485
in flagrant blood1614
over shoes, over boots1653
neck or nothing1814
as if there were no tomorrow1847
(like a) bull at a (five-barred) gate1957
1539 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Prouerbes sig. B.ij He that hath borne a calfe, shal also beare a bull, he that accustometh hym selfe to lytle thynges, by lytle & lytle shalbe hable to go away wyth greater thynges.
1711 J. Swift Conduct of Allies 58 To engage with France, was to take a Bull by the Horns.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality xii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. III. 258 He had not, as the phrase goes, taken the bull by the horns, or advanced in front of the enemies fire.
1833 J. Galt in Fraser's Mag. 8 655 He shewed, when he durst, the bull-horn.
1834 F. Marryat Jacob Faithful I. xv. 267 I'm like a bull in a china-shop.
1873 H. B. Tristram Land of Moab vi. 107 Determined to take the bull by the horns..I stepped forward.
1896 Westm. Gaz. 14 Oct. 5/3 [He] cross-examined in his usual blusterous bull-at-a-gate sort of fashion.
1900 Daily News 22 May 3/1 They were accustomed to ‘bull-at-a-gate’ tactics, frontal attacks, and vigorous operations against almost impossible positions.
1957 Times 11 May 7/3 If the whole scheme is to be rushed through, bull at a gate, there is bound to be some initial chaos.
1963 Times 2 Mar. 3/4 Blair has always possessed cover and straight drives of the purest quality, but has usually adopted bull-at-a-gate tactics.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > a devil > [noun] > specific names of > Belial
hell bulla1225
Belialc1225
a1225 Juliana 54 He þe kingene king helle bule haueð ouercumen te dei belial baldest of helle.
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society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > judging > conviction or judicial condemnation > [noun] > signal of condemnation
bull's head1565
1565 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1728) 17 (Jam.) The chancellor presentit the bullis head befoir the earle of Douglas.
a1649 [see sense 1a]. 1802 J. Leyden Cout of Keeldar in W. Scott Minstrelsy Sc. Border II. 365 If the bull's ill omened head Appear to grace the feast, Your whingers..Plunge in each neighbour's breast.
2. The male of certain other large animals, as the elephant, alligator, whale, etc. †bull of the river: see quot. (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > family unit > [noun] > male > of large animals
bull1726
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 99 [The Nilus produceth] Buls of the Riuer (so they write) not much vnlike to those of the land, but no bigger than a calfe of halfe a yeare old.
1726 P. Dudley in Philos. Trans. 1725 (Royal Soc.) 33 260 They [whales] generate much like to our neat Cattle, and therefore they are termed Bull, Cow, and Calf.
1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) I. 716 Fights usually take place when male whales or bulls..meet with rivals.
1886 F. H. H. Guillemard Cruise Marchesa I. 198 The attitude of the bulls [seals] towards each other becomes more peaceable.
3. Astronomy. The constellation and sign Taurus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > constellation > zodiacal constellation > [noun] > Taurus
taurc1386
Taurusc1400
bull1509
the world > the universe > celestial sphere > zone of celestial sphere > particular signs > [noun] > Taurus
Taurus1398
bull1509
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure xv. ii The golden rayes..Of radyant Phebus..Right in the Bull.
1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 228 Diana..translated him into heauen, close by the constellation of the Bull.
1728 J. Thomson Spring 3 From Aries rolls the bounteous Sun, And the bright Bull receives Him.
1868 W. Lockyer & J. N. Lockyer tr. A. Guillemin Heavens (ed. 3) 323 Aldebaran, the most beautiful star in the constellation of the Bull.
II. Transferred senses of diverse origin.† 4. = bullhead n., bull-tour n. Obsolete slang.
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the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > styles of hair > [noun] > curled or frizzed style
frizz1668
bullhead1672
bull1699
buckle1711
frizzle1850
cataract curls1864
Niagara1864
water wave1876
marcel wave1895
permanent wave1906
Greek goda1910
marcel1921
finger wave1925
permanent1926
perm1927
home perm1949
Afro1967
natural1967
Jewfro1976
Jheri curl1977
bubble perm1992
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Bull..false Hair worn (formerly much) by Women.
5.
a. Mining. An iron rod used in the process of blasting.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > mining equipment > [noun] > other mining equipment
dial1681
stick1708
motty1797
nail1839
spiking crib or curb1839
spile1841
bull1849
dag1863
ore bin1867
monitor1873
Billy Fairplay1876
snibble1883
brattice-cloth1885
breaker1885
steam point1895
picking belt1900
self-rescuer1924
rock duster1930
walking dragline1930
1849 G. C. Greenwell Gloss. Terms Coal Trade Northumberland & Durham 12 Filling a drill hole in wet stone with strong clay, and then driving a round iron rod (called a bull), nearly the size of the hole, to its far end.
b. = clay-iron n. at clay n. Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 113 Bull, see Clay-iron.
6. ? dialect. See quot. 1884.
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society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > signalling with other sounding instruments > [noun] > sounding of whistle > types of whistle used as signal
steam-whistle1840
air whistle1853
police whistle1872
bull1884
1884 Leisure Hour Sept. 530/1 A huge whistle..attached by pipes to a steam boiler..is familiarly styled the ‘bull’.
7. slang.
a. A crown piece. (cf. bull's-eye n. 11.)
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > crown or five shillings
halfpenny of gold1463
crown1526
crown piece1613
decus1688
British-crown1695
bull's-eye1699
petition crown1745
Britain crown1793
bull1819
caser1825
Oxford scholar1937
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 160 Bull, a crown or five shillings.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xlvi. 448 Four half bulls, wot you may call halfcrowns.
b. A locomotive. U.S. slang.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > locomotive
locomotive engine1814
iron horse1825
locomotive1829
loco1833
railway engine1833
bullgine1848
bull1889
pig1931
locie1934
1889 H. O'Reilly & J. Y. Nelson Fifty Years on Trail (Barrère & Leland) Had just touched a bloke's leather as the bull bellowed for the last time.
1889 J. S. Farmer Americanisms Bull (Cant), a locomotive; the word is sometimes lengthened into Bullgine.
c. A policeman. U.S. slang.
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society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > policeman
truncheon officer1708
runner1735
horny1753
nibbing-cull1775
nabbing-cull1780
police officer1784
police constable1787
policeman1788
scout1789
nabman1792
nabber1795
pig1811
Bow-street officer1812
nab1813
peeler1816
split1819
grunter1823
robin redbreast1824
bulky1828
raw (or unboiled) lobster1829
Johnny Darm1830
polis1833
crusher1835
constable1839
police1839
agent1841
johndarm1843
blue boy1844
bobby1844
bluebottle1845
copper1846
blue1848
polisman1850
blue coat1851
Johnny1851
PC1851
spot1851
Jack1854
truncheonist1854
fly1857
greycoat1857
cop1859
Cossack1859
slop1859
scuffer1860
nailerc1863
worm1864
Robert1870
reeler1879
minion of the law1882
ginger pop1887
rozzer1888
nark1890
bull1893
grasshopper1893
truncheon-bearer1896
John1898
finger1899
flatty1899
mug1903
John Dunn1904
John Hop1905
gendarme1906
Johnny Hop1908
pavement pounder1908
buttons1911
flat-foot1913
pounder1919
Hop1923
bogy1925
shamus1925
heat1928
fuzz1929
law1929
narker1932
roach1932
jonnop1938
grass1939
roller1940
Babylon1943
walloper1945
cozzer1950
Old Bill1958
cowboy1959
monaych1961
cozzpot1962
policeperson1965
woolly1965
Fed1966
wolly1970
plod1971
roz1971
Smokey Bear1974
bear1975
beast1978
woodentop1981
Five-O1983
dibble1990
Bow-street runner-
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 15 Bull-traps, rogues who personate [police] officers for the purposes of extorting money.]
1893 ‘J. Flynt’ in Cent. Mag. Nov. 103/2 I have seldom met a hobo who was very angry with a New York ‘bull’.
1909 J. London in Contemp. Rev. June 699 I noticed the bull, a strapping policeman in a grey suit... I never dreamed that bull was after me.
1959 ‘A. Gilbert’ Death takes Wife xvii. 217 Sam putting the bulls on you.
III. Senses relating to the stock exchange.
8.
a. Stock-Exchange [see bear n.1 10 ]. One who endeavours by speculative purchases, or otherwise, to raise the price of stocks. Bulls and Bears, the two different classes of speculators. Bull was originally a speculative purchase for a rise.
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society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > dealer in stocks and shares > type of
profit taker1552
bull1714
bear1718
fund-monger1734
lame duck1806
stag1845
taker-in1852
cornerer1869
wrecker1876
corner-man1881
market-rigger1881
boursocrat1882
offeror1882
ribbon clerk1882
inflater1884
manipulator1888
underwriter1889
kangaroo1896
piker1898
share pusher1898
specialist1900
tailer1900
writer1906
placee1953
corporate raider1955
tippee1961
raider1972
bottom fisher1974
white knight1978
greenmailer1984
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > stock > bought, sold, or dealt on particular terms
bear1709
bull1714
bearskin1719
trust stock1733
preference stock1845
preferred stock1848
trustee stock1855
short1868
privileged stock1875
future1880
junior stock1914
curb-stocks1915
long1930
junk bond1974
1714 C. Johnson Country Lasses i. i You deal in Bears and Bulls.
1721 C. Cibber Refusal i. 16 And all this out of Change-Alley? Every Shilling, Sir; all out of Stocks, Putts, Bulls, Rams, Bears, and Bubbles.
1761 Brit. Mag. 2 278 The cow turned into 'Change-alley, which frighted not a little not only all the bulls, but the bears too.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy I. iv. 74 The hum and bustle which his approach was wont to produce among the bulls, bears, and brokers of Stock-alley.
1880 F. Hall in 19th Cent. Sept. 437 (note) Can Mr. Bryant really have supposed financial bulls and bears to be peculiar to Wall-street, New York?
b. attributive. bull point n. colloquial a point of advantage or superiority, a great ‘score’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > [noun] > advantage over another > a point of advantage
bull point1900
1851 Illustr. London News 14 The bull party will not be able to carry on much longer.
1881 Chicago Times 1 June The surrounding influences were..favorable to the ‘bull’ movement.
1881 Mark Lane Express 8 Aug. 1085 The speculative movement which has..exerted a ‘bull’ influence on the maize market.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 27 Sept. 9/3 I am afraid that Lord Lansdowne has proved anything but a bull point to the House.
