Forms: 3–4 bule, (3–4 pl. bulles, 4–5 -is), 5 bulle, 6–7 bul, 6– bull; also 3–5 bole, 4 bol, 4–5 boole, (5 bolle), (8 Sc. dial. bill). [ME. bole (bool(e), app. a. ON. bole, boli; cf. MLG. bulle (whence mod.G.), MDu. bulle (bolle), Du. bul, bol. There may have been an OE. *bulla, whence the deriv. bulluc ‘bullock,’ as the source of the ME. bule, bulle, and the modern bull, which do not fit phonetically the bole forms. Outside Teutonic, cf. Lithuanian bullus. Prob. from a verb-stem found in some German dialects, as büllen, bullen to roar, perh. related by ablaut to bellen: see BELL v.4]
I. Of animals.
1. The male of any bovine animal; most commonly applied to the male of the domestic species (Bos Taurus); also of the buffalo, etc.
c. 1200. Ormin, 990. Þeȝȝre lac wass bule, & lamb, & buckess twa togeddre.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10395. Þe bulles [v.r. bolys] tuelue he offrid sua.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1682. A best þat he be, a bol oþer an oxe.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., li. Sel. Wks. I. 150. A bole þat shal be kild goiþ in corn at his wille.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. xi. (1483), 102. The cruell horned boole.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 112. A grete bole is suffisid with right a litil pasture.
a. 1528. Skelton, Image Hypocr., IV. 114. As gredy as a gull And ranke as any bull.
1587. Censure loyall Subj. (Collier), 54. When the Captain could no longer withstand the Kings importunities, he drank buls blood, and died.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Hist. Scot. (1655), 42. The head of a Bull (a sign of present Death in these times) is set down before him.
1733. Pope, Hor. Sat., I. i. 86. Bulls aim their horns, and Asses lift their heels.
1786. Burns, Addr. Deil, x. An’ dawtit, twal-pint Hawkie’s gaen As yell’s the Bill.
1818. in Knight, Once upon a Time, II. 249. A bull is to be baited on Monday next.
b. Bulls of brass, brazen bulls, as those that guarded the golden fleece, and Phalaris’ bull (proverbial as an engine of torture).
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1428. Two bolys makid all of bras.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, III. i. The points of swords, tortures, nor bulls of brass, Should draw it from me.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. i. I. i. All manner of tortures, brazen bulls, racks, wheels.
1724. Swift, Wks. (1841), II. 4. To torment people, by putting them into a bull of brass with fire under it.
c. in phrases (mostly proverbial): † He may bear a bull that hath borne a calf, in allusion to the story of Milo of Crotona (see quot.). A bull in a china shop: the symbol of one who produces reckless destruction. To take the bull by the horns: to meet a difficulty with courage. To show the bull-horn: to make a show of resistance.
1539. Taverner, Erasm. Prov. (1552), 10. He that hath borne a calfe, shall also beare a bull, He that accustometh hym selfe to lytle thynges, by lytle and lytle shal be able to go a waye with greater thynges.
1833. Galt, in Fraser’s Mag., VIII. 655. He shewed, when he durst, the bull-horn.
1841. Marryat, Jac. Faithf., xv. I’m like a bull in a china-shop.
1873. Tristram, Moab, vi. 107. Determined to take the bull by the horns … I stepped forward.
† d. Hell bull. Applied to Belial. Obs.
a. 1225. Juliana, 54. He þe kingene king helle bule haueð ouercumen te dei belial baldest of helle.
† e. Bull’s head (Sc.): ‘a signal of condemnation, and prelude of immediate execution, said to have been anciently used in Scotland’ (Jam.).
1565. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scotl. (1728), 17 (Jam.). The chancellor presentit the bullis head befoir the earle of Douglas.
1649. [see 1].
a. 1800. in Scott, Minstr. Scot. Bord. (1803), II. 399 (Jam.). If the bull’s ill-omen’d head Appear to grace the feast, Your whingers … Plunge in each neighbour’s breast.
2. The male of certain other large animals, as the elephant, alligator, whale, etc. † Bull of the river: see quot. (obs.).
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 99. [The Nilus produceth] Buls of the Riuer (so they write) not much vnlike to those of the land, but no bigger than a calfe of halfe a yeare old.
1725. Dudley, in Phil. Trans., XXXIII. 260. They [whales] generate much like to our neat Cattle, and therefore they are termed Bull, Cow, and Calf.
