▪ I. bull, n.1
(bʊl)
Forms: 3–4 bule, (3–4 pl. bulles, 4–5 -is), 5 bulle, 6–7 bul, 6– bull; also 3–5 bole, 4 bol, 4–5 boole, (5 bolle), (8 Sc. dial. bill).
[ME. bole (bool(e), app. a. ON. bole, boli; cf. MLG. bulle (whence mod.G.), MDu. bulle (bolle), Du. bul, bol. There may have been an OE. *bulla, whence the deriv. bulluc ‘bullock’, as the source of the ME. bule, bulle, and the modern bull, which do not fit phonetically the bole forms. Outside Teutonic, cf. Lithuanian bullus. Prob. from a verb-stem found in some German dialects, as büllen, bullen to roar, perh. related by ablaut to bellen: see bell v.4]
I. Of animals.
1. The male of any bovine animal; most commonly applied to the male of the domestic species (Bos Taurus); also of the buffalo, etc.
| c 1200 Ormin 990 Þeȝȝre lac wass bule, & lamb, & buckess twa togeddre. a 1300 Cursor M. 10395 Þe bulles [v.r. bolys] tuelue he offrid sua. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1682 A best þat he be, a bol oþer an oxe. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. li. Sel. Wks. I. 150 A bole þat shal be kild goiþ in corn at his wille. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle v. xi. (1483) 102 The cruell horned boole. 1474 Caxton Chesse 112 A grete bole is suffisid with right a litil pasture. a 1528 Skelton Image Hypocr. iv. 114 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. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Scot. (1655) 42 The head of a Bull (a sign of present Death in these times) is set down before him. 1733 Pope Hor. Sat. i. i. 86 Bulls aim their horns, and Asses lift their heels. 1786 Burns Addr. Deil x, An' dawtit, twal-pint Hawkie's gaen As yell's the Bill. 1818 in Knight Once upon a Time 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).
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1428 Two bolys makid all of bras. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster iii. i, The points of swords, tortures, nor bulls of brass, Should draw it from me. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. i. i, All manner of tortures, brazen bulls, racks, wheels. 1724 Swift Wks. (1841) II. 4 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
attrib. to describe a direct and vigorous attack.
| 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 10 He that hath borne a calfe, shall also beare a bull, He that accustometh hym selfe to lytle thynges, by lytle and lytle shal be able to go a waye with greater thynges. 1711 Swift Conduct of Allies 58 To engage with France, was to take a bull by the Horns. 1816 Scott Old Mort. in Tales My Landlord III. xii. 258 He had not, as the phrase goes, taken the bull by the horns, or advanced in front of the enemie's fire. 1833 Galt in Fraser's Mag. VIII. 655 He shewed, when he durst, the bull-horn. 1841 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xv, I'm like a bull in a china-shop. 1873 Tristram 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. 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 Ibid 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. |
† d. hell bull. Applied to Belial.
Obs.| a 1225 Juliana 54 He þe kingene king helle bule haueð ouercumen te dei belial baldest of helle. |
† e. bull's head (
Sc.): ‘a signal of condemnation, and prelude of immediate execution, said to have been anciently used in Scotland’ (
Jam.).
| 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scotl. (1728) 17 (Jam.) The chancellor presentit the bullis head befoir the earle of Douglas. 1649 [see 1]. a 1800 in Scott Minstr. Scot. Bord. (1803) II. 399 (Jam.) If the bull's ill-omen'd 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. (
obs.).
| 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 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. 1725 Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 260 They [whales] generate much like to our neat Cattle, and therefore they are termed Bull, Cow, and Calf. 1857 Chambers Inform. People I. 716 Fights usually take place when male whales or bulls..meet with rivals. 1886 Guillemard Cruise Marchesa I. 198 The attitude of the bulls [seals] towards each other becomes more peaceable. |
3. Astron. The constellation and sign Taurus.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xv. ii, The golden rayes..Of radyant Phebus..Right in the Bull. 1607 Topsell Serpents 755 Diana..translated him into heaven, close by the constellation of the Bull. 1728 Thomson Spring 27 From Aries rolls the bounteous Sun, And the bright Bull receives him. 1868 Lockyer Heavens (ed. 3) 323 Aldebaran, the most beautiful star in the constellation of the Bull. |
II. Transf. senses of diverse origin.
† 4. = bull-head,
bull-tour.
