▪ I. bullfinch1
(ˈbʊlfɪnʃ)
Also bulfinch.
[f. bull n.1 + finch. The reason for the name is uncertain: some have suggested that it was given on account of the thickness of the bird's neck.]
One of a genus of birds (Pyrrhula), allied to the Grosbeaks, having handsome plumage and a short, hard, rounded beak; well known for its aptness to be trained as a singing bird.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 134/4 A Bulfinche, bird, ribicilla. 1609 N. F. Fruiterers Secrets 2 A Bulfinch will eate [cherries] stones and all. 1655 Mouffet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 188 Bulfinches feed..upon Hemp-seed, and the Blossoms of Pear, plum, and Apple-trees. 1789 G. White Selborne xxxix. (1853) 134 Bullfinches when fed on hempseed often become wholly black. 1835 Marryat Olla Podr. xiv, The piping bullfinch..must have a good memory. 1847 Gard. Chron. 118 The bill of the bulfinch is a most suspicious-looking instrument. |
b. Comb., as bullfinch plover, bullfinch trainer.
| 1864 Atkinson Provinc. names Birds, Bullfinch Plover, Prov. name for Turnstone, Strepsilas interpres. 1857 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 59 This tuition among professional bullfinch-trainers, is systematic. |
▪ II. bullfinch2
(ˈbʊlfɪnʃ)
[Evans Leicestersh. Gloss. (1881) suggests a corruption of bull-fence. If it was so, the origin must have been forgotten before bull-finch fence was said.]
A kind of hedge (see quot.).
| 1832 Quart. Rev. Mar. 226 The bull-finch fence..is a quickset hedge of perhaps fifty years' growth with a ditch on one side or the other, and so high and strong that [one] cannot clear it. 1857 Kingsley in Life xvi. (1879) II. 56 Race at the brook, Then smash at the bullfinch. 1880 Times 2 Nov. 4/5 Double-stitched shooting coats, that will stand the ordeal of ‘bull-finches’ and brambles. |
Hence ˈbullfinch v. intr., to leap a horse through such a hedge.
| 1837 Gambler's Dream III. 208 A fox hunter who must bullfinch out [of] a field in Northamptonshire, looks out for a little daylight between the twigs. |