1923 Daily Mail 12 Oct. 7/2 The great bull point of our manufactures is their reputation for quality.
1961 Times 14 Apr. 5/4 It is a bull point in his favour that the visitors..found him eminently satisfactory.
Compounds
C1. attributive.
a. In sense of ‘male’. (Sometimes hyphenated.)
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 10386 To godd he gaue þe lambis to lottis, And to þe pore men þe bole stostis [Vesp. bul scottes].
1462 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1855) II. 254 Et xxx bull-stirkus.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. v. 264 Falstalffe you..roard for mercy..as euer I heard bul-calf.
1825 S. Adams & S. Adams Compl. Servant 77 The meat of the bull-calf is generally firmest.
1861 P. B. Du Chaillu Explor. Equatorial Afr. xii. 170 We saw..a..bull-elephant.
1863 Spring in Lapland 185 Certainly a bull elk is an awkward customer when brought to bay.
1880 Daily News 8 Dec. 6/7 One bull whale..measured 48 ft.
b. Of or pertaining to a bull, bull-like.
ΚΠ
1814 R. Wilson Private Diary II. 336 Butting his head with bull rage and closed eyes.
1830 F. Marryat King's Own II. vi. 80 You've such a bull neck.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. iv. ii. 215 A doom proclaimed, audible in bull-voice, towards the four winds.
C2. Simple combinations:
a. Attributive, belonging to (or resembling what belongs to) a bull.
bull-charge n.
ΚΠ
1899 Westm. Gaz. 18 July 6/3 Even the wildest lion is a coward when confronted with a bull-charge.
bull-hide n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [noun] > skin of bull, cow, or ox
bull-hidec1275
oxhidec1350
bull-skinc1400
ox-skin?a1450
huddron1592
cowhide1640
cow-skin1780
steerhide1921
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 7080 Swa muchel lond..swa wule anes bule hude [c1300 Otho bole hude] ælches weies ouer-spræden.
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. 116 Þo carf he a bole hyde small al to a þong.
c1300 St. Brandan 93 With bole huden stronge y-nou y-nailed therto faste.
1716 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad II. vii. 268 With sev'n thick Folds o'ercast, Of tough Bull-hides.
1878 H. M. Stanley Through Dark Continent I. xvi. 439 Well wrapped in bull-hides.
bull-house n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > housing or sheltering of cattle > cattle house
byrea800
shipponc900
neat-house1440
oxhousea1475
fee-house1483
cow-house1530
neatery1647
cow-stable1648
mistal1673
hemel1717
bull-house1808
barn-cellar1842
tie-up1851
cow-shippon1859
bullock-shed1865
cow-shed1886
1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon Concl. 473 Bull-house, with two pens in it for bull calves.
bull-meat n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > beef > [noun] > types of beef
grass beef1522
manzo1594
bull-meat1812
tide-beef1896
Kobe1900
1812 R. Stuart Jrnl. 17 Oct. in Discov. Oregon Trail (1935) 160 Poor Bull meat or Buck Antelope.
1843 J. C. Frémont Exped. 24 Tough bull meat without salt.
1859 R. B. Sage Rocky Mountain Life 64 Bull-meat at this time..is unprecedentedly tough, strong-tasted, and poor.
bull-skin n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [noun] > skin of bull, cow, or ox
bull-hidec1275
oxhidec1350
bull-skinc1400
ox-skin?a1450
huddron1592
cowhide1640
cow-skin1780
steerhide1921
c1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2440 Al the armure he was yn Was noght bot of a bul-skyn.
bull-team n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bull > [noun] > team of
bull-team1855
1855 Golden Era (San Francisco) 1 Apr. 4/2 The humbler occupation of swaying a bull-team.
1888 San Francisco Weekly Exam. 23 Feb. (Farmer) I gave instructions to the wagon boss, and the long bull-team moved away.
b. Similative and parasynthetic.
bull-bodied adj.
ΚΠ
1901 Westm. Gaz. 18 Apr. 2/1 He is a bull-bodied, bull-brained man of violent temper.
bull-bragging adj.
ΚΠ
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1470/2 The doltishe braynes of these Bull braggyng bedlems.
bull-brained adj.
ΚΠ
1901 Westm. Gaz. 18 Apr. 2/1 He is a bull-bodied, bull-brained man of violent temper.
bull-bred adj.
ΚΠ
1896 Daily News 24 Nov. 5/1 English bull-bred courage.
bull-browed adj.
ΚΠ
1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabbath Vindicated 174 His bul-browd-forlorne-downe-cast haire covering all his forehead.
bull-face adj. (also bull-faced)
ΚΠ
1795 J. Wolcot Hair Powder in Wks. (1812) III. 298 Let..bull-face Brudenell roar.
bull-fronted adj.
bull-like adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bull > [adjective]
bullish1566
taurine1613
Taurean1656
tauriform1721
tauric1816
bull-like1859
Taurian1909
1859 R. F. Burton in Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 29 321 The neck is bull-like, short, heavy, and broad.
bull-mouthed adj.
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the mind > emotion > pride > boasting or boastfulness > [adjective] > boastful
boastyc1300
bragc1315
boastfulc1380
great-moutheda1425
boggishc1440
avauntinga1513
windy1513
blazing1549
thrasonical1564
vauntful1590
vousty1596
braggadocian1599
self-boasting1599
braggart1604
braggartly?1611
braggadocio1615
braggeda1616
ampullous1622
rodomontado1645
vapouring1649
thrasonic1657
rodomontade1660
flounder-mouthed1663
fanfaron1670
vaunty1724
boastivea1763
Falstaffian1809
bounceable1831
jactant1839
braggadocious1853
blow-hard1855
loud-mouthed1867
flannel-mouthed1884
bull-mouthed1896
poppy-show1896
Tartarin1903
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > quality of voice > [adjective] > loud or resonant > having loud voice
routing1567
full-mouthed1594
deep-moutheda1616
full-mouth1624
well-lunged1642
flounder-mouthed1663
bull-voiced1837
loud-voiced1850
shoutya1859
stentorian1875
trumpet-tongued1880
bull-throated1888
trumpet-mouthed1895
bull-mouthed1896
trumpet-voiced1902
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas, Last Chantey iv When the bull-mouthed breakers flee.
bull necked adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > neck > [adjective] > types of neck > having
neckeda1398
bull necked?a1400
well-necked?1548
thick-necked1591
lean-necked1608
swan-necked1703
crane-necked1822
pencil-neck1868
no-neck1955
pencil-necked1956
?a1400 Morte Arth. 1094 Bullenekkyde was þat bierne.
1647 J. Cleveland Char. Diurnall-maker (1677) 107 A Bull~neck'd Presbyter.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy I. vi. 116 Rashleigh, though strong in person, was bull-necked and cross-made.
bull-throated adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > quality of voice > [adjective] > loud or resonant > having loud voice
routing1567
full-mouthed1594
deep-moutheda1616
full-mouth1624
well-lunged1642
flounder-mouthed1663
bull-voiced1837
loud-voiced1850
shoutya1859
stentorian1875
trumpet-tongued1880
bull-throated1888
trumpet-mouthed1895
bull-mouthed1896
trumpet-voiced1902
1888 R. Kipling Departm. Ditties (ed. 4, 1890) 69 Hans the blue-eyed Dane, Bull-throated, bare of arm.
1928 Daily Express 12 Sept. 8 Bull-throated foremen bawled for more and yet more labour.
bull-voiced adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > quality of voice > [adjective] > loud or resonant > having loud voice
routing1567
full-mouthed1594
deep-moutheda1616
full-mouth1624
well-lunged1642
flounder-mouthed1663
bull-voiced1837
loud-voiced1850
shoutya1859
stentorian1875
trumpet-tongued1880
bull-throated1888
trumpet-mouthed1895
bull-mouthed1896
trumpet-voiced1902
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. vii. vii. 370 The..bull-voiced Marquis Saint-Huruge.
c. Objective with verbal noun or participial adjective.
bull-bearing n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida ii. iii. 242 Bull-bearing Milo. View more context for this quotation
bull heart n.
ΚΠ
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. ii. v. 121 He is of indomitable bull-heart; and also, unfortunately, of thick bull-head.
bull-master n.
ΚΠ
1673 J. Dryden Assignation iii. i. 26 When the place falls, you shall be Bull-master-General at Court.
bull-voice n.
ΚΠ
1892 Daily News 13 Feb. 5/6 A gigantic bull-voice.
C3.
a. Special combinations. Also bull-bait n., bull-baiting n., etc.† bull-back n. Obsolete = piggyback n. † bull-fly n. Obsolete a stag-beetle.† bull-seg n. dialect Obsolete = bull-stag n.
bull and cow n. rhyming slang for row n.5
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > quarrel or quarrelling > [noun] > noisy or angry quarrel > instance of
ganglinga1387
altercation1410
brawla1500
heat1549
wranglea1555
brabble1566
paroxysm1578
wrangling1580
brangle1600
branglement1617
rixation1623
row1746
skimmington1753
mêlée1765
breeze1785
squeal1788
hash1789
rook1808
blow-up1809
blowout1825
scena1826
reerie1832
catfight1854
barney1855
wigs on the green1856
bull and cow1859
scrap1890
slanging match1896
snap1897
up-and-downer1927
brannigan1941
rhubarb1941
bitch fight1949
punch-up1958
shout-up1965
shouting match1970
1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 142 Bull and cow, a row.
1962 ‘A. Gilbert’ No Dust in Attic xi. 138 The murder might have been the result of a private bull-and-cow.
bull-ant n. = bulldog n. 4b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant > member of genus Myrmecia (bull-ant)
bulldog1853
bull-ant1900
jumper1907
1900 Daily News 26 May 3/5 As eager for fight as a bull ant on a hot plate.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 10 Dec. 1/3 His first bite from an Australian ‘bull-ant’.