Obs. slang.| 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Bull..false Hair worn (formerly much) by Women. |
5. Mining. An iron rod used in the process of blasting.
b. = Clay-iron. Raymond
Mining Gloss.| 1851 Coal-tr. Terms, Northumbld. & Durh. 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. |
6. ?
dial. See
quot.| 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 11.)
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Bull, a crown or five shillings. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xlvii, ‘Four halfbulls, wot you may call halfcrowns’. |
b. A locomotive.
U.S. slang.| a 1889 On the Trail (Barrère & Leland), Had just touched a bloke's leather as the bull bellowed for the last time. 1889 Farmer Americanisms, Bull (Cant), a locomotive; the word is sometimes lengthened into Bullgine. |
c. A policeman.
U.S. slang.| [1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 15 Bull-traps, rogues who personate [police] officers for the purposes of extorting money.] 1893 J. Flynt in Century 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. 8. Stock-Exchange [see
bear n.1 8]. 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.
| 1714 C. Johnson Country Lasses i. i, You deal in Bears and Bulls. 1721 Cibber Refusal i, And all this out of Change-Alley? Every Shilling, Sir; all out of Stocks, Tuts, Bulls, Rams, Bears, and Bubbles. 1761 Brit. Mag. II. 278 The cow turned into 'Change-alley, which frighted not a little not only all the bulls, but the bears too. 1818 Scott Rob Roy iv, 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. attrib. bull point colloq., a point of advantage or superiority, a great ‘score’.
| 1851 Illust. Lond. 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. |
IV. attrib. and
Comb. 9. attrib. a. In sense of ‘male’. (Sometimes hyphened.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10386 (Gött.), To godd he gaue þe lambis to lottis, And to þe pore men þe bole stottis [printed stostis]. 1462 Test. Ebor. (1855) II. 254 Et xxx bull-stirkus. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 287 Falstaffe, you..roared for mercy..as euer I heard Bull-Calfe. 1825 Adams Compl. Serv. 77 The meat of the bull-calf is generally firmest. 1861 P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. 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.
| 1814 Sir R. Wilson Diary II. 336 Butting his head with bull rage and closed eyes. 1830 Marryat King's Own xxvi, You've such a bull neck. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. xi. 190 A doom proclaimed, audible in bull voice, towards the four winds. |
10. Simple combinations:
a. attributive, belonging to (or resembling what belongs to) a bull, as
bull-hide,
bull-house,
bull-meat,
bull-skin,
bull-team;
b. similative and parasynthetic, as
bull-bragging,
bull-browed,
bull-face(d,
bull-fronted,
bull-like,
bull-mouthed,
bull-necked,
bull-throated,
bull-voiced,
adjs.;
c. objective with
vbl. n. or
ppl. adj., as
bull-bearing.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 258 *Bull-bearing Milo. |
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1170/2 The doltish braines of these *Bull bragging bedlems. |
| 1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabb. 174 His *bul-browd-forlorne-downe-cast haire covering all his forehead. |
| 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Hair Powder Wks. 1812 III. 298 Let..*bull-face Brudenell roar. |
| 1775 Phil. Trans. LXVI. 102 The sea-lyon and lyoness are *bull-faced, with long shaggy hair. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. ii. v. 106 He is of indomitable *bull-heart; and also, unfortunately, of thick *bull-head. |
