▪ I. gull, n.1
(gʌl)
Forms: 5–6 gulle, 7 gul, 5– gull; Sc. 5 goule, 6–7 goul, 7 gow.
[Perh. a. Welsh g{wcirc}ylan, Cornish guilan = Breton goelann (whence F. goëland), OIr. foilenn (mod.Ir. faoileann):—OCeltic *voilenno-; cf. Breton goelaff to weep.]
a. Any long-winged, web-footed bird of the family Laridæ and sub-family Larinæ, which contains several genera, Larus being the largest. In popular use the name is of much wider application, including the Terns and Skuas.
The Gulls are mostly marine birds and are distributed all over the world; their characteristic colour is white with a mantle varying from pearl-grey to dark-slate colour or black, the bill being usually bright-coloured; their cry is harsh or shrill.
The common gull is Larus canus, called otherwise sea-mew, sea-gull, and green-billed gull. Other species are similarly distinguished by defining words indicating colour, appearance, habitat, etc., as grey gull, hooded gull, hovering gull, long-billed gull, Pacific gull, red-legged gull, white-headed gull, white-winged gull, etc.; also black or black-toed g., the skua; greater black-backed g., Larus marinus, called locally also carrion gull, goose gull, or wagel gull, † by Willughby great black and white gull; lesser black-backed g., L. fuscus; black-headed g., L. ridibundus, called also brown-headed gull, laughing gull, red-legged gull, or peewit gull; cloven-footed g., the common Black Tern; glaucous g., Larus glaucus, the burgomaster; herring g., L. argentatus, called also silvery gull; ivory g., a small arctic gull of pure white colour with black legs, L. eburneus, Pagophila eburnea, or Gavia alba; little g., Larus minutus; ring-billed g., one of the commonest gulls of the U.S., L. delawarensis; rosy, roseate or Ross's g., Rhodostethia rosea, called also wedge-tailed gull; Sabine's g., Xema sabinii, a fork-tailed gull common chiefly in arctic America and Siberia. Also ice-gull, s.v. ice n. 8 and kittiwake gull.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 62 Le .ij. cours..Pyions. Ve[n]ysoun Rostyd. Gullys. Curlew. c 1450 Holland Howlat 179 The Se Mawis war monkis, the blak and the quhyte, The Goule was a Gryntar. 1573–80 Baret Alv. G 627 A Gull, a common name to sundrie birds of the sea, as a Cormorant &c., Mergus. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 287 As touching the Guls or Sea-cobs, they build in rockes. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 194 Gulones Albi & Cinerei. White Gulls, Grey Gulls, and Black Gulls (commonly termed by the Name of Plungers and Water-crows). 1673 Wedderburn Voc. 14 (Jam.) Gavia, a gow. 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Water Fowl 93 The Herring-gull or greatest ash-coloured Mew: Larus cinereus maximus. 1678 ― Willughby's Ornith. 344 The great black and white Gull: Larus ingens marinus Clusii. Ibid. 354 Aldrovands cloven-footed Gull, with longer Wings. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 424 Common Gull. This is the most numerous of the genus. It breeds on the ledges of the cliffs that impend over the sea. 1839 Selby in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 7. 189 Larus minutus (little gull) near Embleton. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 335/1 Xema ridibundus,..This bird is the..Laughing Gull, Pewit or Black⁓cap, Sea Crow and Mire Crow of the Modern British. 1865 Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 36 The kittiwake, the smallest of the gulls that can be properly called indigenous to our shores. 1876 Davis Polaris Exped. App. 679 Saw several eider-ducks and ivory and burgomeister gulls. 1885 Stand. Nat. Hist. (1888) IV. 79 Ross's Gull (Rhodostethia rosea), or the wedge-tailed gull, as it is also called, on account of the form of its tail. Ibid. 81 The dazzling white ivory-gull (Gavia alba)..the fork-tailed gulls, constituting the genus Xema. |
b. allusively.