1948 B. James in Coast to Coast 1947 162 But Tommy could fight—game as a bull-ant.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance by carrying > [noun] > by a person > conveyance of person on back
bull-backc1600
piggyback1901
c1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) ii. i. 183 Some were on bull-back, some dancing a morris.
bull-bat n. the American Goatsucker ( Caprimulgus americanus).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Caprimulgiformes (nightjars, etc.) > [noun] > family Caprimulgidae > member of genus Caprimulgus > caprimulgus carolinensis (Chuck-will's-widow)
chuck-will's-widow1791
bull-bat1838
1838 P. H. Gosse Lett. from Alabama (1859) 62 The common people here generally call these birds by the name of bull-bats.
1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters II. xv. 238 The voice of the bull-bat wails through the air.
1883 G. W. Bagby Old Virginia Gentleman in Macmillan's Mag. 48 134/1 The ‘bull-bats’ or night-hawks in the air above us.
bull-beef n. the flesh of bulls, also †a term of abuse; esp. in to bluster like bull-beef, as big as bull-beef, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > as abused
warlockOE
swinec1175
beastc1225
wolf's-fista1300
avetrolc1300
congeonc1300
dirtc1300
slimec1315
snipec1325
lurdanc1330
misbegetc1330
sorrowa1350
shrew1362
jordan1377
wirlingc1390
frog?a1400
warianglea1400
wretcha1400
horcop14..
turdc1400
callet1415
lotterela1450
paddock?a1475
souter1478
chuff?a1500
langbain?c1500
cockatrice1508
sow1508
spink1508
wilrone1508
rook?a1513
streaker?a1513
dirt-dauber?1518
marmoset1523
babiona1529
poll-hatcheta1529
bear-wolf1542
misbegotten1546
pig1546
excrement1561
mamzer1562
chuff-cat1563
varlet1566
toada1568
mandrake1568
spider1568
rat1571
bull-beef1573
mole-catcher1573
suppository1573
curtal1578
spider-catcher1579
mongrela1585
roita1585
stickdirta1585
dogfish1589
Poor John1589
dog's facec1590
tar-boxa1592
baboon1592
pot-hunter1592
venom1592
porcupine1594
lick-fingers1595
mouldychaps1595
tripe1595
conundrum1596
fat-guts1598
thornback1599
land-rat1600
midriff1600
stinkardc1600
Tartar1600
tumbril1601
lobster1602
pilcher1602
windfucker?1602
stinker1607
hog rubber1611
shad1612
splay-foot1612
tim1612
whit1612
verdugo1616
renegado1622
fish-facea1625
flea-trapa1625
hound's head1633
mulligrub1633
nightmare1633
toad's-guts1634
bitch-baby1638
shagamuffin1642
shit-breech1648
shitabed1653
snite1653
pissabed1672
bastard1675
swab1687
tar-barrel1695
runt1699
fat-face1740
shit-sack1769
vagabond1842
shick-shack1847
soor1848
b1851
stink-pot1854
molie1871
pig-dog1871
schweinhund1871
wind-sucker1880
fucker1893
cocksucker1894
wart1896
so-and-so1897
swine-hound1899
motherfucker1918
S.O.B.1918
twat1922
mong1926
mucker1929
basket1936
cowson1936
zombie1936
meatball1937
shower1943
chickenshit1945
mugger1945
motherferyer1946
hooer1952
morpion1954
mother1955
mother-raper1959
louser1960
effer1961
salaud1962
gunk1964
scunge1967
the mind > emotion > pride > boasting or boastfulness > blustering or bravado > bluster [verb (intransitive)]
face1440
brace1447
ruffle1484
puff1490
to face (something) out with a card of ten?1499
to face with a card of ten?1499
cock1542
to brave it1549
roist1563
huff1598
swagger1600
ruff1602
tear1602
bouncec1626
to bravade the street1634
brustle1648
hector1661
roister1663
huffle1673
ding1679
fluster1698
bully1733
to bluster like bull-beef1785
swell1795
buck1880
swashbuckle1897
loudmouth1931
1573 G. Gascoigne Hundreth Sundrie Flowres sig. Eev Me thinkes they be a race of Bulbeefe borne.
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Double Marriage iii. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ddddd4v/2 Down with the bul-beefes.
1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 57 He looks as big as bull-beef.
1785 J. Wolcot 3rd Ode to Royal Academicians in Wks. (1812) I. 83 Thou may'st bluster like Bull-beef so big.
1851 J. J. Hooper Widow Rugby's Husband 23 You was feedin' us soap-tails on bull-beef.
1853 J. G. Baldwin Flush Times Alabama 51 So scarce were provisions—bull-beef excepted,..that we were forced to eat green corn.
bull-bird n. = bullfinch n.1
bull-boat n. a boat made of hides stretched on a wooden frame.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > vessels of primitive construction > [noun] > boat made with hides
skin boat1804
bull-boat1837
1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville III. 109 We have the crew of the little bull boat complete.
1841 G. Catlin Lett. N. Amer. Indians I. xxiv. 195 A skin-canoe (more familiarly called in this country, a bull-boat).
bull-comber n. a dung beetle ( Typhœus vulgaris).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Scarabaeidae > member of (dung-beetle)
sharnbudc1000
dora1450
clock1568
sharn-bug1608
dung beetle1634
grey fly1638
dunghill beetle1658
comb-chafer1712
tumble-turd1754
tumble-dung1775
dung-chafer1805
tumble-bug1805
tumbler1807
bull-comber1813
straddle-bug1839
lamellicorn1842
scarabaeidan1842
shard-beetle1854
watchman1864
scarabaeoid1887
scarabaeid1891
minotaur1918
1813 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. (ed. 4) III. 111 The bull-comber, clock beetle, and spring beetle.
bull-dance n. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun]
dance of Macabre?c1430
springc1450
lege de moya1529
bobc1550
lusty gallant1569
duret1613
fading1613
huckler1617
ground-measure1621
entry1631
slatter de pouchc1640
ballo1651
Irish trot1651
omnium gatheruma1652
clutterdepouch1652
upspring1654
passacaglia1659
shuffle1659
passacaille1667
flip-flap1676
chaconne1685
charmer1702
Cheshire-round1706
Louvre1729
stick dance1730
white joke1730
baby dance1744
Nancy Dawson1766
fricassee1775
bumpkin1785
Totentanz1789
Flora('s) dance1790
goombay1790
egg-dance1801
supper dance1820
Congo dance1823
slip-jig1829
bran-dance1833
roly-poly1833
Congo1835
mazy1841
furry1848
bull-dance1855
stampede1856
double-shuffling1859
frog dance1863
hokee-pokee1873
plait dance1876
slow dancing1884
snake dance1895
beast dance1900
soft-shoe1900
cakewalk1902
floral dance1911
snake dance1911
apache dance1912
grizzly bear1912
jazz dance1917
jazz dancing1917
jazz1919
wine-dance1920
camel-walk1921
furry dance1928
snake-dance1931
pas d'action1936
trance dancing1956
touch dance1965
hokey-cokey1966
moonwalk1969
moonwalking1983
Crip Walk1989
mapantsula1990
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 23 Bull-Dance, rustic merriment connected with cattle-show feasts.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Bull-dance, at sea it is performed by men only, when without women. It is sometimes called a stag-dance.
bull dust n. Australian (a) a coarse dust; (b) nonsense, rubbish (slang).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > [noun]
magged talea1387
moonshine1468
trumperyc1485
foolishness1531
trash1542
baggage1545
flim-flam1570
gear1570
rubbisha1576
fiddle-faddle1577
stuff1579
fible-fable1581
balductum1593
pill1608
nonsense1612
skimble-skamble1619
porridge1642
mataeology1656
fiddle-come-faddle1663
apple sauce1672
balderdash1674
flummery1749
slang1762
all my eye1763
diddle-daddle1778
(all) my eye (and) Betty Martin1781
twaddle1782
blancmange1790
fudge1791
twiddle-twaddle1798
bothering1803
fee-faw-fum1811
slip-slop1811
nash-gab1816
flitter-tripe1822
effutiation1823
bladderdash1826
ráiméis1828
fiddlededee1843
pickles1846
rot1846
kelter1847
bosh1850
flummadiddle1850
poppycock1852
Barnum1856
fribble-frabble1859
kibosh1860
skittle1864
cod1866
Collyweston1867
punk1869
slush1869
stupidness1873
bilge-water1878
flapdoodle1878
tommyrot1880
ruck1882
piffle1884
flamdoodle1888
razzmatazz1888
balls1889
pop1890
narrischkeit1892
tosh1892
footle1894
tripe1895
crap1898
bunk1900
junk1906
quatsch1907
bilge1908
B.S.1912
bellywash1913
jazz1913
wash1913
bullshit?1915
kid-stakes1916
hokum1917
bollock1919
bullsh1919
bushwa1920
noise1920
bish-bosh1922
malarkey1923
posh1923
hooey1924
shit1924
heifer dust1927
madam1927
baloney1928
horse feathers1928
phonus-bolonus1929
rhubarb1929
spinach1929
toffeea1930
tomtit1930
hockey1931
phoney baloney1933
moody1934
cockalorum1936
cock1937
mess1937
waffle1937
berley1941
bull dust1943
crud1943
globaloney1943
hubba-hubba1944
pish1944
phooey1946
asswipe1947
chickenshit1947
slag1948
batshit1950
goop1950
slop1952
cack1954
doo-doo1954
cobbler1955
horse shit1955
nyamps1955
pony1956
horse manure1957
waffling1958
bird shit1959
codswallop1959
how's your father1959
dog shit1963
cods1965
shmegegge1968
pucky1970
taradiddle1970
mouthwash1971
wank1974
gobshite1977
mince1985
toss1990
arse1993
the world > matter > constitution of matter > granular texture > [noun] > state of being powdery > dust > coarse
bull dust1943
1943 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang (ed. 3) 16 Bull dust..bullsh.
1943 W. E. Harney Taboo 127 The gypsum crumbles into copi or bulldust.
1954 B. Miles Stars my Blanket xvi. 105 We found the track..to be inches deep in bull dust—a soft, powdery dust that seeps through into everything.
1967 I. Hamilton Man with Brown Paper Face iv. 50 I'm not in the mood for any of your bulldust. Where have you been all night?
bull-feast n. a bull-baiting (English); a bullfight (Spanish).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > bullfighting or bullfight > [noun]
bull-feast1688
toreador1728
bullfighting1753
bullfight1788
tauromachy1846
corrida1898
tauromachics1934
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > animal baiting > [noun] > bull-baiting
bull-baiting1574
bull-running1622
bulling1645
bull-bait1656
bull run1788
bull-feast1824
bullfight1824
1688 London Gaz. No. 2364/2 Bilboa, July 12..To morrow there will be a Bull Feast.
1768 Earl of Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. (1844) I. 42 The amusements of this town..are, the bull-feast, two play-houses, and, during the carnival, masquerades.