| c 1205 Lay. 14187 Swa muchel lond . swa wule anes *bule hude . ælches weies ouer-spræden. 1297 R. Glouc. 116 Þo carf he a bole hyde small al to a þong. c 1300 St. Brandan 93 With bole huden stronge y-nou y-nailed therto faste. 1718 Pope Iliad vii. 268 With seven thick folds o'ercast, Of tough bull-hides. 1878 H. Stanley Dark Cont. I. xvi. 439 Well wrapped in bull-hides. |
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon 473 *Bull-house, with two pens in it for bull calves. |
| 1859 R. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. R.G.S. XXIX. 321 The neck is *bull-like, short, heavy, and broad. |
| 1673 Dryden Love in Nunnery i. ii. i, When the Place falls, you shall be *Bull-master-General at Court. |
| 1812 R. Stuart Narratives (1935) 160 Poor *Bull meat or Buck Antelope. 1859 R. B. Sage Rocky Mountain Life 64 Bull-meat at this time..is unprecedentedly tough, strong-tasted, and poor. |
| 1893 Kipling Seven Seas (1896) 22 When the *bull-mouthed breakers flee. |
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1094 *Bullenekkyde was þat bierne. 1647 Cleveland Char. Lond. Diurn. Maker (1677) 107 A Bull⁓neck'd Presbyter. 1818 Scott Rob Roy vi, Rashleigh, though strong in person, was bull-necked and cross-made. |
| c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2440 Al the armure he was yn Was noght bot of a *bul-skyn. |
| 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. |
| 1888 Kipling Departm. Ditties, etc. (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. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. vii. 325 The *bull-voiced Marquis Saint-Huruge. |
11. Special comb.:
bull and cow, rhyming slang for
row n.2;
bulls and cows (see
quot.);
bull-ant = bull-dog 4 b;
† bull-back = piggy-back;
bull-bat, the American Goatsucker (
Caprimulgus Americanus);
bull-beef, the flesh of bulls, also
† a term of abuse;
esp. in
to bluster like bull-beef,
as big as bull-beef, etc.;
bull-bird = bullfinch;
bull-boat, a boat made of hides stretched on a wooden frame;
bull-comber, a dung-beetle (
Typhœus vulgaris);
bull-dance (see
quot.);
bull dust Austral., (
a) a coarse dust; (
b) nonsense, rubbish (
slang);
bull-feast, a bull-baiting (
Eng.); a bull-fight (
Sp.);
bull-fiddle U.S. colloq., a bass-viol or double-bass; hence
bull-fiddler;
bull-flesh,
fig. brag, swagger;
† bull-fly, a stag-beetle;
bull-foot (
Bot.) Colt's-foot (
Tussilago);
bull-god, a god worshipped under the form of a bull;
bull-holder (see
quot. 1940);
bull-hoof,
Bot. (see
quot.);
bull-horn, a megaphone;
bull-kelp, any of several varieties of large seaweed found in Pacific and Antarctic waters;
cf. bull-head kelp (
kelp1 1 a);
bull-man, a monster half bull half man;
bullmanship (
nonce-wd.), the art of fighting with bulls;
bull-nose, (
a)
= bull's nose (see 11 b); (
b) see
quots.; also
attrib.; so
bull-nosed a. (see
quots.);
bull oak Austral., a name given to several species of
Casuarina,
esp. C. luehmanni (
cf. oak 3 b);
bull-of-the-bog, the bittern, from its booming cry;
bull-poll, the Turfy Hair-grass (
Aira cæspitosa);
bull-pout U.S., a fish, ?
= bib n.2;
bull-pump (see
quot.);
bull-puncher, (
a)
Austral., a bullock-driver; (
b)
U.S., a cowboy, cow-puncher; so
bull-punching;
bull-pup, a young bull-dog;
bull-ring, the arena for a bull-fight (
Sp.); the place where bulls were baited (
Eng.); the ring to which a bull was fastened; also
transf. (
slang) a military training-ground;
bull-roarer,
spec. used by Australian Aborigines in certain (religious) ceremonies;
bull-rope (see
quot.);
bull-run,
bull-running, a race after a bull or bull-baiting (
e.g. the famous one at Stamford);
† bull-seg (
dial.)
= bull-stag;
bull-snake U.S., a large North American snake (
Pityophis melanoleucus); the pine-snake;
bull-stag, a bull gelded when past his prime;
bull-sticker (see
quots.);
bull-strong a. U.S., strong enough to resist a bull;
bull's wool,
bullswool, (
a)
Army slang, coarse woollen cloth or yarn; (
b)
Austral. and
N.Z. colloq. = bull n.4 3; see also
quot. 1898;
bull-toad, ?