| 1550 Crowley Way to Wealth A 3 b, Men that would haue all in their owne handes..Cormerauntes, gredye gulles; yea, men that would eate vp menne, women, and chyldren, are the causes of Sedition! 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. Pref. 137 As, our Gull, A bird much found among the Worshipfull. |
c. attrib. and Comb., as gull-kind, gull-land, gull rookery; gull-like adj.; gull-billed tern, Sterna anglica; gull-maw († Sc. goul mau), the Greater Black-backed Gull; gull-teaser, a bird that torments gulls, as a tern or jaeger; gull wing, (a) an aeroplane wing of which the short inner section slants upwards from the fuselage, and the longer outer section is approximately horizontal; (b) of a car door (used attrib.): opening upwards from the body of the car.
| 1813 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. Suppl. ya—b, The new species which, from the shape of the bill, is denominated the *Gull-billed Tern..as it has originated in England we have added the more scientific name of Sterna Anglica. 1851 Zoologist IX. 3235 A fine adult male specimen of the gull-billed tern. |
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. §9. 155 The *Gull-kind, being much upon the wing as Swallows, commonly of an ash colour;..having red bill and legs, with a forked train. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. iii. vii. VI. 77 It is to such shores as these that the whole tribe of the gull-kind resort. |
| 1899 Academy 8 Apr. 408/2 Throwing bread to the sea-gulls, she says, ‘In *gull-land they don't like bread, but it's a point of honour to catch it’. |
| 1895 P. H. Emerson Birds, etc. Norf. Broadland l. 146 The danger signal is either a peculiar *gull-like noise, ‘Këo, këo’, or a ‘Quah, quah’. |
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The suannis murnit, be cause the gray *goul mau pronosticat ane storme. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 208 Greater Black-backed Gull..Also called..Gull maw—i.e. mew (East Lothian). |
| 1885 Stand. Nat. Hist. (1888) IV. 78 The fascinating view of a *gull rookery with its ceaseless uproar. |
| 1802 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1833) 508 Common Tern, Sterna hirundo..*Gull-teazer. |
| 1932 Aviation Jan. 39/3 The machine is a wire-braced monoplane of the *gull-wing type designed primarily to afford the widest possible angle of vision for both pilot and observer. 1934 Flight 15 Feb. 156 The ‘gull’ wings of the earlier type have been dispensed with. 1957 Motor Body Apr. 8/1 This was a streamlined design with..the gull wing or butterfly wing door. 1966 N. Freeling King of Rainy Country 122 We had a new sports car—you remember the first three-hundred SL—with the gullwing doors. 1967 C. H. Barnes Shorts Aircraft 421 The new craft was a very elegant and efficient gull-wing cantilever monoplane. 1969 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 17 Oct. 71/3 The gull-wing door is likely to be seen more widely in future as a new breed of low-slung sports two-seaters is developed. |
▪ II. gull, n.2 Now dial.
(gʌl)
Also 4 goll, 6–7 gulle, 7 gul.
[Prob. a subst. use of gull a. yellow.]
An unfledged bird, esp. a gosling.
| 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxii. 6 A nest of briddis..and the moder to the bryddis [MS. Bodl. 959 gollis] or to the eyren aboue sittynge. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. i. 60 As that vngentle gull the Cuckowes Bird, Vseth the Sparrow. 1607 ― Timon ii. i. 31, I do feare When euery Feather stickes in his owne wing, Lord Timon will be left a naked Gull, Which flashes now a Phœnix. 1882 W. Worcestersh. Gloss., Gull, a young goose. 1896 Warwicksh. Gloss., Gull, an unfledged gosling. |
▪ III. gull, n.3
(gʌl)
Also 6–7 gulle, 7 gul.
[Of doubtful and perh. mixed origin; sense 1 would be natural as a transferred use of gull n.2, but it is also possible that the n. may be f. gull v.3 to delude, and that this vb. may be an application of gull v.1 2 to gorge, ‘cram’.]
1. A credulous person; one easily imposed upon; a dupe, simpleton, fool. † to grope a gull: to swindle an unsuspecting person: cf. to pluck a pigeon, † a finch.