1824 J. Macculloch Highlands & W. Isles I. 367 Some squire is born, and there is a bull-feast at Grantham or Chirk.
1883 Sunday Mag. Sept. 574/2 The bull-ring, or, as it is called, the bull-feast.
bull fiddle n. U.S. colloquial a bass viol or double bass; hence bull-fiddler.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > bowable instrument > [noun] > double-bass
contrabass1598
double bass1728
bull fiddle1880
doghouse1924
bass1927
string bass1927
slap-bass1949
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > string player > [noun] > bass-player
bassist1870
contrabassist1884
string bass1927
slapper1934
bassman1952
bull-fiddler1957
1880 G. A. Sala Amer. Revisited 209/1 A ‘bull-fiddle’ which is American for violoncello.
1951 J. Steinbeck & E. F. Ricketts Log from ‘Sea of Cortez’ iv. 30 A deep and yet penetrating tone like the lowest string of an incredible bull-fiddle.
1957 W. C. Handy Father of Blues xvii. 237 As usual the bull-fiddler sawed away in G.
bull-flesh n. figurative brag, swagger.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > boasting or boastfulness > [noun]
yelpc888
yelpinga1050
roosingc1175
boastc1300
avauntment1303
avauntry1330
vauntingc1340
bragc1360
avauntingc1380
boastingc1380
avauntance1393
angarda1400
bragging1399
vaunta1400
crackingc1440
crackc1450
crowing1484
jactancea1492
vaunterya1492
bragancea1500
gloriation?1504
blasta1513
vousting1535
braggery?1571
jactation1576
self-boasting1577
thrasonism1596
braggartry1598
braggartism1601
jactancy1623
braggadocianism1624
blazing1628
jactitation1632
word-braving1642
rodomontadea1648
fanfaronade1652
superbiloquence1656
vapouring1656
rodomontading1661
blow1684
goster1703
gasconade1709
gasconading1709
vauntingness1727
braggadocioa1734
Gasconism1744
Gascoigny1754
braggade1763
gostering1763
penny trumpet1783
cockalorum?a1792
boastfulness1810
vauntage1818
bull-flesh1820
blowing1840
vauntiness1851
kompology1854
loud-mouthing1858
skite1860
gabbing1869
mouth1891
buck1895
skiting1916
boosterism1926
1820 T. Mitchell tr. Aristophanes Knights in tr. Aristophanes Comedies I. 220 What! shall a little bull-flesh gain the day?
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Lucanidae (stag-beetles) > member of genus Lucanus (stag-beetle)
bull-fly1585
hornet1585
stag-fly1634
hartshorn beetle1658
flying hart1676
stag-beetle1681
flying stag1765
pinching bug1850
pinch bug1856
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator Cerf volant, a bullflie, or hornet.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Cerf volant, the great horned beetle, or bull-flie.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Bull-fly or Bull-bee, an Insect.
1781 S. Peters Hist. Connecticut (1829) 195 The bull-fly is armed with a coat of mail, which it can move from one place to another.
bull-foot n. Botany Colt's-foot (Tussilago).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > weed > [noun] > coltsfoot
horse-hoof1398
foalfoota1400
wowellc1450
Tussilago1510
coltsfoot1552
bull-foot1562
colt's-hoof1565–73
colt-herb1587
coughwort1597
horse-foot1597
flap-dock1846
clay-weed1878
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 158 Tussilago is named..in Englishe Horse houe or Bullfoote.
bull-god n. a god worshipped under the form of a bull.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > idol > deity worshipped through bull
bull-god1816
1816 G. S. Faber Origin Pagan Idolatry I. 433 The bull-god of Phenicia.
1871 D. G. Rossetti Burden of Nineveh xviii That Bull-god once did stand And watched the burial-clouds of sand.
bull-holder n. (see quot. 1940).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > equipment
salec1299
salebandc1299
shacklec1460
marking stone1534
low bell1578
baikiea1598
nose-hook1778
sjambok1790
shangy1808
cow-bell1809
ox frame1844
bullwhip1848
humbug1850
stock-whip1852
bull-whacker1858
cattle-bell1872
bull-whack1885
leading-staff1886
bullock-bell1911
bull-holder1940
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 119/2 Bull-holder, forceps for grasping the nasal septum of cattle as a means of restraint.
bull-hole n. U.S., a small pond or water-hole.
ΚΠ
1887 Harper's Mag. Feb. 350/1 These little ponds are called ‘bull-holes’. The traveller is told that they are started in this watery soil by the pawing of bulls.
bull-hoof n. Botany (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > climbing or creeping plants > non-British climbing or creeping plants > [noun] > other non-British climbing plants
bull-hoof1756
Russian vine1840
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 328 The Bull-hoof, or Dutchman's Laudanum..a climber; whose fruit is..about the size of a large olive.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. Bull-hoof, Murucuja ocellata.
bullhorn n. a megaphone.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > speaking trumpet or tube
trunk1546
speaking-trumpet1671
stentorophonic tube1686
whispering-trumpet1688
stentorian trumpet1690
trumpet1696
voice pipe1839
voice tube1839
whispering-tube1857
speaking-tube1889
megaphone1896
meg1937
loudhailer1941
bullhorn1955
1955 ‘C. S. Forester’ Good Shepherd ii. 38 Her captain shouting himself hoarse through his bull-horn at the laggards.
1959 Ottawa Citizen 24 Sept. 48/6 Mr. Garst tried to explain something to reporters through an electric bull-horn.
bull-kelp n. any of several varieties of large seaweed found in Pacific and Antarctic waters; cf. bull-head kelp at kelp n.1 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > algae > seaweed > [noun] > of unspecified or various types
sea-grass1591
rockweed1599
sea-tree1601
zoster1601
float-ore1602
vraic1610
sea-wrack1611
spangle-wort1681
trunk-weed1730
turtle-grass1736
sea-pine1762
agar-agar1769
greenweed1820
bull-kelpc1929
agarophyte1944
c1929 W. Martin N.Z. Nature Bk. II. i The Giant Bull Kelp (Durvillea utilis) is a truly Antarctic sea-weed.
1954 New Biol. 17 96 The genera vary in size from the great bull-kelps..to a small parasite.
bull-man n. a monster half bull half man.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > hybrid creature or monster > [noun] > human hybrid > types of
sirenc1366
manticorea1398
mariche1613
birdman1666
bull-man1816
garuda1882
were-jaguar1967
1816 G. S. Faber Origin Pagan Idolatry I. 232 That being was succeeded by a second bull-man.
bullmanship n. the art of fighting with bulls.Apparently an isolated use.
ΚΠ
1821 New Monthly Mag. 2 340 To her [Seville's] school of bullmanship that art owes all its refinements.
bull-net n. a large hoop-shaped fishing net.
ΚΠ
1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. Bull Net (Fishing), a large hoop-net, worked with ropes and blocks.
bull-nose n. (a) = bull's-nose n. at Compounds 3b; (b) see quots. also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > [adjective] > rounded or not angular
inangular1646
rounded1658
flowing1709
contoured1725
cornerless1793
bull-nose1858
globuloid1889
radiused1936
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > locomotive > part of front
bull-nose1858
1858 Skyring's Builders' Prices 41 Circular styles to bull-nose corners.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 145/1 Bull-nose Rabbet Plane, a plane with the bit at the end, in order to enable it to work up close into corners.
1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. at Nose Bull-nose, a front coupler on a locomotive: named from its shape; a bull-nose coupler.
bull-nosed adj. (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > [adjective] > rounded or not angular > at the top, end, etc.
round top1798
crowning1812
round-headed1817
bull-nosed1904
1904 G. F. Goodchild & C. F. Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 75/2 Bullnosed bricks, bricks having one angle on the end rounded off. Bullnosed step, a step with a rounded end.
1933 Archit. Rev. 73 198/2 It could be chiselled with a bull-nosed chisel.
1952 ‘W. Cooper’ Struggles of Albert Woods ii. ii. 83 Albert pointed his bull-nosed Morris Cowley in the direction of Islip.
bull oak n. Australian a name given to several species of Casuarina, esp. C. luehmanni (cf. oak n. 5b).
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > Australasian trees > [noun] > Australian or New Zealand oak
oak1789
she-oak1792
river oak1817
shingle-oak1818
New Zealand oak1835
swamp-oak1837
he-oak1844
river she-oak1872
forest-oak1882
bull oak1884
desert oak1896
1884 A. Nilson Timber Trees New S. Wales 7 The most widely-distributed and best-known species are..‘Pine’ or ‘Cypress Pine’ ..‘She Oak’, ‘He Oak’, ‘Bull Oak’.
1963 W. E. Harney To Ayers Rock & Beyond ii. 23 The famous ‘Drunk's-seat’, beneath a shady bull-oak tree.
bull-of-the-bog n. the bittern, from its booming cry.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Ardeidae (herons and bitterns) > member of genus Botaurus (bittern)
bitternc1330
mire-druma1398
butterbump1671
bog-bumper1804
bumble1813
bog-blitter1815
bull-of-the-bog1815
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. i. 8 The deep cry of the bog-blitter, or bull-of-the-bog.
bull-pine n. a pine, Pinus ponderosa, common in the western United States.