= bull-frog;
bull-tongue (plough) U.S., a simple form of plough;
bull-ward, the keeper of a bull;
bull-week (see
quot.);
bull-whack n. U.S. (see
quot.);
bull-whack v. trans. and intr. (
U.S.), to drive (cattle);
bull-whacker (
U.S.), (
a) a bullock driver in the Western states; (
b)
= bull-whack n.;
bull-wheel (see
quot.);
bull-whip U.S., a whip with a long heavy lash, used for driving cattle. Also
bull-bait, -baiting, etc.
| 1859 Hotten Slang Dict. 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. |
| 1863 Prior Pop. Names Brit. Plants 34 *Bulls and Cows, more commonly called Lords and Ladies, the purple and the pale spadices, respectively, of Arum maculatum. |
| 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. |
| c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) ii. i. 183 Some were on *bull-back, some dancing a morris. |
| 1838 P. H. Gosse Lett. (1859) 62 The common people here generally call these birds by the name of *bull-bats. 1883 Macm. Mag. ‘Old Virg. Gentl.’, The ‘bull-bats’ or night-hawks, in the air above us. |
| 1572 Gascoigne Voy. Holland in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 311 Methinks they be a race of *bull-beef born. c 1618 Fletcher Doubl. Marr. iii. i, Down with the bul⁓beefes. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 57 He looks as big as bull-beef. 1785 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode III to R. A. Wks. 1812 I. 83 Thou may'st bluster like Bull-beef so big. |
| 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 109 We have the crew of the little *bull boat complete. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. xxiv. 195 A skin-canoe—more familiarly called in this country a bull-boat. |
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. III. 111 The *bull-comber, clock beetle, and spring beetle. |
| 1855 Whitby Gloss., *Bull-Dance, rustic merriment connected with cattle-show feasts. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bull-dance, at sea it is performed by men only, when without women. It is sometimes called a stag-dance. |
| 1943 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 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 J. 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? |
| 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2364/2 Bilboa, July 12..To morrow there will be a *Bull Feast. 1768 Earl 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. M{supc}Culloch Highlands Scotl. 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. |
| 1880 G. A. Sala Amer. Revisited 209/1 A ‘*bull-fiddle’ which is American for violoncello. 1941 Steinbeck & Ricketts Sea of Cortez (1951) 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. |
| 1820 T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. 220 What! shall a little *bull-flesh gain the day? |
| 1583 J. Higins Junius' Nomenclator (N.) Cerf volant, a *bullflie, or hornet. 1611 Cotgr., Cerf volant, the great horned beetle, or bull-flie. 1706 Phillips, Bull-fly or Bull-bee, an Insect. |
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 158 Tussilago is named..in Englishe Horse houe or *Bullfoote. |
| 1816 G. S. Faber Orig. Pag. Idol. I. 433 The *bull-god of Phenicia. 1871 Rossetti Burden Nineveh xviii, That Bull-god once did stand And watched the burial-clouds of sand. |
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 119/2 *Bull-holder, forceps for grasping the nasal septum of cattle as a means of restraint. |
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 328 The *Bull-hoof or Dutchman's Laudanum..a climber, whose fruit is..about the size of a large olive. 1866 Treas. Bot., Bull-hoof, Murucuja ocellata. |
| 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. |
| c 1929 W. Martin N.Z. Nature Book II. i, The Giant *Bull Kelp (Durvillea utilis) is a truly Antarctic sea-weed. 1954 New Biol. XVII. 96 The genera vary in size from the great bull-kelps..to a small parasite. |
| 1816 G. S. Faber Orig. Pag. Idol. I. 232 That being was succeeded by a second *bull-man. |
| 1821 New Monthly Mag. II. 340 To her [Seville's] school of *bullmanship that art owes all its refinements. |
| 1858 Skyring's Builders' Prices 41 Circular styles to *bull-nose corners. a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Bull-nose Rabbet Plane, a plane with the bit at the end, in order to enable it to work up close into corners. 1895 Funk's Standard Dict. s.v. Nose, Bull-nose, a front coupler on a locomotive: named from its shape; a bull-nose coupler. 1904 Goodchild & 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. LXXIII. 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. |
| 1884 A. Nilson Timber Trees N.S.W. 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. |
| 1815 Scott Guy M. i, The deep cry of the bog-blitter, or *bull-of-the-bog. |
| 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate 36 Some bulrushes and great bunches of *bullpolls..The bullpoll sends up tall slender stalks with graceful feathery heads. |
