bull

See also: Bull and Bull.

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

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
Antonyms
  • (finance: investor who buys in anticipation of a rise in prices): bear
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
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.

Adjective

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
Antonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

Shortened from bullshit

Verb

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

Derived terms

Etymology 3

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

Noun

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

Verb

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

From Middle English bull (“falsehood”), of unknown origin. Possibly related to Old French boul, boule, bole (“fraud, deceit, trickery”). Popularly associated with bullshit.

Noun

bull (uncountable)

  1. A lie.
  2. (euphemistic, informal) Nonsense.
Synonyms
  • (nonsense): See also Thesaurus:nonsense
Translations

Verb

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

  1. to mock, cheat

Etymology 5

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

Noun

bull (plural bulls)

  1. (16th century, obsolete) a bubble

Catalan

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /buʎ/
  • Homophone: vull
  • Rhymes: -uʎ

Etymology 1

From bullir.

Noun

bull m (plural bulls)

  1. boiling
  2. effervescence

Verb

bull

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

Etymology 2

Noun

bull m (plural bulls)

  1. a type of pork sausage

Further reading

French

Etymology

From bulldozer.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bul/, /byl/

Noun

bull m (plural bulls)

  1. (construction) bulldozer

Synonyms

Icelandic

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pʏtl/
  • Rhymes: -ʏtl

Noun

bull n (genitive singular bulls, no plural)

  1. nonsense, gibberish

Declension

Synonyms

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

Westrobothnian

Etymology

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

Noun

bull m

  1. wooden bowl, lathed vessel, big bowl
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