bull

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See also: Bull and Bull.

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A Charolais bull

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈbʊl/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʊl

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]

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. Any adult male bovine.
  4. An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.
  5. A large, strong man.
  6. (finance) An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
  7. (slang) A policeman.
    1. (US) Specifically, a policeman employed in a railroad yard.
  8. (LGBT, slang) An elderly lesbian.[1]
  9. (UK, historical, obsolete slang) A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.
  10. (UK) Clipping of bullseye.
    • 1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor (1991), p. 219:
      A second good game was to cannon one galloping camel with another, and crash it into a near tree. Either the tree went down (valley trees in the light Hejaz soil were notably unstable things) or the rider was scratched and torn; or, best of all, he was swept quite out of his saddle, and left impaled on a thorny branch, if not dropped violently to the ground. This counted as a bull, and was very popular with everyone but him.
    1. (military, firearms) The central portion of a target, inside the inner and magpie.
  11. (Philadelphia, slang) A man or boy (derived from the Philadelphia English pronunciation of “boy”, which is practically a homophone of “bull”)
  12. (uncountable, informal, euphemistic, slang) Clipping of bullshit.
  13. A man who has sex with another man's wife or girlfriend with the consent of both.
  14. (obsolete) A drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
  • (finance: investor who sells in anticipation of a fall 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
    Synonym: male
    Antonym: female
  3. (finance) Of a market in which prices are rising (compare bear)
    Antonym: bear
  4. stupid
    Synonym: stupid
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

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 be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.
  3. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise the market price of.
    to bull railroad bonds
  4. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise prices in.
    to bull the market

Derived terms[edit]

(terms derived from the adj., noun, or verb bull (etymology 1)):

Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and 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 3[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)

  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; to cheat.
  2. (intransitive) To lie, to tell untruths.
  3. (UK, military) To polish boots to a high shine.

Etymology 4[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)

  1. (obsolete) A bubble. [16th century]

References[edit]

  1. ^ A. F. Niemoeller, "A Glossary of Homosexual Slang," Fact 2, no. 1 (Jan-Feb 1965): 25

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]

From Latin botulus (“sausage”).

Noun[edit]

bull m (plural bulls)

  1. A type of pork sausage.

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Cimbrian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Reduced form of bóol (“well”).

Adverb[edit]

bull (comparative péssor, superlative dar péste)

  1. (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)

  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 1[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

bull m

  1. wooden bowl, lathed vessel, big bowl

Etymology 2[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *bullǭ.

Noun[edit]

bull f

  1. loaf
Derived terms[edit]
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