English Explanatory Dictionary

gull

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae.
  2. Any of various pierid butterflies of the genus Cepora.
noun
  1. A cheating trick; a fraud.
  2. A stupid animal.
  3. One easily cheated; a dupe.
  4. A swindler or trickster.
verb
  1. To deceive or cheat.
  2. To mislead.
  3. To trick and defraud.
  4. To flatter, wheedle.
noun
  1. A breach or hole made by the force of a torrent; fissure, chasm.
  2. A channel made by a stream; a natural watercourse; running water.
verb
  1. To sweep away by the force of running water; to carve or wear into a gully.
noun
  1. A player, supporter or other person connected with Torquay United Football Club.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

gŭl /ˈɡʌl/ en-us-gull.ogg /ɡʊl/

Word forms

gull gulls gulling gulled gool

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish foílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoileag. Compare French goéland, a borrowing from Breton. Eclipsed Middle English lare (borrowed from Latin larus) and Middle English mewe (from Old English mæw).

Synonyms

mew seabird seagull seamew

Derived words

as the gull flies Audouin's gull black-backed gull black-headed gull Bonaparte's gull Caspian gull common gull Dominican gull European herring gull flood gull Franklin's gull glaucous gull great black-backed gull greater black-backed gull gull-billed tern gull chaser gullfeed gull-wing gullwing Heermann's gull herring gull Iceland gull ivory gull kelp gull land gull laughing gull lesser black-backed gull little gull Mediterranean gull mew gull Pacific gull Pallas's gull red-billed gull ring-billed gull robber gull Ross's gull Sabine's gull sea-gull seagull shark-gull silver gull slaty-backed gull slender-billed gull white-eyed gull yellow-legged gull gullable gullcatcher guller gullery gullible → gullibility gullibly gullish gullick
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