cull

See also: Cull

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kʌl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌl

Etymology 1

From Middle English cullen, cuilen, coilen, from Old French cuillir (“collect, gather, select”), from Latin colligō (“gather together”). Doublet of coil.

Verb

cull (third-person singular simple present culls, present participle culling, simple past and past participle culled)

1. To pick or take someone or something (from a larger group).
   • 1984, cover star: JOE DALLESANDRO culled from Andy Warhol's FLESH — anonymous; sleeve notes from The Smiths' eponymous album
2. To gather, collect.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Eleanor

     whitest honey in fairy gardens cull'd

   • 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer; Nevill Coghill, transl., The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 202:

     Chaucer's prose Tale of Melibee […] is a dialectal homily of moral debate, exhibiting a learned store of ethical precept culled from many ancient authorities.

3. To select animals from a group and then kill them in order to reduce the numbers of the group in a controlled manner.
4. (nonstandard, euphemistic) To kill (animals etc).
5. To lay off in order to reduce the size of, get rid of.

Translations

to pick or take someone or something

• Bulgarian: избирам (bg) (izbiram), подбирам (bg) (podbiram)
• Dutch: uitpikken (nl)
• Finnish: poimia (fi)
• French: cueillir (fr)
• German: pflücken (de)
• Italian: cogliere (it)
• Maori: tīpao, tīpako

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: plukke (no), plukke ut

• Portuguese: catar (pt)
• Russian: отбира́ть (ru) impf (otbirátʹ), отобра́ть (ru) pf (otobrátʹ), вычленя́ть (ru) impf (vyčlenjátʹ), вы́членить (ru) pf (výčlenitʹ)
• Spanish: seleccionar (es)
• Swedish: plocka (sv)

to select animals from a group and then kill them

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 撲殺 (zh), 扑杀 (zh) (pūshā), 淘汰 (zh) (táotài)

• Dutch: ruimen (nl), uitdunnen (nl)
• Finnish: vähentää kantaa
• German: keulen (de)
• Italian: abbattere (it) m

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: avskyte (no)

• Russian: бракова́ть (ru) impf (brakovátʹ), выбрако́вывать (ru) impf (vybrakóvyvatʹ), забракова́ть (ru) (zabrakovátʹ), отстре́ливать (ru) impf (otstrélivatʹ), отстрели́ть (ru) pf (otstrelítʹ) (shoot off)
• Swedish: skjuta av
• Welsh: (spoken) cwlino

Noun

cull (plural culls)

1. A selection.
2. An organised killing of selected animals.
   • 2012 December 21, Isobel Montgomery, “A year that showed the best and worst of Britain”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 188, number 2, page 31:

     It seemed that the sun shone and all was right in our Blakean islands until the government began to set in motion its promised cull of badgers in an effort to control bovine TB. Salvation for brock came in the form of an online petition started by Queen guitarist Brian May, the rising costs of the programme and the weather.

3. (farming, agriculture) An individual animal selected to be killed, or item of produce to be discarded.
4. (seafood industry) A lobster having only one claw.
5. A piece unfit for inclusion within a larger group; an inferior specimen.

Translations

an item rejected as unfit for inclusion

• Hebrew: בְּרָרָה‎ (he) f (brára)

• Maori: paruranga

Etymology 2

Perhaps an abbreviation of cully.

Noun

cull (plural culls)

1. (slang, dialectal) A fool, gullible person; a dupe.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 307:

     Follow but my counsel, and I will show you a way to empty the pocket of a queer cull without any danger of the nubbing cheat.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:dupe

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Albanian

Alternative forms

• cullë

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *g(')elt- (“womb”). Compare Sanskrit जर्त (jarta), जर्तु (jártu, “vulva”), Swedish kull (“brood, litter”), Old English child.

Noun

cull m

1. (Gheg) boy, child

Derived terms

• cullak

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈkuʎ/
• Rhymes: -uʎ

Verb

cull

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