ΚΠ
1920 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 594/2 Immense bull-pines.
bull-poll n. the Turfy Hair-grass ( Aira cæspitosa).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > hair-grass
hair-grass1759
tussock-grass1861
bull-poll1880
1880 R. Jefferies Round about Great Estate 36 Some bulrushes and great bunches of bullpolls..The bullpoll sends up tall slender stalks with graceful feathery heads.
bull-pout n. U.S. a fish, ? = bib n.2
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the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > superorder Paracanthopterygii > order Gadiformes (cod) > [noun] > family Gadidae > genus Gadus > gadus luscus (pout)
poutOE
pouting1591
bib1674
whiting pout1686
bull-pout1823
pouter1860
stink-alive1863
miller's thumb1880
1823 J. F. Cooper Pioneers II. iv. 60 ‘Away with you, you varmint!’ said Billy Kirby, plucking a bull-pout from the meshes.
bull-pump n. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > pump > [noun] > other types of pump
bottom lift1778
rose pump1778
centrifugal pump1789
jack-heada1792
jet pump1850
sand-pump1865
Union pump1867
shell-pump1875
eductor1877
brake-pump1881
bull-pump1881
cam-pumpa1884
sand-reel1883
grasshopper1884
knapsack pump1894
knapsack sprayer1897
turbo-pump1903
Sylphon1906
slush pump1913
displacement pump1924
power pack1937
proportioner1945
solids pump1957
peristaltic pump1958
powerhead1981
Cornish pump-
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 113 Bull-pump (Cornwall), a direct single-acting pump...The steam lifts piston and pump-rods, and the weight of these makes the down-stroke.
bull-puncher n. (a) Australian a bullock-driver; (b) U.S. a cowboy, cow-puncher; so bull-punching.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > herding of cattle
sookie1838
bull-punching1872
cow-punching1884
night-herd1884
night-herding1888
cattle-punching1907
cowpunching1951
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > herding of cattle > cowherd
cowherda1000
oxherd1281
geldherd1284
nowtherd1296
neatherd1301
drover1384
catcherc1400
caller?a1500
ox-boy1580
neatress1586
harrier1591
cowherdess1611
spurn-cow1614
neatherdess1648
cowgirl1753
herds-woman1818
oxman1820
ranchero1825
topsman1825
vaquero1826
herdsmaiden1829
overlander1841
cattle-herd1845
cowboy1849
buckaroo1852
stock-rider1862
pointer1869
night-herder1870
puncher1870
bull-puncher1872
outrider1872
cowpuncher1873
range man1875
cow-puncher1878
herd-boy1878
cow-girl1884
trail-herd1885
trail boss1890
nighthawk1903
point man1903
swing man1903
top hand1912
charro1926
waddy1927
cattle-puncher1928
cowpoke1928
paniolo1947
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > driver of team of animals > of bullocks
bullock-driver1792
bullock-puncher1856
bull-whacker1858
bull-puncher1872
bullock-wainster1883
bullocker1889
bullocky1889
1872 C. H. Eden My Wife & I in Queensland ii. 49 The ‘bull-puncher’, as bullock-drivers are familiarly called.
1874 Chambers's Jrnl. 543/2 Commissariat beeves, guarded by the commissariat ‘bull-punchers’.
1887 M. Roberts Western Avernus ii. 19 He followed the profession of a ‘bull-puncher’, that is, he went in charge of the cattle destined for slaughter and canning in the distant North, and made money at it.
1887 M. Roberts Western Avernus ii. 20 I found this bull-punching a very wearisome and dangerous business.
1917 H. H. Richardson Fortunes Richard Mahony I. i. v. 39 Stock-riders and bull-punchers rubbed shoulders with elegants in skirted coats.
bull-pup n. a young bulldog.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > other types of dog > [noun] > bulldog
bulldog?1518
bull-bitch1681
bull1827
bull-pup1883
French bulldog1893
boxer1903
1883 Congregationalist July 585 Toying with a tiny, toddling bull-pup.
bull-pusher n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1887 Chambers's Jrnl. 359/1 The cattleman..product of the Atlantic trade—the ‘bull-pusher’, as the sailor terms him.
bull-rope n. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > ropes or chains other than rigging or cable > [noun] > for securing vessel > at bow > between bowsprit a buoy
bull-rope1851
1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters II. viii. 107 Lamm..him! Warm his collops wi' the bull-rope.
1882 G. S. Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 173 A bull-rope..is a hawser let through a block on the bow-sprit end to the buoy, to keep the buoy clear of the stem.
bulls and cows n. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Araceae (wake-robin and allies) > [noun]
dragonsc1000
cuckoo-pintlea1400
yekestersea1400
aaron?c1425
calf's-footc1450
cuckoo-spitc1450
rampa1500
priest's hood1526
wake-robin1530
green dragon1538
arum1551
cuckoo-pint1551
dragonwort1565
priest's pintle1578
tarragon1591
starch root1596
friar's cowl1597
friar's-hood1597
starchwort1597
dragon serpentine1598
dragon's-herb1600
small dragonwort1674
dumb cane1696
skunk weed1735
polecat weed1743
lords and ladies1755
mucka-mucka1769
skunk cabbage1778
bloody man's finger1787
green dragon1789
swamp-cabbage1792
priest in the pulpit1837
orontiad1846
arad1853
cows and calves1853
bulls and cows1863
skunk cabbage1869
aroid1876
Adam and Eve1877
stallion1878
cunjevoi1889
1863 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants 34 Bulls and Cows, more commonly called Lords and Ladies, the purple and the pale spadices, respectively, of Arum maculatum.
ΚΠ
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 148 Making a bullsegge of a bull that is two or three yeares old.
1820 W. Scott Monastery I. iv. 140 Roaring like bull-segs, to frighten the leddy.
bull-snake n. U.S. a large North American snake ( Pityophis melanoleucus); the pine-snake.
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the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [noun] > family Colubridae > member of genus Pituophis (pine-snake)
horn-snake1694
bull-snake1784
pine snake1791
pilot snake1842
1784 J. Filson Discov. Kentucke 27 The bull, the horned and the mockason snakes.
1791 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina 276 The pine or bull snake is very large.
1817 S. R. Brown Western Wilds 357 Palmetto flatts, fit only for the present occupants, gouffres, salamanders, and bull snakes.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds ix. 133 The ‘bull-snake’..an immense thing of four or five feet in length, which gets its name from its blunt head and thick clumsy body.
1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 239 The bull snake is said to grow to an enormous size, and is a kind of North American python or boa.
1907 S. E. White Arizona Nights i. xvi. 219 I mind when they catched the great-grandaddy of all the bull-snakes.
bull-stag n. a bull gelded when past his prime.
ΚΠ
1680 London Gaz. No. 1482/4 One red Bull Stag with the same Mark.
1777 Ann. Reg. 1776 149/1 Good ox beef, instead of which he had substituted bull beef and bull stag beef.
bull-sticker n. (see quots.).
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > printmaking > engraving > [noun] > engraving tools
pouncer1552
graving tool1591
pounce1598
puncheon1659
burin1662
eschoppe1662
graver1662
needle1662
point1662
style1662
sculpter1680
scalper1688
small chisel1749
roulette1806
engraver1821
dry-point1837
scooper1837
stylet1853
tint-tool1869
diamond-point1874
spit-sticker1909
bull-sticker1933
1933 Discovery Oct. 319/2 Numerous varieties of burins called by such pleasant names as spitstickers, bullstickers, [etc.].
1958 J. R. Biggs Woodcuts 49 The bull-sticker..is virtually a spitstick with bulging sides. The line it makes will therefore have a very rapid ‘spread’.
bull-strong adj. U.S. strong enough to resist a bull.
ΚΠ
1859 Harper's Mag. Oct. 712/2 A fence that is bull strong, horse high, and pig tight!
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds i. 21 A fancy article [sc. fence] was made with six strands, which rendered it in local parlance ‘horse-high, bull-strong, and pig-tight’.
1879 A. W. Tourgée Fool's Errand xxx. 194 The split-board paling..was ‘horse-high, hog-tight, and bull-strong’.
bull's wool n. (also bullswool) (a) Army slang coarse woollen cloth or yarn; (b) Australian and New Zealand colloquial = bull n.4 3; see also quot. 1898.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > [noun]
flash1605
sniffling1653
canting1659
cant1710
galbanum1764
gas1793
blarney1796
gammon1805
slum1812
claptrap1819
flam1825
glittering generality1849
bull's wool1850
eyewash1857
bunkum1862
hot air1873
kid1874
fustian1880
flubdub1888
bull1914
oil1917
blah1918
drip1919
piss and wind1922
banana-oil1927
flannel1927
crud1943
old talk1956
ole talk1964
okey-doke1969
yada yada1991
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from wool > [noun] > coarse or rough
russeta1300
cogware1389
molton1545
forest-white1551
penistone1551
pinwhite1604
duroy1619
duffel1649
long ell1706
duffel cloth1787
flushing1812
bull's wool1850
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > eucalyptus > part of
bull's wool1850
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > Australasian trees > [noun] > eucalyptus trees > string bark > bark of
stringy-bark1848
bull's wool1850
1850 ‘Two Mounted Sentries’ Horse Guards 70 The ‘sealed pattern’ [of cloth] provided for the British soldier, and familiarly known among the men by the euphonious cognomen of ‘bull's wool’.
1893 R. Kipling Many Inventions 268 If iver you feel that you've got a felt sole in your boot instid av a Government bull's-wool, come to me.
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 64/1 Bulls-wool, colloquial name for the inner portion of the covering of the Stringybark-tree.
1911 E. M. Clowes On Wallaby ix. 247 To build one's fire, kindling it surely and quickly with what is called ‘bull's-wool’, the thick, dry fibre, like fine cocoa-nut matting, which forms the hair shirt of the gum-tree between the white skin and the cream and green and madder-tinted bark.
1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Dec. 40/1 ‘And I'm dropping fifteen!’ ‘Bullswool!’ declared Tommy. ‘What you'd drop it'd take a bloke with a microscope to find.’
1950 G. Meek in A. E. Woodhouse N.Z. Farm & Station Verse 153 Don't think that it's all bullswool.
1957 I. Cross God Boy (1958) ix. 67 That last bit was bulls-wool of course, but I had to be careful.
bull-toad n. ? = bullfrog n.
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the world > animals > amphibians > order Anura or Salienta (frogs and toads) > [noun] > types of frog or toad > suborder Diplasiocoela > family Ranidae (common frogs) > rana pipiens (leopard frog)
bullfrog1704
bull-toad1806
leopard frog1839
1806 T. Moore Poems 166 Let the bull-toad taint him over.
bull-tongue n. (also bull-tongue plough) U.S. a simple form of plough.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > ploughing equipment > [noun] > plough > other types of plough
ox-plough?1523
double plough1653
chip plough1742
Rotherham plough1743
fluke plough1775
breaking plough1781
miner1794
snap-plough1798
turf-cutter1819
scooter plough1820
bull-tongue1831
prairie plough1831
split-plough1840
prairie breaker1857
straddle-plough1875
tickle-plough1875
chill-plough1886
stump-jump1896
swamp plough1930
prairie buster1943
1831 M. Holley Texas (1833) 139 Many farmers use the coulter and bull-tongue plough.
1837 in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 262 25¢ for making a bul tung.