| 1823 F. Cooper Pioneer xxiii. (1869) 101/1 ‘Away with you, you varmint!’ said Billy Kirby, plucking a *bull-pout from the meshes. |
| 1881 Raymond Gloss., *Bull-pump (Cornwall), a direct single-acting pump..The steam lifts piston and pump-rods, and the weight of these makes the down-stroke. |
| 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. Ibid. 20, I found this bull-punching a very wearisome and dangerous business. 1917 ‘H. H. Richardson’ Fortunes R. Mahony i. v. 39 Stock-riders and bull-punchers rubbed shoulders with elegants in skirted coats. |
| 1883 Congregationalist July 585 Toying with a tiny, toddling *bull-pup. |
| 1609 D. Rogers in Digby Myst. (1882) Introd. 26 He caused..The *bull ringe..to be taken vp. 1802 Southey King Ramiro viii, Let me be led to your bull-ring..And let me be set upon a stone. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth Introd., A poor mastiff that had misbehaved in the bull-ring. 1928 Blunden Undertones of War i. 3, I associate it [{Eacu}taples], as millions do, with ‘The Bull-Ring’, that thirsty, savage, interminable training-ground. 1949 E. de Mauny Hunstman in Career i. i. 13 Drawing equipment at the Q.M., drilling on the bull-ring. |
| 1881 Academy 9 Apr. 263/3 A flat slip of wood a few inches long, narrowing to one or both ends, and fastened by one end to a thong for whirling it round, when it gives an intermittent whirring or roaring noise, heard a long way off..it is known as a country boy's plaything in Europe, called in England a ‘whizzer’ or ‘*bull-roarer’. 1898 Daily News 23 July 6/1 Among Australian blacks, the bullroarer is associated with tales of a deluge. 1943 W. E. Harney Taboo 43 In this ritual the lads are taken away from the women, initiated into the secrets of the ‘bullroarer’ and..live as outcasts. |
| 1882 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. |
| 1864 Chambers Bk. of Days 13 Nov. II. 575/2 As..there could be no *bull-run without a bull. |
| 1656 J. Harrington Oceana 196 There is a solemnity of the Pipers, and Fidlers of this Nation..call'd the *Bull-running, and he that catcheth and holdeth the Bull, is the annuall and Supream Magistrate of that Comitia, or Congregation, called King-Piper. 1861 Smiles Engineers I. v. i. 310 If there was a bull-running within twenty miles, he was sure to be there. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 141 Makinge a *bullsegge of a bull that is two or three yeares olde. 1820 Scott Monast. iv, ‘Roaring like bullsegs, to frighten the leddy’. |
| 1784 J. Filson Kentucke 27 The *bull, the horned and the mockason snakes. 1791 W. Bartram Travels 276 The pine or bull snake is very large. 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. |
| 1680 Lond. Gaz. No. 1482/4 One red *Bull Stag with the same Mark. 1776 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 149/1 Good ox beef, instead of which he had substituted bull beef and bull stag beef. |
| 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’. |
| 1859 Harper's Mag. Oct. 712/2 A fence that is *bull strong, horse high, and pig tight! |
| 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 Kipling Many Invent. 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 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. |
| 1806 Moore Poems 166 Let the *bull-toad taint him over. |
| 1831 M. A. 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. 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. |
| 1614 Hornby Sco. Drunk. (1859) 19 It is a cage of all base villany..*Bul-wards and beare-wards with like company. |
| 1878 Halliwell, *Bull-week, the week before Christmas, in which the work-people at Sheffield push their strength to the utmost. |
| 1869 A. K. McClure Rocky Mts. 102 You will often find some graduate of Yale ‘*bull-whacking’ his own team from the river to his mines. 1885 C. L. Norton in Mag. Amer. Hist. XIII. 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 Dialect Notes III. 129 He's a bull-whackin'. |
| 1858 Valley Tan (Salt Lake City) 17 Dec. 2/2 An example that will make the blush of shame mantle upon the cheek of the *bull-whacker. 1878 Black Green Past. 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’. |
| 1883 Century 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. |
| 1852 Southern Lit. Messenger XVIII. 749/2 An overseer..omitted..laying down at once his *bull-whip for the yard-stick. 1935 J. Steinbeck To God Unknown xxii. 205 Romas snapped his bull-whip and the popper spat up the dirt like an explosion. |
b. Comb. with
gen. bull's:
bull's blood, a full-bodied red wine made in and around the village of Eger in Hungary;
† bull's feather, a horn, the mark of cuckoldry;
bull's-noon, midnight (
dial.);
bull's-nose (see
quot.);
bull's-pizzle, the penis of the bull, formerly a much-used instrument of flagellation.
