bull

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See also: Bull and Bull.

English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”); compare West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Bulle, Old Norse boli, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no- (compare Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Thracian βόλινθος (“wild bull”), Albanian buall (“buffalo”) or related bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow”). More at blow.

Noun[edit]

A statue of a Spanish fighting bull or toro de lidia in Tordesillas, Valladolid, Spain

bull (countable and uncountable, plural bulls)

  1. An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
    1. Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
  2. A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
  3. An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants and seals.
  4. A large, strong man.
  5. (finance) An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
  6. (slang) A policeman.
    • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, The Bat, chapterI:
      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.
    1. (US) Specifically, a policeman employed in a railroad yard.
  7. (Britain, historical, obsolete slang) A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.
  8. (Britain) Clipping of bullseye.
  9. (Philadelphia, slang) A man.
  10. (uncountable, vulgar, slang) Clipping of bullshit..
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
  • (finance: investor who buys in anticipation of a rise in prices): bear
Coordinate terms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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.
Translations to be checked

Adjective[edit]

bull (not comparable)

  1. Large and strong, like a bull.
  2. (of large mammals) adult male
    a bull elephant
  3. (finance) Of a market in which prices are rising (compare bear)
  4. stupid
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Shortened from bullshit

Verb[edit]

bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)

  1. (intransitive) To force oneself (in a particular direction).
    He bulled his way in.
  2. (intransitive) To lie, to tell untruths.
  3. (intransitive) To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.
  4. (Britain, military) To polish boots to a high shine.
  5. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise the market price of.
    to bull railroad bonds
  6. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise prices in.
    to bull the market
Translations[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from adj., noun, or verb bull (etymology 1)

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Low Latin bulla.

Noun[edit]

bull (plural bulls)

  1. A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
  2. 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)

  1. (dated, 17th century) to publish in a Papal bull

Etymology 4[edit]

From 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)

  1. A lie.
  2. (euphemistic, informal) Nonsense.
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)

  1. to mock, cheat

Etymology 5[edit]

From Old French boule (“ball”), from Latin bulla (“round swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhel (“to blow, to swell”).

Noun[edit]

bull (plural bulls)

  1. (16th century, obsolete) a bubble

Catalan[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From bullir.

Noun[edit]

bull m (plural bulls)

  1. boiling
  2. effervescence

Verb[edit]

bull

  1. third-person singular present indicative form of bullir
  2. second-person singular imperative form of bullir

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

bull m (plural bulls)

  1. a type of pork sausage

Further reading[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From bulldozer.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bull m (plural bulls)

  1. (construction) bulldozer

Synonyms[edit]

Icelandic[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bull n (genitive singular bulls, no plural)

  1. nonsense, gibberish

Declension[edit]

declension of bull
n-s singular
indefinite definite
nominative bull bullið
accusative bull bullið
dative bulli bullinu
genitive bulls bullsins

Synonyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

  • bulla (“to talk nonsense, to boil”)

Westrobothnian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse bolli, from Proto-Germanic *bullô.

Noun[edit]

bull m

  1. wooden bowl, lathed vessel, big bowl
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