| 1594 Nashe Terrors Nt. Wks. (Grosart) III. 257 Liues there anie such slowe yce-braind beefe-witted gull. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 328 Clarence, who I indeede haue cast in darknesse, I do beweepe to many simple Gulles, Namely to Derby, Hastings, Buckingham. 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. i. 323 He..will not sticke to spend some twentie pound To grope a gull. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle v. 2217 In these dayes hee's deemd a very gull That cannot take Tobacco. a 1622 Davies Epigr. Poems 1876 II. 9 To define a Gull in termes precise—A Gull is he which seemes, and is not, wise. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 356 His very touching ought that is lerned, soiles it, and lays him still more and more open a conspicuous gull. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 359 If I had been such a gull..I would without more ado tuck myself up. 1811 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VII. 511 It is as well to let him believe that we are good natured gulls who will easily swallow. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xix, ‘Done!’ cried the noble gull. ‘Within ten minutes’. 1885 Stevenson Dynamiter 60 He perceived by what..unmanly fear of ridicule he had been brought down to be the gull of this intriguer. |
† 2. [From the vb.] A trick, deception, fraud; a false report. Obs.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 123, I should thinke this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speakes it. 1604 (title), Pasquil's Jests,..whereunto is added a dozen of Gulles, Pretty and Pleasant to drive away the tediousness of a winter's evening. 1619 Lushington Repet. Serm. in Phenix (1708) II. 477 They say there was no such matter as the Resurrection, 'twas but a gull put upon the World by his Disciples. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xvi. 324 If gulls and rumours from his Countrey be raised on purpose to amuse our Embassadour. a 1668 Davenant News from Plymouth iv. Dram. Wks. 1873 IV. 169 For the gull Your Seawit put upon me, I have taken A full revenge. |
3. slang. A trickster, cheat, impostor.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Gull, a cheat. 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 161 You'll excuse me, sir, but as you are fresh, take care to avoid the gulls. (Note), Gulls, knowing ones who are always on the look out for freshmen. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as gull-catcher, gull-catching, gull-gallant; † gull-finch, a playful amplification of gull = ‘simpleton’, with reference to the bird of that name: cf. also to pluck a finch; gull-groper, one who ‘gropes a gull’ (see 1); gull-sharper (see quot.).
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 204 Heere comes my noble *gull catcher. |
| 1823 Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1824) 63 Taking in the ‘deep ones’ quite in the *gull-catching style. |
| 1604 T. M. Black Bk. C 3 Delicate Knaues..that diue into Deedes and Writings of Landes, left to young *Gull-finches, poysoning the true sence and intent of them. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 71/2 For 'tis concluded 'mongst the wizards all, To make thee Master of Gul-finches hall. |
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage ix. ii. 826 The *gull-gallants of our dayes, to whom I could wish..that they would leave this vsurped Gallantrie to those true owners, and resume spirits truly English. |
| 1602 Dekker Satiromastix Wks. 1873 I. 201 Ile shake the *gull-groper out of his tan'd skinne. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Gull-groper, a Bystander that Lends Money to the Gamesters. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 185 The he, or the she, or the it, that..gangs out to glower like a gawpus at a Gallic gull-grupper. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Gull-sharper, one who preys upon Johnny Raws. |
▪ IV. gull, n.4
(gʌl)
Also 5 golle, 5–6 gulle, 6–7 gul.
[? Variant of gool, gole n.2]
† 1. The throat, gullet. Obs.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vi, That as fast as he seeth theim [the bulles] gape Into theyr golles that he the lycour caste. 1490 Caxton Eneydos x. 39 Neptunus..his grete gulle or throte wyde opene redy to swolowe..alle thooste. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. i. iv. 6 There ben in the throte two Conduyctes. Of whiche by one the meate and drincke passe, descendynge in to the stomake, and is called Meri or Oisophagus, in Englishe the Gulle. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 32 The Freese, Gul or Throat. |
† b. transf. A ‘mouth’, an orifice.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde i. xii. (1634) 43 In the inner face of the bladder, there be set before the mouth or gull of the conduits certaine little skinny flappes. |
2. A breach or fissure made by a torrent; a gully, chasm; a channel made by a stream. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1553 Brende Q. Curtius v. 25 Their passage was suddenly stopped by a great gull made with the violence of the streams. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 275 Great channels, like Gulls made by suddain torrents and land-floods. 1692 ― Dissol. World iii. (1732) 24 The mighty Gulls and Channels in the Sides thereof [sc. a mountain]. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. III. 143 A Brook..running from those Gulls and Deeps between the Hills. 1792 S. Ireland Views Thames II. 55 About the shallows or gulls, the water is beautifully transparent. 1852 J. Wiggins Embanking 51 Currents will be formed by the disturbed action of the tide, ‘gulls’ (pits) will be formed [etc.]. |
▪ V. † gull, n.5 Obs.