| 1926 P. M. Shand Bk. Wine ix. 242 An almost black wine called..‘*Bulls' Blood Wine’ used to be made here [sc. Eger] by a very protracted process of fermentation. 1967 A. Lichine Encycl. Wines 294/1 Bull's blood of Eger is a blend of three kinds of grapes. |
| a 1700 Bull's Feather (N.) There's many an honest man hath worn the *bull's feather. 1748 Richardson Clarissa V. 295 (D.) They may very probably adorn, as well as bestow the bull's feather. |
| 18.. Northampton dial. If I go on at this rate I shan't be done at *bull's-noon. 1839 C. Clark John Noakes, &c. 17 No bull's noon hours I'll ha' ya keep. |
| 1842 Gwilt Archit. (1875) Gloss., *Bull's Nose, the external or other angle of a polygon, or of any two lines meeting at an obtuse angle. |
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 187 The Boteswaine..walked abaft the Maste, and his Mate afore the Maste..eche of them a *bulls pissell dried in their handes. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 879 Th' illustrious Bassa..with Bull's-pizzle..Was taw'd as gentle as a Glove. 1737 tr. (anon.) Gil Blas vi. 1771 I. 26 I felt on my shoulders half a dozen lusty bangs of a bull's pizzle. |
Add:
[IV.] [11.] bull market Stock Exchange, a market characterized by the rising price of stock, etc.
| 1891 Century 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 Investment July 15/3 If historical precedent is followed, the present bull market will end by the next general election. |
▸
bullshot n. a cocktail typically made with vodka, beef bouillon or consommé, and Worcestershire sauce.
| 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’. |
▪ II. bull, n.2 (
bʊl)
Also 3–6
bulle, 6
bul.
[ad. L. bulla, denoting various globular objects.] 1. A seal attached to an official document;
esp. the leaden seal attached to the Pope's edicts.
| 1340 Ayenb. 62 Me ualseþ þe kinges sel oþer þe popes bulle. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxci. 167 The pope sente a general sentence vnder his bulles of lede vnto the archebisshop. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. i. iii. (Arb.) 74 The byshop of Rome..graunted to the Kynge of Spayne by thauctoritie of his leaden bulles. 1643 Prynne Open. Gt. Seal 4 Now the French Kings long before his dayes, used to seale their charters with golden Bulls. 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 132 These Letters are not said to be expedited till that Bull is annex'd to them. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. |
2. A papal or episcopal edict or mandate.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 494 The king vorbed ek in this lond al the popes playdinge Of bullen. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 66 And brouȝt vp a Bulle with bisshopes seles. c 1380 Wyclif Grete Sentence xvi. Sel. Wks. III. 308 Þei magnyfien þe popis bulle more þan þe gospel. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 108/1 And after..toke away hys bullys and wrytynges. 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 209 The Popes Bulles..may well be called Buls, since they be more vayne then bubbles or bladders in the water. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 5 How often hath he sent foorth his roring buls against hir Maiestie. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 492 Then might ye see..Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls, The sport of Winds. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. iii. 134 Pius V..now (1570) published his celebrated bull, excommunicating and deposing Elizabeth. 1873 Morley Rousseau II. 63 The bull Unigenitus, which had been..an infraction of French liberties. |
3. Applied to a non-ecclesiastical edict.
the Golden Bull (
Lat. Aurea Bulla), a decree issued by the emperor Charles IV in 1356 to regulate the election and coronation of an emperor.
| 1696 Phillips. 1751 Chambers Cycl., s.v. Bull, The Golden Bull..on the backside of it there are several knots of black and yellow silk; to which hangs a bull, or seal of gold. 1789–96 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 222. |
4. Comb. † bull-driver (see
quot.);
† bull-founder, one that issues bulls or edicts (perhaps with reference to founding or casting the leaden seals);
† bullman, issuer of bulls, said of the Pope;
† bull-office, the office for issuing Papal bulls.
