bull
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no-, from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Thracian βόλινθος (vólinthos, “wild bull”), Albanian buall (“buffalo”) or related bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”).
Noun[edit]
bull (countable and uncountable, plural bulls)
- Any male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
- Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
- A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
- Any adult male bovine.
- An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.
- A large, strong man.
- (finance) An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
- (slang) A policeman.
- 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart; Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, OCLC 20230794, page 01:
- The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
- (LGBT, slang) An elderly lesbian.[1]
- (Britain, historical, obsolete slang) A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.
- 1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words
- Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.
- 1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words
- (Britain) Clipping of bullseye.
- (Philadelphia, slang) A man.
- (uncountable, informal, euphemistic, slang) Clipping of bullshit.
- A man who has sex with another man's wife or girlfriend with the consent of both.
- 2018 ‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding
- The Vixen, often known as ‘Hotwife’, has sex with the encouragement of her husband or boyfriend with the Bull (that’s the guy who is servicing her). Another scenario is that the Vixen has sex with a Bull outside of the couple’s shared abode. Then she comes home and recounts all the details in a blow-by-blow description to turn the Stag on.
- 2018 ‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding
- (obsolete) A drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor.
Synonyms[edit]
- (slang: male person): guy, dude, bro, cat
- (slang: policeman): cop, copper, pig (derogatory), rozzer (British). See also Thesaurus:police officer
Antonyms[edit]
- (finance: investor who sells in anticipation of a fall in prices): bear
Coordinate terms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Adjective[edit]
bull (not comparable)
- Large and strong, like a bull.
- (of large mammals) adult male
- (finance) Of a market in which prices are rising (compare bear)
- Antonym: bear
- stupid
- Synonym: stupid
Derived[edit]
Translations[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ A. F. Niemoeller, "A Glossary of Homosexual Slang," Fact 2, no. 1 (Jan-Feb 1965): 25
Etymology 2[edit]
Shortened from bullshit
Verb[edit]
bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)
- (intransitive) To force oneself (in a particular direction).
- He bulled his way in.
- (intransitive) To lie, to tell untruths.
- (intransitive) To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.
- (Britain, military) To polish boots to a high shine.
- (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise the market price of.
- to bull railroad bonds
- (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise prices in.
- to bull the market
Translations[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
(terms derived from the adj., noun, or verb bull (etymology 1)):
Etymology 3[edit]
Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and bulla.
Noun[edit]
bull (plural bulls)
- A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
- A seal affixed to a document, especially a document from the Pope.
Translations[edit]
Verb[edit]
bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)
- (dated, 17th century) to publish in a Papal bull
Etymology 4[edit]
Middle English bull (“falsehood”), of unknown origin. Possibly related to Old French boul, boule, bole (“fraud, deceit, trickery”). Popularly associated with bullshit.
Noun[edit]
bull (uncountable)
- A lie.
- (euphemistic, informal) Nonsense.
Synonyms[edit]
- (nonsense): See also Thesaurus:nonsense
Translations[edit]
Verb[edit]
bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)
- To mock; to cheat.
Etymology 5[edit]
Old French boule (“ball”), from Latin bulla (“round swelling”), of Gaulish origin. Doublet of bull (“papal bull”) and bulla.
Noun[edit]
bull (plural bulls)
Catalan[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From bullir.
Noun[edit]
bull m (plural bulls)
Verb[edit]
bull
- third-person singular present indicative form of bullir
- second-person singular imperative form of bullir
Etymology 2[edit]
From Latin botulus (“sausage”).
Noun[edit]
bull m (plural bulls)
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “bull” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
Cimbrian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Reduced form of bóol (“well”).
Adverb[edit]
bull (comparative péssor, superlative dar péste)
- (Sette Comuni) well
- Iime bull hölfasto, miar net, sbaar? ― He's helping you well, but not me, right?
References[edit]
- “bull” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From a clipped form of French bulldozer, from American English bulldozer.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
bull m (plural bulls)
Synonyms[edit]
- bulldozer
- bouldozeur (with a Francized / Frenchified spelling)
Icelandic[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
bull n (genitive singular bulls, no plural)
Declension[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
- bulla (“to talk nonsense, to boil”)
Westrobothnian[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Old Norse bolli, from Proto-Germanic *bullô.
Noun[edit]
bull m
Etymology 2[edit]
From Proto-Germanic *bullǭ.
Noun[edit]
bull f
Derived terms[edit]
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰel- (blow)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Finance
- English slang
- English terms with quotations
- American English
- en:LGBT
- British English
- English terms with historical senses
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English clippings
- en:Military
- en:Firearms
- Pennsylvanian English
- English informal terms
- English euphemisms
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Gaulish
- English doublets
- English dated terms
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- en:Cattle
- en:Elephants
- en:Male animals
- Catalan 1-syllable words
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan terms with homophones
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan masculine nouns
- Catalan non-lemma forms
- Catalan verb forms
- Catalan terms inherited from Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Cimbrian lemmas
- Cimbrian adverbs
- Sette Comuni Cimbrian
- Cimbrian terms with usage examples
- Cimbrian suppletive adverbs
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- fr:Construction
- Icelandic 1-syllable words
- Icelandic terms with IPA pronunciation
- Icelandic lemmas
- Icelandic nouns
- Icelandic neuter nouns
- Icelandic uncountable nouns
- Westrobothnian terms inherited from Old Norse
- Westrobothnian terms derived from Old Norse
- Westrobothnian terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Westrobothnian terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Westrobothnian lemmas
- Westrobothnian nouns
- Westrobothnian masculine nouns
- Westrobothnian feminine nouns
- gmq-bot:Food and drink
- gmq-bot:Containers