[Cf. Du. gul (16th c. gulle) small codfish.]
A fish not fully grown; also, a kind of gudgeon.
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 23 If the..fisshe shuld be well and truly packed, that is to sey, the tale fisshe by theym selfe and the small fissh called Gulles by them self. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 274 Gulls..are a kind of jolt-headed Gudgeons. |
b. Comb., gull-fish, the coal-fish, Merlangus carbonarius; gull-head = bull-head 1.
| 1583 Rates Custom-ho. C iv, Gulfish the barrel vi.s. viii.d. 1611 Florio, Ghiozzo, a Gul-head, a Millers-thumbe, a Curfish, or a Bull-head. Some take it for a Gudgeon-fish. 1663 Act 15 Chas. II, c. 7 §14 [Duties.] For Cod-fish the Barrell five shillings..For Gull fish the Barrell Two shillings. 1759 tr. Adanson's Voy. Senegal 178 There you might see pilchards, rock-fish, mullets or gull-fish of different sorts; mole-bats, with other fishes very little known. |
▪ VI. † gull, a. Obs.
Also 4 gowle, 5 gulle, 6 goule, Sc. gule, 8 gool.
[a. ON. gul-r (Da., Sw. gul) yellow.]
Yellow, pale.
| 13.. Evang. Nicod. 70 in Archiv. Stud. neu. Spr. LIII. 392 Þe Iewes..wex all full gull and grene. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. Introd. (Tollem. MS.), Þe egle is sore greuid and heren wynges wexen white, and heren clawes gowle [1582 goule] and feble [L. et ebetant ungues ejus et debilitantur]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 168/1 Gulle, pallidus, lividus & cetera; vbi, wanne. 1508 Dunbar Flyting w. Kennedie 52 Evill farit and dryit..Lyke as the gleddis had on thy gulesnowt dynd. ? a 1600 Hist. Sir Egeir, etc. (1711) 4 Thou was full blyth, and light of late:..And thou art now both gool and green. |
Hence † ˈgullness, paleness.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxvii. 14 In golnes [v.r. gulnes] of gold to se. |
▪ VII. † gull, v.1 Obs.
Also 6 gool.
[? f. gull n.4 Cf. Du. gullen ‘absorbere, ingurgitare, vorare’ (Kilian) and obs. F. engouler.]
1. trans. To swallow, guzzle; transf. and fig. to devour voraciously. Also with in, up.
| 1530 Palsgr. 576/2, I gulle in drinke, as great drinkers do, je engoulle. 1553 Brende Q. Curtius vii. 133 b, Suche as had gulled in gredely the water that thei gote. 1607 C. Lever Crucifix xiii, O you that gull the poyson'd cup of pleasure. 1645 Arraignm. Persecution in Prynne Discov. Prodig. Blazing-Stars 19 To gull up and devour more at one meale, then would make a feast for Bel and the Dragon. 1674 J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 211 They are roystering and gulling in wine with a dear felicity. |
| fig. 1624 Middleton Game at Chess iv. ii, The swallow of my conscience Hath but a narrow passage;..If I had got seven thousand pounds by offices, And gull'd down that, the bore would have been bigger. |
b. absol. or intr.
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. M iij, People gullyng, fraungyng, and dronkerdes. 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. 4 (5) b, The heate of the wine wherein they goolled. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abuses i. (1879) 107 Swilling, gulling, & carowsing from one to another. 1618 Breton Crt. & Country (Grosart) 6/2 They..drinke and gull, laugh and be fat. |
2. trans. To gorge. Also refl.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 77 With ramd cramd garbadge, theire gorges draftye be gulled. 1604 T. Wright Passions v. §4. 274 Let us gull ourselves with eating and quaffing. |
▪ VIII. gull, v.2 Now dial. and techn.
(gʌl)
Also 9 dial. goal.