1859 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1857–8 3 366 It will also serve to explain..why a bull-tongue or shovel plow..will raise more corn than a mouldboard plow.
1861 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1859–60 4 204 It is planted..and covered with double shovel planes and ‘bull tongues’.
1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 414 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV The field was plowed with a turning plow, followed in the same furrow with a long bull-tongue plow.
1886 Harper's Mag. June 58/2 Ploughing is commonly done with a ‘bull-tongue’, an implement hardly more than a sharpened stick with a metal rim.
bull-tongue v. transitive, to go over (land or crops) with a bull-tongue plough.
ΚΠ
1861 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1859–60 4 248 Whether hoeing the small corn or rolling or bull-tonguing or hilling-up.
bull-ward n. the keeper of a bull.
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > keeper of cattle
beastman1311
breeder1531
cowman1593
rearer1611
bull-ward1614
cowgirl1753
ranchero1825
cattle-breeder1827
rancher1836
estanciero1845
ranchman1854
cattle king1874
beef-grower1880
cow-man1924
1614 W. Hornby Scourge Drunkennes (1859) 19 It is a cage of all base villany..Bul-wards and beare-wards with like company.
bull-week n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1878 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words Bull-week, the week before Christmas, in which the work-people at Sheffield push their strength to the utmost.
bull-whack v. U.S. (transitive and intransitive) to drive (cattle).
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [verb (transitive)] > herd cattle
punch1859
bull-whack1869
night-herd1885
rally1888
to ride herd on (also over)1895
point1903
ring1935
1869 A. K. McClure 3,000 Miles through Rocky Mts. 102 You will often find some graduate of Yale ‘bull-whacking’ his own team from the river to his mines.
bull-whack n. U.S. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > equipment
salec1299
salebandc1299
shacklec1460
marking stone1534
low bell1578
baikiea1598
nose-hook1778
sjambok1790
shangy1808
cow-bell1809
ox frame1844
bullwhip1848
humbug1850
stock-whip1852
bull-whacker1858
cattle-bell1872
bull-whack1885
leading-staff1886
bullock-bell1911
bull-holder1940
1885 C. L. Norton in Mag. Amer. Hist. 13 98 In Texas and western Louisiana the ‘bull-whack’ is a terrible whip with a long and very heavy lash and a short handle. It is used by drovers to intimidate refractory animals.
1906 Dial. Notes 3 129 He's a bull-whackin'.
bull-whacker n. U.S. (a) a bullock driver in the Western states; (b) = bull-whack n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > equipment
salec1299
salebandc1299
shacklec1460
marking stone1534
low bell1578
baikiea1598
nose-hook1778
sjambok1790
shangy1808
cow-bell1809
ox frame1844
bullwhip1848
humbug1850
stock-whip1852
bull-whacker1858
cattle-bell1872
bull-whack1885
leading-staff1886
bullock-bell1911
bull-holder1940
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > driver of team of animals > of bullocks
bullock-driver1792
bullock-puncher1856
bull-whacker1858
bull-puncher1872
bullock-wainster1883
bullocker1889
bullocky1889
1858 Valley Tan (Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory) 17 Dec. An example that will make the blush of shame mantle upon the cheek of the bull-whacker.
1878 W. Black Green Pastures xiii. 106 Not even the stoutest bull-whacker who ever crossed the plains.
1887 E. Custer Tenting on Plains (1888) vii. 229 There is no sound like the snap of the lash of a ‘bull-whacker’.
bull-wheel n. (see quot.).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > oil and natural gas recovery equipment > [noun] > drilling equipment > devices for raising or lowering
oil derrick1863
bull-wheel1883
wire line1896
1883 Cent. Mag. July 329/2 Attached to the derrick is also a big windlass, called the ‘bull-wheel’, which hoists the drilling apparatus out of the [oil] well.
b. Combinations with genitive bull's:† bull's feather n. Obsolete a horn, the mark of cuckoldry.
bull's blood n. a full-bodied red wine made in and around the village of Eger in Hungary.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > wines of other regions > [noun] > Eastern Europe
Tokay wine1710
essence1773
Cotnar1833
Carlowitz1858
Vöslauer1920
bull's blood1926
Saperavi1926
Zilavka1926
Mukuzani1948
Lutomer1954
tiger's milk1959
Tiger Milk1961
Tsinandali1961
1926 P. M. Shand Bk. Wine ix. 242 An almost black wine called..‘Bulls' Blood Wine’ used to be made here [i.e. in Eger] by a very protracted process of fermentation.
1967 A. Lichine Encycl. Wines & Spirits 294/1 Bull's blood of Eger is a blend of three kinds of grapes.
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society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > fornication, adultery, or incest > [noun] > adultery > husband of adulterous wife > symbol of
to give horns to1430
ox feather1615
knob1658
shoeing-horn1664
Sussex crest1681
horny coronet1688
bull's feather1704
1704 Swetnam's Arraignm. Lewd, Idle, Froward & Unconstant Women (new ed.) 167 There's many an honest man hath worn the bull's feather.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. xxiii. 202 They may very probably adorn, as well as bestow, the bull's feather.
bull's-noon n. midnight (dialect).
ΚΠ
18.. Northampton dial. If I go on at this rate I shan't be done at bull's-noon.
1839 C. Clark John Noakes & Mary Styles 17 No bull's-noon hours I'll ha' ya keep.
bull's-nose n. (see quot.).
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the world > space > shape > angularity > [noun] > angle or corner > obtuse angle
obtuse angle1570
bull's-nose1842
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 940 Bull's Nose, the external or other angle of a polygon, or of any two lines meeting at an obtuse angle.
bull's-pizzle n. the penis of the bull, formerly a much-used instrument of flagellation.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > instrument or place of corporal punishment > [noun] > bull's penis
bull's-pizzle1587
pizzle1599
1587 T. Saunders True Discr. Voiage Tripolie sig. Biiijv The Boteswaine..walked abaft the Mast and his Mate afore the Maste..each of them a Bulles pissell dried in their handes.
1664 S. Butler Hudibras: Second Pt. ii. i. 63 Th' illustrious Bassa..with Buls-pizzle..Was taw'd as gentle as a Glove.
1737 tr. A. R. Le Sage Gil Blas (1771) I. 26 I felt on my shoulders half a dozen lusty bangs of a bull's pizzle.
Draft additions 1993
bull market n. Stock Market a market characterized by the rising price of stock, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > traffic in stocks and shares > types of market
commodity market1843
primary market1859
short interest1866
bear market1873
aftermarket1887
terminal market1887
Kaffir Circus1889
shop1889
bull market1891
open1898
curb-market1900
the junglea1901
jungle-market1900
short market1900
down market1915
short end1964
third market1964
Unlisted Securities Market1979
USM1979
bulldog market1980
1891 Cent. Mag. Jan. 426 No office of its size in the Street made so much money for its customers in a bull market.
1931 F. L. Allen Only Yesterday xii. 301 No aspect of the campaign was more interesting than the extent to which it reflected the obsession of the American people with bull-market prosperity.
1986 What Investm. July 15/3 If historical precedent is followed, the present bull market will end by the next general election.
Draft additions June 2006
bullshot n. a cocktail typically made with vodka, beef bouillon or consommé, and Worcestershire sauce.
ΚΠ
1957 Los Angeles Times 7 Jan. iii. 5/1 They're sitting around in their Ivy League suits drinking a little concoction containing cold bouillon, a shot of vodka, and a twist of lemon peel. They call it a Bullshot. On account of the beef juice.
1965 N. Coward Diary 28 Feb. (2000) 593 We sat on the verandah before lunch and introduced the Queen Mother to bullshots. She had two and was delighted.
2004 H. Fearnley-Whittingstall River Cottage Meat Bk. xi. 271 The resulting paste..is the gourmet version of Marmite or Bovril. Add boiling water, vodka and Worcestershire sauce for the ultimate ‘bullshot’.
Draft additions March 2020
bull trap n. Stock Market (now rare) a situation in which a declining stock, commodity, market, etc., misleadingly appears to have recovered, which encourages investors into buying it and quickly incurring losses.Opposed to the more common bear trap n. 2.
ΚΠ
1886 North Amer. (Philadelphia) 21 June It remains to be seen how the big manipulators are coming out of it. At present they hold the trumps. Their game doesn't seem to be played yet... A number of bull traps are yet to be sprung.
1920 Omaha (Nebraska) Daily Bee 31 Mar. 8/1 Finding himself in a bull trap the short seller sought mercy... Latest advices are that the unwary speculator may be pinched for from two and a half to three million dollars.
2019 MetalBull. (Nexis) 18 Apr. Base metals prices spiked on Wednesday when positive Chinese data sparked a spate of bullish consumption, but analysts consider yesterday's rally to be nothing more than a bull trap.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
bulln.2
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ 1. A seal attached to an official document; esp. the leaden seal attached to the Pope's edicts.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > marking > imprinting > sealing > [noun] > seal > other seals
bull1340
printerc1425
counter-seal1611
label-seal1679
gum-seal1826
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > papal documents > [noun] > bull > seal of
bull1340
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 62 Me ualseþ þe kinges sel oþer þe popes bulle.
1480 W. Caxton Chron. Eng. cxci. 167 The pope sente a general sentence vnder his bulles of lede vnto the archebisshop.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. iii. f. 12v The byshop of Rome..graunted to the Kynge of Spayne by thauctoritie of his leaden bulles.
1643 W. Prynne Opening Great Seale 4 Now the French Kings long before his dayes, used to seale their charters with golden Bulls.
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 132 These Letters are not said to be expedited till that Bull is annex'd to them.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Bull, a Letter dispatch'd from the Roman Chancery, seal'd with Lead.
2. A papal or episcopal edict or mandate.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > papal documents > [noun] > bull
bull1297
brevet1362
bill1450
pontificala1500
bullock1537
legative bull1548
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. 494 The king vorbed ek in this lond al the popes playdinge Of bullen.
