bull1
/bʊl
/- There were no calving problems except with one set of twins (a bull and heifer calf).
- Bulls occasionally fight bulls, but never the milk cow.
- It included 300 horses, 2,000 cattle, 12,000 sheep, 12 bulls and 90 brood mares.
- But only 800 of India's 20,000 elephants are bulls now.
- As the saying goes, when elephant bulls fight, it is the grass that suffers.
- However, if you can start your draw with your aim slightly above the bull, and keep it on the target, this tends to be the best method, as you don't have to work against gravity, to get the bow higher.
- I move the rifle to aim at the sighter bullseye which is just below the record bull on the target and I carefully shoot one round, noting its point of impact.
- If two darts hit the bullseye or outer bull, you win 2000 times your jackpot bet.
- We do not share the hopes or convictions of the bulls.
- If bulls push prices up during the day but cannot achieve a close near the top of the range, stochastic turns down and a sell signal is issued.
- I knew the woods well enough that I took the lead, and Jeff bulled along after me through the underbrush, the two of us moving from toy to fallen toy with no other consideration in the world.
- The true choice then is to bull ahead or else to abort.
- Mara was there in a flash, bulling courtiers and servants alike out of the way.
- The older weanlings are ideal for bulling in late spring when they are about 18 months old.
- Epp et al. collected blood samples from steers at feedlot arrival and at the onset of bulling behavior to assess circulating hormone concentrations.
Phrases
like a bull at a gate
like a bull in a china shop
take the bull by the horns
within a bull's roar (of)
Origin
Late Old English bula (recorded in place names), from Old Norse boli. Compare with bullock.
Bull goes back to Old Norse. In Stock Exchange terminology a bull is a person who buys shares hoping to sell them at a higher price later, the opposite of a bear. The latter term came first, and it seems likely that bull was invented as a related animal analogy. Nowadays, people might associate bull in the sense ‘nonsense’ with the rather cruder term bullshit, which has been used with the same meaning since the early 20th century. Bull is much older being first recorded in the early 17th century, in the sense ‘an expression containing a contradiction in terms or a ludicrous inconsistency’. An Irish bull was a fuller name for this. Where this bull comes from is unknown, though the experts are sure it has nothing to do with a papal bull (an order or announcement by the pope), which is from medieval Latin bulla, ‘a sealed document’. The bull of bulrush (Late Middle English) and bullfrog (mid 18th century) probably indicates size and vigour. See also bulletin
Rhymes
bull2
/bʊl/- Taking no chances, the pope issued a papal bull automatically excommunicating any printer who might make an alteration in the text.
- In mid-1349, Pope Clement VI issued a papal bull denouncing the flagellants as a heretical movement.
- Witches were also put on trial, following a papal bull against witchcraft issued in 1484.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla 'bubble, rounded object' (in medieval Latin 'seal or sealed document').
bull3
/bʊl/- He went there, had a little bit of a photo-op, made a little bit of a quip that he thought that he had seen a lot of bull in Washington, but he certainly was seeing a lot more there.
- Do you think astrology is totally cool or complete bull?
- But now we know that was all bull, and so I now believe I was wrong.
Origin
Early 17th century: of unknown origin.
- admensuration
- admin
- adminicle
- adminicular
- adminiculum
- administer
- administerer
- administerial
- administrable
- administrador
- administrant
- administrate
- administration
- administrational
- administration assistant
- administration fee
- administration order
- administrative
- administrative assistant
- administrative law
- administrative leave
- administratively
- administrative receiver
- administrative receivership
- administrator