[f. gull n.4]
1. trans. Of water: To make channels or ruts in, to hollow out; to sweep away, wear down.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 44 They gull [printed gult] and marre the grounde with the deepe sincking of their feete treading in the Grasse and breaking the Rootes. 1587 Harrison England i. xix. (1877) iii. 148 [They] doo utterlie neglect to dich and scowre their draines and watercourses, for better avoidance of the winter waters..whereby the streets doo grow to be much more gulled than before. 1642 Rogers Naaman 502 As the sea tydes gull down the bankes. 1721 Perry Daggenh. Breach 105 An Accident that gull'd away the Earth in such manner, that was very near obliging me to cut down..my Dam. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 20 The Water..continued to sap and gull the Frames every Flood. 1876 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. (1889) s.v. Goal, Th' rats hes maade a hoäle thrif th' bank, an' when Taacey taks in a tide, th' watter goäls it awaay. 1895 E. Angl. Gloss., The bank has been gulled down by the freshes. |
b. gen. of other things.
| 1796 W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. Suppl. 108 That part of the bottom plate of the perch, against which it wears, after much use, is gulled. 1805 W. Hunter in Naval Chron. XIII. 40 One..shell came so near us as to gull our whale. 1857 P. Colquhoun Oarsman's Guide 30 The upper filling, which, when worn, is said to be gulled. |
c. absol. or intr.
| 1587 Harrison England i. x. 31 Then breaketh there out another creeke from the maine sea, about Auant hauen, which gulleth vp almost to Portbridge. 1676 Evelyn in Aubrey Nat. Hist. Surrey (1719) I. Pref. 3 In the Cart-Roats, where the Rains have gull'd. 1721 Perry Daggenh. Breach 5 The Water then gull'd to such a depth..that there was no Remedy found for the mastery of it. 1739 C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 61 The Piers..will always be in danger of the Water gulling underneath, and carrying away the Ground. |
2. intr. To become worn away or hollowed out.
| 1763–6 W. Lewis Comm. Phil. Techn. 227 The collars in which the axes of the rolls turned at each end, wore or gulled so fast, that the pressure continually diminished. |
▪ IX. gull, v.3
(gʌl)
Also 7 gul.
[Related to gull n.3, but it is uncertain whether as derivative or as source; in the latter case, this verb may be a transferred use of gull v.1; cf. similar uses of stuff, cram; this supposition is favoured by some early examples, e.g. quot. c 1600 in sense 1.]
1. trans. To make a gull of; to dupe, cheat, befool, ‘take in’, deceive. Also absol., to practise cheating.
| a 1550 Hye Way to Spyttel Ho. 427 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 45 They..do but gull, and folow beggery, Feynyng true doyng by ypocrysy. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 91 Cleanly coyned eyes, which some pleasant sportiue wittes haue deuised, to gull them most groselie. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxxxvi, That affable familiar ghost Which nightly gulls him with intelligence. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. iv. 435 With those shreds of French..weele gull the world, that hath in estimation forraine Phisitians. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 271 In the night time by some fire-workes in the steeple, they would have gulled the credulous people with opinion of miracle. 1624 Quarles Job viii. xvi, See, how deceits Gull thee with golden fruit. 1635 Foxe & James Voy. N.W. (Hakluyt Soc.) 443 Guld with the false Sea Cards or fabulous reports of strangers. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. ii. Civil Benefits Abbeys §1 People in those daies..would never have been gulled into so long a toleration..of them. 1701 De Foe True-born Eng., His fine Speech 90 Not doubting I could gull the Government. 1808 Scott Fam. Lett. (1894) I. iv. 126, I care not for rewards..Neither is it easy to gull me with these fair promises. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 47 Nothing is so easy as to gull the public, if you only set up a prodigy. a 1849 Poe Quacks of Helicon Wks. 1864 IV. 412 The pertinacity of the effort to gull. 1861 Times 23 Aug., Gulled by this statement into the belief that [etc.]. 1880 Howells Undisc. Country iii. 54 You are perfectly safe to go on and gull imbeciles to the end of time, for all I care. |
† 2. To deprive of by trickery or deception; to cheat out of. Obs.
| 1610 B. Jonson Alch. v. iv, Hast thou gull'd her of her Iewels or her Bracelets? 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 74 The Presbyterians had been gull'd of their King by the Independents. 1722 De Foe Plague (1840) 35 These unperforming creatures had gulled them of their money. 1783 Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 188 The poor and credulous are gulled out of what little money they can spare. |
▪ X. gull
dial. var. gold2, marigold.