English Explanatory Dictionary

bull

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An adult male, specifically:
  2. An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
  3. Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
  4. Any bovine of an aggressive or long-horned breed regardless of age and sex.
  5. A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
  6. Any adult male bovine.
  7. An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.
  8. Beef.
  9. A person, compared to the animal.
  10. A large, strong man.
  11. An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
  12. A policeman; a detective; a railroad security guard.
adj
  1. Large and strong, like a bull.
  2. Of large mammals, adult male.
  3. Characterized by rising prices or belief that prices will rise.
  4. Stupid.
verb
  1. To force oneself (in a particular direction); to move aggressively.
  2. To be in heat; to be ready for mating with a bull.
  3. To mate with (a cow or heifer).
  4. To endeavour to raise the market price of.
  5. To endeavour to raise prices in.
noun
  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.
verb
  1. To publish in a papal bull.
noun
  1. A lie.
  2. Nonsense.
verb
  1. To mock; to cheat.
  2. To lie, to tell untruths.
  3. To polish (boots) to a high shine.
noun
  1. A bubble.
name
  1. The constellation and zodiacal sign Taurus.
name
  1. A surname transferred from the nickname derived from the name of the animal.

Pronunciation

/bʊl/ /bʉl/ en-us-bull.ogg

Word forms

bull bulls bulling bulled the Bull

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Germanic *bulô Old English bula ▲ Proto-Germanic *bulô Old Norse bolibor. Middle English bole English bull 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”), Albanian bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”). Of sense 11, (a man or boy), derived from the Philadelphia English pronunciation of boy, which is practically a homophone of bull.

Synonyms

gentleman cow bloke boy bro broski bruh cat chap chappy chield cove covey dog [⇒ thesaurus] (slang) dawg dude fella fellow gadgie gate geezer gink gloak gome guy health homeboy homey joe lede nigga ninja omi pillicock punk rooster seg shalk wallah wer were wye 5-O alphabet barney beatsman bizzie bluebottle bluecoat blue heeler blue meanie bobby body snatcher bogey boy in blue bull bullyman buttons centenier charpering omi chazzer

Antonyms

feeble puny weak female bear

Derived words

Adoribull Banbury story of a cock and a bull Banbury story of a cock and bull big as bull-beef blue bull Brahminy bull brazen bull bull and cow bull ant bullbaiting bull-baiting bull bar bull-bitch bullbleep bull butter bull con bullcrap bullcrud bull-dagger bull daisy bull denim bulldog bulldoze bulldozer bulldung bulldust bull dust bull dyke bull elephant buller bullet bullfaced bull feast bull feathers bull fiddle bull fiddler bullfight bullfighter bullfighting bull-fighting bullfinch bull-finch bull-fly bullfrog bullfuck bull-fuck bullgine bull gravy bullhead bull-headed bullheaded bull headed bullhook bull-horn bullhorn bull horn bull in a china shop bullish bull kelp bull ladle

Translations

Albanian: dem Aramaic: ܬܘܪܐ Azerbaijani: öküz Danish: han Dutch: stier Estonian: pull Finnish: uros Finnish: koiras Finnish: sonni French: mâle Galician: touro German: Bulle German: Stier Greek: βόδι Interlingua: masculo Irish: tarbh Italian: maschio Korean: 수컷 Latin: bōs Māori: puuru Norwegian: okse Portuguese: macho Russian: саме́ц Swedish: hane Swedish: tjur Tamil: எருது Tamil: ஏறு Telugu: ఎద్దు Tswana: poo Turkish: boğa Turkish: öküz Wolof: yëkk wi Zazaki: vistra Danish: ligge Spanish: mamar Arabic: مَرْسُوم Bulgarian: була Catalan: butlla Czech: bula Dutch: bul Esperanto: buleo Finnish: bulla French: bulle Friulian: bole German: Bulle Hungarian: bulla Ido: bul-letro Interlingua: bulla Irish: bulla Italian: bolla Korean: 불라 Polish: bulla Portuguese: bula Russian: бу́лла Slovene: bula Spanish: bula Swedish: bulla
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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