| 1649 Selden Laws Eng. ii. vi. (1739) 33 These *Bull-drivers or Summoners to the Romish Court were no late upstarts. |
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1173/2 If these *Bull founders doe charge me with any other thing besides in this article. |
| 1588 Holy Bull & Crusade Rome 29 All the holines of this Romish *Bulman consisteth onely in externall ceremonies. |
| 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. |
▪ III. † bull, n.3 Obs. rare.
[a. F. bulle:—L. bulla.] A bubble.
| 1561 [see bull n.2 2]. 1563 Nowell Homily in Liturg. Serv. Q. Eliz. (1847) 501 This life is..a vapour..as a bull rising on the water. |
▪ IV. bull, n.4 (
bʊl)
[Of unknown origin; cf. OF. boul, boule, bole fraud, deceit, trickery; mod.Icel. bull ‘nonsense’; also ME. bull bul ‘falsehood’, and bull v.3, to befool, mock, cheat. (No foundation appears for the guess that the word originated in ‘a contemptuous allusion to papal edicts’, nor for the assertion of the ‘British Apollo’ (
No. 22. 1708) that ‘it became a Proverb from the repeated Blunders of one Obadiah Bull, a Lawyer of London, who liv'd in the Reign of K. Henry the Seventh’.)]
† 1. A ludicrous jest (
cf. bull v.
3).
Obs.| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) J. Garret's Ghost Ded., Wit and Mirth..Made vp, and fashioned into Clinches, Bulls, Quirkes, Yerkes, Quips, and Ierkes. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 229 He had all the jeers, squibs, flouts, buls, quips, taunts, etc. a 1695 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 self-contradictory proposition; in
mod. use, an expression containing a manifest contradiction in terms or involving a ludicrous inconsistency unperceived by the speaker. Now often with epithet
Irish; but the word had been long in use before it came to be associated with Irishmen.
| 1640 Brome Antip. v. iv. 323 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. 1649 Selden Laws Eng. ii. xi. (1739) 63 It is no Bull, to speak of a common Peace, in the place of War. 1673 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 Pope Lett. to J. C. Wks. 1736 V. 174, I confess it what the English call a Bull, in the expression, tho' the sense be manifest enough. 1802 Edgeworth (title) Essay on Irish Bulls. 1803 Syd. Smith Wks. (1867) I. 69 A bull is an apparent congruity, and real incongruity of ideas, suddenly discovered. |
b. A bad blunder.
U.S.| 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. Trivial, insincere, or untruthful talk or writing; nonsense.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
Popularly associated with
bullshit 1.
| 1914 Dialect Notes IV. 162 Bull, talk which is not to the purpose; ‘hot air’. 1925 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. attrib.,
esp. in
bull session (
orig. and chiefly
U.S.), an informal conversation or discussion,
esp. of a group of males.
| 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’. Ibid. xxiv. 286 The monthly meetings were nothing but ‘bull fests’. 1931 ‘Dean 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 b.
Cf. bullshit 2.
orig. Services' slang.
| 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. |
▪ V. bull, n.5 (
bʊl)
[Etymology unknown.] One of the main bars of a harrow. Also
attrib.| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §15 The horse-harrowe is made of fyue bulles, and passe not an elne of lengthe. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Impr. Improv. (1652) 220 As little & light a harrow, which may contain three little buls & about five Tines in a Bull. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 247 The great square Bull harrow, drawn by the second bull on the near side of the harrow. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 97 General Robertson of Lawers uses five bulls, having five teeth in each bull. 1843 B. Almack in Jrnl. Agric. Soc. IV. i. 61 The bulls or parts to contain the teeth, were made of dry foreign pine. |
▪ VI. bull, n.6 (
bʊl)
Drink made by putting water into an empty spirit cask, or over a sugar-mat, to catch some of the flavour.