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. Prol. 66 And brouȝt vp a Bulle with bisshopes seles.
c1380 J. Wyclif Grete Sentence xvi, in Sel. Wks. III. 308 Þei magnyfien þe popis bulle more þan þe gospel.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 108/1 And after..toke away hys bullys and wrytynges.
1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips lxv. 458 The Popes bulles..maye well be called bulles, sins thei be more vaine than bulles or blabbers in the mater.
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. B5 How often hath he sent foorth his roring buls against hir Maiestie.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 492 Then might ye see..Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls, The sport of Winds. View more context for this quotation
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. iii. 144 Pius V..now (1570) published his celebrated bull, excommunicating and deposing Elizabeth.
1873 J. Morley Rousseau II. 63 The bull Unigenitus, which had been..an infraction of French liberties.
3. Applied to a non-ecclesiastical edict. See golden bull n.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > [noun] > edict, decree, ordinance, or institute
doomc825
i-setnessec900
setnessc950
edict1297
statutec1300
purveyancea1325
assize1330
ordinancec1330
decreetc1374
constitutionc1380
decree?a1400
sizea1400
stablementc1400
edictionc1470
stablishment1473
ordinationc1499
estatutea1514
placarda1530
prescript1532
golden bull1537
rescript1545
institute1546
institution1551
constitutec1561
sanction1570
decretal1588
ordain1596
decretum1602
invention1639
scite1656
dispositive1677
bull1696
ordonnance1702
subnotation1839
senatus consultum1875
fatwa1989
1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.)
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Bull 'Tis call'd the Golden Bull, because the Emperors of the East used, antiently, to seal their Edicts with a Golden Seal, call'd Bulla.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 222 The Golden Bull (so called on account of the great gold seal of the emperor affixed to it).
Compounds
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > offices or officials > [noun] > summist
bull-driver1651
summist1654
1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. vi. 55 These Bull-drivers or summoners to the Romish Court, were no late upstarts.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > command > command or bidding > [noun] > ordinance, prescription, or appointment > an ordinance or authoritative utterance > one who issues
bullera1300
issuerc1484
bull-founder1570
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1474/2 If these Bull-founders do charge me with any other thyng besides in this Article.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > [noun]
popeeOE
apostoilec1275
vicary1303
vicar1340
bridge maker1341
Antichristc1370
vicar generalc1386
Holy Fatherc1400
servant of the servants of Godc1405
His Holy Fatherhood?a1425
universal bishopc1475
holiness1502
harlot1535
papa1555
Apostolic seat1560
vicegerent1572
man of Rome1581
pontiff1583
bullman1588
apostolicship1599
Pontifex Maximus1610
infallibleship1613
sanctity1633
popeship1641
decretaliarch1656
blessedness1670
Holy seata1674
infallibilityship1679
pontifexa1680
holyshipc1680
unholiness1682
His Infallibility1834
Pape1927
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > offices or officials > [noun] > bullist
bullist1587
bullman1588
1588 Holy Bull & Crusade Rome 29 All the holines of this Romish Bulman consisteth onely in externall ceremonies.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > papal documents > [noun] > bull > office for issuing
bull-office1736
1736 J. Serces Popery Enemy to Script. 112 Before Henry VIII, England paid more into the Bull-office than all the Roman Catholic Countries put together.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† bulln.3
Obsolete. rare.
A bubble.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > gas or air in liquid or effervescence > [noun] > a) bubble(s)
scuma1250
boilounc1320
bubblea1350
burblec1350
blubberc1440
bell1483
blobc1540
bull1561
bleb1647
blab1656
air bubble1756
air-bell1806
gas bubble1809
sprot1846
mousse1863
1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips lxv. 458 The Popes bulles..maye well be called bulles, sins thei be more vaine than bulles or blabbers in the mater.
1563 A. Nowell Homily in W. K. Clay Liturg. Services Q. Eliz. (1847) 501 This life is as a vapour,..as a bull rising on the water.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
bulln.4
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > jest or pleasantry > a jest or joke > ludicrous
bull1629
1629 J. Taylor Wit & Mirth (new ed.) (title page) Wit and Mirth..Made vp, and fashioned into Clinches, Bulls, Quirkes, Yerkes, Quips, and Ierkes.
1652 T. Urquhart Εκσκυβαλαυρον 106 He had all the jeers, squibs, flouts, buls, quips, taunts, [etc.].
a1695 A. à Wood in Oxoniana II. 23 Every one in order was to..make a jest or bull, or speake some eloquent nonsense, to make the company laugh.
2.
a. A self-contradictory proposition; in modern use, an expression containing a manifest contradiction in terms or involving a ludicrous inconsistency unperceived by the speaker. Cf. Irish bull n. at Irish adj. and n. Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > lack of reasoning, illogicality > [noun] > contradiction
self-contradiction1606
antilogy1614
bull1640
antiloquy1656
contradiction1795
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > [noun] > instance of
flim-flam1546
delirium1599
bull1640
nonsense1646
fandango1841
fiddlededee1843
flapdoodle1878
1640 R. Brome Antipodes sig. K3 Dumbe Speaker! that's a Bull. Thou wert the Bull Then, in the Play. Would I had seene thee rore. Bla. That's a Bull too, as wise as you are Bab.
1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. xi. 106 It is no Bull, to speake of a Common Peace, in the place of Warre.
1673 J. Milton True Relig. 5 Whereas the Papist boasts himself to be a Roman Catholick, it is a meer contradiction, one of the Popes Bulls.
1702 Let. fr. Soldier to Ho. Commons 17 These Gentlemen seem to me to have copied the Bull of their Countryman, who said his Mother was barren.
1711 A. Pope Let. 25 June in Corr. (1956) I. 121 I confess it what the English call a bull, in the expression, tho' the sense be manifest enough.
1803 S. Smith Wks. (1867) I. 69 A bull is an apparent congruity, and real incongruity of ideas, suddenly discovered.
b. A bad blunder. U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > an error, mistake > [noun] > serious error, blunder
blunder1706
blunderbuss1726
floor1841
bull1846
howler1872
atrocity1878
break1884
bloomer1889
boner1912
bish1937
black1939
blue1941
cock-up1946
piss-up1950
screw-up1950
blob1952
1846 D. Corcoran Pickings 13 When we speak of ‘Irish Evenings’ in New Orleans, we are guilty of neither bull nor blunder.
1855 ‘P. Paxton’ Capt. Priest 226 I had committed a bull myself, by intruding where I evidently was de trop.
1904 N.Y. Times 4 July 3 They are going to nominate Parker, and they are going to make a bull by doing it.
1934 J. T. Farrell Young Manhood (1936) xviii. 379 It was bull number one for him, [a] bad way to start the evening off.
3.
a. Trivial, insincere, or untruthful talk or writing; nonsense. slang (originally U.S.).Popularly associated with bullshit n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > [noun]
flash1605
sniffling1653
canting1659
cant1710
galbanum1764
gas1793
blarney1796
gammon1805
slum1812
claptrap1819
flam1825
glittering generality1849
bull's wool1850
eyewash1857
bunkum1862
hot air1873
kid1874
fustian1880
flubdub1888
bull1914
oil1917
blah1918
drip1919
piss and wind1922
banana-oil1927
flannel1927
crud1943
old talk1956
ole talk1964
okey-doke1969
yada yada1991
1914 Dial. Notes 4 162 Bull, talk which is not to the purpose; ‘hot air’.
1925 P. G. Wodehouse Sam the Sudden xx. 160 You threw a lot of bull about being the brains of the concern.
1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Dec. 933/3 ‘Bull’ is the slang term for a combination of bluff, bravado, ‘hot-air’, and what we used to call in the Army ‘Kidding the troops’.
1946 G. Gibson Enemy Coast Ahead xii. 159 I have never heard such a line of bull in all my life.
1952 M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) vi. 116 I never thought I'd be listening to that old bull slung at Jocelyn.
b. attributive, esp. in bull session n. originally and chiefly U.S. an informal conversation or discussion, esp. of a group of males.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > conversation > [noun]
speechc900
talec1000
speaka1300
reasonc1300
speakinga1325
counsela1350
intercommuningc1374
dalliancec1400
communication1419
communancec1449
collocutiona1464
parlour?c1475
sermocination1514
commona1529
dialogue?1533
interlocutiona1534
discourse1545
discoursing1550
conference1565
purposea1572
talk1572
interspeech1579
conversationa1586
devising1586
intercourse1596
intercommunication1603
eclogue1604
commercing1610
communion1614
negocea1617
alloquy1623
confariation1652
gob1681
gab1761
commune1814
colloquy1817
conversing1884
cross-talk1887
bull session1920
rap1957
1920 T. Wolfe Let. 26 Nov. (1956) 11 With no more delightful ‘bull sessions’, I have turned to work.
1924 P. Marks Plastic Age x. 77 Religion and sex, the favorite topics for ‘bull sessions’.
1924 P. Marks Plastic Age xxiv. 286 The monthly meetings were nothing but ‘bull fests’.
1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 201 Bull artist, a hobo with the gift of gab.
1960 Guardian 8 Dec. 12/3 The kind of college ‘bull session’ that is common among English students.
4. Unnecessary routine tasks or ceremonial; excessive discipline or ‘spit-and-polish’; = red tape n. 2. Cf. bullshit n. 2 originally Services' slang.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > a standard of conduct > [noun] > acting according to some standard, fashion, etc. > conformity to established rules > mere conventional observance
forma1672
eyewash1857
bullshit1930
bull1941
1941 New Statesman 30 Aug. 218/3 Bull, discipline.
1942 I. Gleed Arise to Conquer vi. 51 The Squadron..felt very bolshie about all the bull that was flying around the station.
1953 A. Baron Human Kind xxiv. 178 Them turning out the guard for us, us marching past eyes right, all that sort of bull.
1958 Economist 8 Feb. 470/1 The drudgery and ‘bull’ in an MP's life.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
bulln.5
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ One of the main bars of a harrow. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > harrowing equipment > [noun] > harrow > parts of
harrow-tooth1483
bull?1523
harrow-bull?1523
spindle1616
whippin1697
whippletree1733
tining1760
sheth1788
slot1799
harrow-tine-
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. ixv The horse harowe is made of fyue bulles and passe nat an elne of length.
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved xxxiii. 220 As little and light a Harrow, which may contain three little Buls and about five Tines in a Bull.
1677 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Oxford-shire 247 The great square Bull harrow, drawn by the second bull on the near side of the harrow.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 97 General Robertson of Lawers uses five bulls, having five teeth in each bull.
1843 B. Almack in Jrnl. Agric. Soc. 4 i. 61 The bulls or parts to contain the teeth, were made of dry foreign pine.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
bulln.6
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ Drink made by putting water into an empty spirit cask, or over a sugar-mat, to catch some of the flavour.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > [noun] > made from drips or dregs
allsorts1823
bull1830
1830 F. Marryat King's Own I. xx. 313 I'll pass the bottle, and you may make a bull of it.
1834 F. Marryat Jacob Faithful II. iii. 65 A bull means putting a quart or two of water into a cask which has had spirits in it.
1859 All Year Round 21 May 78 He would..have abdicated his sovereignty for an old sugar mat, wherewith to make ‘bull’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
bulln.7
Elliptical for bulldog n. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > other types of dog > [noun] > bulldog
bulldog?1518
bull-bitch1681
bull1827
bull-pup1883
French bulldog1893
boxer1903
1827 P. Egan Anecd. Turf 107 Turk was a thorough-bred bull, and the other two were half-bred between a bull and a mastiff.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xii. 185 He went into the backyard and onloosed a regular old English bull.
1901 S. E. White Westerners xxii. 207 Your bull wouldn't be ace high. Look at the teeth on him.
1939 T. Wolfe Web & Rock (1947) 17 The little bull..had his fierce teeth buried..in the great throat of the larger dog.
Derivatives
bull-mastiff n. (also bullmastiff) a dog of a cross-breed between a bulldog and a mastiff.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > other types of dog > [noun] > giant breeds > mastiff > other types of
moloss1842
bull-mastiff1871
molossus1879
Dogue de Bordeaux1895
Tosa1945
boerboel1965
Dogo1975
Neapolitan1987
Dogo Argentino1989
1871 Field 29 Apr. 343/2 The fight which took place in the earlier part of this century between Wombwell's two lions and bull-mastiffs.
1948 D. J. Nash in B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Book of Dog 384 In 1795 an advertisement appeared for a lost Bullmastiff.
1959 Country Life 10 Dec. 1139/1 When the bull-mastiff or bull mastiff graduated from the gamekeeper's kennel..to the show-ring and a place in the Kennel Club register, the breed became known as the bullmastiff.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
bulln.8
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ A game resembling quoits. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > quoits > games resembling quoits > [noun]
penny-prick1421
penny-stone?c1475
loggat1541
ringing the bull1815
bull1863
ring toss1870
ringoal1887
rings1906
jukskei1942
cornhole game2002
1863 G. O. Trevelyan Lett. from Competition Wallah i, in Macmillan's Mag. May 86 In search of sport these join the circle full That smokes and lounges round the game of ‘Bull’.
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 22 June 3/2 We tried to help on the dreary time with..a game called ‘bull’—a kind of sea-quoits.
1928 Blackwood's Mag. Mar. 418/2 Indifferent to the call of the ‘Bull-board’ or the deck-quoit.
1963 M. Malim Pagoda Tree xiii. 77 She was good at bull-board—a matter of lobbing little sacks of sand into numbered squares upon an inclined board.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
bulln.9
The centre of a target; = bull's-eye n. 7; (also) a shot hitting the bull's-eye.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > competitive shooting > archery > [noun] > archery target > parts of
pin1584
gold1798
eye1818
blue1830
bull's-eye1833
garland1847
petticoat1864
bull1900
1900 Westm. Gaz. 13 June 5/2 Able to hit a two-foot bull five times out of ten at 500 yards.
1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 41 ‘You see that target there, don't you?’ ‘See it a fair treat!’ said Donovan..; ‘I'll bet I plunk a bull in the first three shots.’
1932 A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms 3 He scored seven bulls in eight shots.
1955 Times 11 Aug. 8/4 The uninitiated..soon learn to refer to a ‘gold’, and not to a ‘bull’ or an ‘inner’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
Bulln.10
= John Bull n. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > British nation > English nation > [noun]
EngleeOE
EnglishOE
English-Saxona1387
Anglea1398
Southron1488
England1569
Anglo-Saxon1602
John Bull1748
Johnny Bull?1762
Southronya1795
Bull1825
Englishry1856
1825 T. Carlyle Early Lett. (Norton) II. 295 Bull himself, again, though a frank, beef-loving, joyous kind of person, is excessively stupid.
1843 S. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 331 Bull is naturally disposed to love you, but he loves nobody who does not pay him.
Derivatives
ˈBullism n. = John Bullism n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > British nation > English nation > [noun] > native or inhabitant of England > character of
Anglicism1647
John Bullism1791
Englishism1802
Bullism1821
English-hood1842
Englishry1894
1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 10 89 English jurors have been lately so bepreached out of bullism by him.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
bullv.1
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ a. transitive. Said of a bull: to gender with (the cow). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bull > [verb (transitive)] > copulate with cow
bull1659
1659 J. Howell To Knowingest Kind of Philologers in Proverbs sig. a4, in Lex. Tetraglotton (1660) He that bulls the Cow must keep the Calf.
1675 C. Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 182 Unless I had a Spell, To bull my Cow invisible.
1736 in Bailey He who Bulls the Cow must keep the Calf.
b. intransitive. Of the cow: to take the bull, to desire the bull. Also to go a bulling. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > cow > [verb (intransitive)] > copulate with bull
bulla1398
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. cix. 1257 Kyne lowen whanne þey ben abolyynge [emended in ed. to abolynge].
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxviiiv The damme of the calfe shall bull agayne.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 224 Kine commonly..seeke the fellow, and goe a bulling againe.
2.
a. Stock Market. To try to raise the price of (stocks, etc.); to speculate for the rise.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (transitive)] > influence the market > raise price of
bulla1842
over-bull1905
ramp1977
a1842 W. Maginn Pict. Grave & Gay (1859) 286 His stories being..lies..I should have been sorry to have bulled or beared in Spanish on the strength of them.
c1880 W. Besant & J. Rice With Harp & Crown xix. 196 Men who bull and bear the stock market.
1881 Chicago Times 4 June If we succeed in bulling silver we shall also succeed in bearing gold to the same extent.
b. intransitive. To advance in price; figurative to be in the ascendant.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)]
climbc1400
ascendc1550
soar1597
progress1612
develop1744
advance1875
bull1928
1928 S. Vines Humours Unreconciled 252 Music was ‘bulling’ in Japan and the Conservatory crammed to bursting point.
3. To behave or move like a bull; to act with violence in the manner of a bull. Also reflexive. U.S. slang.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > behave violently or use force [verb (intransitive)]
to do outragec1325
to make forcea1340
deray1340
outrayc1390
to make strengtha1393
tar and tig?a1500
bull1884
strong-arm1906
to kick ass1977
to get medieval1994
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > behave violently [verb (reflexive)]
deray1340
bull1947
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xvi. 130 Up-stream boats..bull right up the channel.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxvii. 235 The old fool he bulled right along.
1947 A. Miller All my Sons 11 Don't come bulling in here. If you've got something to say, be civilized about it.
1947 A. Miller All my Sons 111 You can't bull yourself through this one, Joe, you better be smart now.
1956 Time 10 Sept. 30/1 A mob of about 400 Texans bulled about the school grounds.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† bullv.2
Obsolete.
transitive. To insert or publish (a matter, or a name) in a Papal bull; to affix the Papal seal to (a document).
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > papal documents > [verb (transitive)] > issue bull
embull?a1475
bull1570
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. f. 367/1 Shortly after ye pope sent M. Martin wt blanks being bulled for contribution of 10000. marks.
a1670 J. Hacket Scrinia Reserata (1693) i. 130 As soon as the Dispensation was Bulled.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
bullv.3
1. To make a fool of, to mock; to cheat (out of).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)] > trick out of
delude1493
juggle1531
bull1532
defeata1538
cozen1602
Don Diego1607
foista1640
sham1681
jockey1719
fling1749
short1942
1532 [implied in: T. More Confut. Barnes in Wks. (1557) 736/1 Hys asseheded exclamacions, and all hys busy bulling. (at bulling n.3)].
1609 W. M. Man in Moone sig. Fv Neuer laugh in your sleeue how you haue gulled or bulled your husband.
1645 R. Overton Sacred Decretall in Prynne Discov. New Blazing-Stars 12 Wherefore being thus jeer'd and bul'd, we Decree and Ordaine, etc.
1674 R. Godfrey Var. Injuries in Physick 207 'Tis admirable the World is so stupid to be thus bull'd out of their Moneys.
1927 ‘J. Barbican’ Confessions Rum-runner xxiii. 256 I thought he was trying to bull me.
2. intransitive. To talk emptily or boastfully (cf. bull n.4 3).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > talk insincerely [verb (intransitive)]
vapour1629
cant1648
quack1650
gas1849
bull1850
to shoot the bull1922
blah1924
1850 T. M. Garrett Diary in Amer. Speech (1951) 26 182 Elaborate bulling about a point that has been exploded for years.
1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 14 To bull, to brag, talk nonsense.
3. transitive. Services' slang. To polish (equipment, etc.) in order to meet excessive standards of neatness. Cf. bull n.4 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > polishing > polish [verb (transitive)] > to excessive standard
bull1957
1957 Times 4 Oct. 13/5 Those army recruits who spend so much time ‘bulling’ their boots with a hot spoon.
1969 D. Clark Nobody's Perfect ii. 35 His shoes were bulled so that the toecaps gleamed like patent leather.
Derivatives
bulled adj.3
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > polishing > [adjective] > to excessive standard
bulled1967
1967 ‘M. Hunter’ Cambridgeshire Disaster v. 32 The bed..collapsed, spilling equipment haberdashery over the bulled-up floor.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
bullv.4
/bʊl/, U.S. /bʊl/ See quot. 1824.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > distilling > [verb (transitive)] > wash out empty cask
bull1824
grog1878
1824 J. D. Cochrane Narr. Pedestrian Journey through Russia 225 I could do nothing but bull the barrel, that is, put a little water into it, and so preserve at least the appearance of vodkey.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
> see also
also refers to : bull-comb. form
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n.1c1175
n.21297
n.31561n.41629
n.5?1523n.61830n.71827n.81863n.91900n.101821v.1a1398v.21570v.31532v.41824see also