| 1830 Marryat King's Own xx, I'll pass the bottle, and you may make a bull of it. 1835 ― Jac. Faithf. xx, A bull means putting a quart or two of water into a cask which has had spirits in it. 1859 All Y. Round No. 4. 78 He would..have abdicated his sovereignty for an old sugar mat, wherewith to make ‘bull’. |
▪ VII. bull, n.7 Ellipt. for
bull-dog 1 a.
| 1827 P. Egan Anecdotes of Turf 107 Turk was a thorough-bred bull, and the other two were half-bred between a bull and a mastiff. 1939 T. Wolfe Web & Rock (1947) 17 The little bull..had his fierce teeth buried..in the great throat of the larger dog. |
Hence
bull-mastiff,
bullmastiff, a dog of a cross-breed between a bull-dog and a mastiff.
| 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. |
▪ VIII. bull, n.8 (
bʊl)
[Origin obscure.] A game resembling quoits. Also
attrib.| 1864 Trevelyan Compet. Wallah 16 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 Blackw. 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. |
▪ IX. bull, n.9 Short for
bull's-eye 7; also, a shot hitting the bull's-eye.
| 1900 Westm. Gaz. 13 June 5/2 Able to hit a two-foot bull five times out of ten at 500 yards. 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’. |
▪ X. bull, v.1 (
bʊl)
[f. bull n.1] † 1. a. trans. Said of a bull: To gender with (the cow).
b. intr. Of the cow: To take the bull, to desire the bull. Also
to go a bulling.
Obs.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. de P.R. xviii. cix. (1495) 850 Kene lowe whan they be a bullynge. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §66 The damme of the calfe shall bull agayne. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 224 Kine commonly..seeke the fellow, and goe a bulling againe. 1659 Howell Lex. Tetraglotton, He that bulls the Cow must keep the Calf. 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 182 Unless I had a Spell, To bull my Cow invisible. 1736 in Bailey. |
2. Stock Exchange. To try to raise the price of (stocks, etc.); to speculate for the rise.
| a 1842 [see bear v.2]. c 1880 Besant & Rice Harp. & Cr. 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. intr. To advance in price;
fig. to be in the ascendant.
| 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
refl. U.S. slang.| 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xvi. 144 Up-stream boats..bull right up the channel. Ibid. xxvii. 276 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. Ibid. 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. |
▪ XI. † bull, v.2 Obs. [f. bull n.2] trans. To insert or publish (a matter, or a name) in a Papal bull; to affix the Papal seal to (a document).
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) I. 325/2 Shortly after the Pope sent M. Martin with blanks, being bulled for contribution of 10000 Marks. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 130 As soon as the Dispensation was Bulled. |
▪ XII. bull, v.3 [Cf. ME. bul falsehood, OF. boler, bouller to deceive.] 1. To make a fool of, to mock; to cheat (
out of).
| 1532 [see bulling vbl. n.3]. 1609 Man in Moone (1849) 38 Never laugh in your sleeve how you have gulled, or bulled, your husband. 1645 Sacred Decretal in Prynne Discov. New Blazing-Stars 12 Wherefore being thus jeer'd and bul'd, we Decree and Ordaine, etc. 1674 R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 207 'Tis admirable the World is so stupid to be thus bull'd out of their Moneys. 1927 J. Barbican Confessions of Rum-Runner xxiii. 256, I thought he was trying to bull me. |
2. intr. To talk emptily or boastfully (
cf. bull n.4 3).
| 1850 T. M. Garrett Diary in Amer. Speech (1951) XXVI. 182 Elaborate bulling about a point that has been exploded for years. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 14 To bull, to brag, talk nonsense. |
3. trans. To polish (equipment, etc.) in order to meet excessive standards of neatness. Hence
bulled ppl. a.3 Cf. bull n.4 4.
Services' slang.
| 1957 Times 4 Oct. 13/5 Those army recruits who spend so much time ‘bulling’ their boots with a hot spoon. 1967 ‘M. Hunter’ Cambridgeshire Disaster v. 32 The bed..collapsed, spilling equipment haberdashery over the bulled-up floor. 1969 D. Clark Nobody's Perfect ii. 35 His shoes were bulled so that the toecaps gleamed like patent leather. |
▪ XIII. bull, v.4 (
bʊl)
[f. bull n.6] See
quot.| 1824 J. D. Cochrane Journ. Russia & Tartary 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. |