1857. Chambers, Inform. People, I. 716. Fights usually take place when male whales or bulls … meet with rivals.
1886. Guillemard, Cruise Marchesa, I. 198. The attitude of the bulls [seals] towards each other becomes more peaceable.
3. Astron. The constellation and sign Taurus.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XV. ii. The golden rayes … Of radyant Phebus … Right in the Bull.
1607. Topsell, Serpents, 755. Diana … translated him into heaven, close by the constellation of the Bull.
1728. Thomson, Spring, 27. From Aries rolls the bounteous Sun, And the bright Bull receives him.
1868. Lockyer, Heavens (ed. 3), 323. Aldebaran, the most beautiful star in the constellation of the Bull.
II. Transf. senses of diverse origin.
† 4. = BULL-HEAD, BULL-TOUR. Obs. slang.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Bull … false Hair worn (formerly much) by Women.
5. Mining. An iron rod used in the process of blasting. b. = Clay-iron. Raymond, Mining Gloss.
1851. Coal-tr. Terms, Northumbld. & Durh., 12. Filling a drill hole in wet stone with strong clay, and then driving a round iron rod (called a bull), nearly the size of the hole, to its far end.
6. ? dial. See quot.
1884. Leisure Hour, Sept., 530/1. A huge whistle … attached by pipes to a steam boiler … is familiarly styled the ‘bull.’
7. slang. A crown piece. (cf. BULL’S-EYE 11.)
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Bull, a crown or five shillings.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xlvii. ‘Four halfbulls, wot you may call halfcrowns.’
III. 8. Stock-Exchange [see BEAR sb.1 8]. One who endeavors by speculative purchases, or otherwise, to raise the price of stocks. Bulls and Bears, the two different classes of speculators. Bull was originally a speculative purchase for a rise.
1714. C. Johnson, Country Lasses, I. i. You deal in Bears and Bulls.
1721. Cibber, Refusal, I. And all this out of Change-Alley? Every Shilling, Sir; all out of Stocks, Tuts, Bulls, Rams, Bears, and Bubbles.
1761. Brit. Mag., II. 278. The cow turned into ’Change-alley, which frighted not a little not only all the bulls, but the bears too.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, iv. The hum and bustle which his approach was wont to produce among the bulls, bears, and brokers of Stock-alley.
1880. F. Hall, in 19th Cent., Sept., 437, note. Can Mr. Bryant really have supposed financial bulls and bears to be peculiar to Wall-street, New York?
b. attrib.
1851. Illust. Lond. News, 14. The bull party will not be able to carry on much longer.
1881. Chicago Times, 1 June. The surrounding influences were … favorable to the ‘bull’ movement.
1881. Mark Lane Express, 8 Aug., 1085. The speculative movement which has … exerted a ‘bull’ influence on the maize market.
IV. Attrib. and Comb.
9. attrib. a. In sense of ‘male.’ (Sometimes hyphened.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10386 (Gött.). To godd he gaue þe lambis to lottis, And to þe pore men þe bole stotis [printed stostis].
1462. Test. Ebor. (1855), II. 254. Et xxx bull-stirkus.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 287. Falstaffe, you … roared for mercy … as euer I heard Bull-Calfe.
1825. S. & Sarah Adams, Compl. Servant, 77. The meat of the bull-calf is generally firmest, whitest, and best, when dressed.
1861. Du Chaillu, Equat. Afr., xii. 170. We saw … a … bull-elephant.
1864. [H. W. Wheelwright], Spring Lapl., 185. Certainly a bull elk is an awkward customer when brought to bay.
1880. Daily News, 8 Dec., 6/7. One bull whale … measured 48 ft.
b. Of or pertaining to a bull, bull-like.
1814. Sir R. Wilson, Priv. Diary, II. 336. Butting his head with bull rage and closed eyes.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xxvi. You’ve such a bull neck.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. IV. xi. 190. A doom proclaimed, audible in bull voice, towards the four winds.
10. Simple combinations: a. attributive, belonging to (or resembling what belongs to) a bull, as bull-hide, -house, -skin; b. similative and parasynthetic, as bull-bragging, -browed, -face(d, -fronted, -like, -necked, -voiced, adjs.; c. objective with vbl. sb. or ppl. adj., as bull-bearing.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. iii. 258. *Bull-bearing Milo.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1170/2. The doltish braines of these *Bull bragging bedlems.
1631. R. Byfield, Doctr. Sabb., 174. His *bul-browd-forlorne-downe-cast haire covering all his forehead.
1795. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Hair Powder, Wks. 1812, III. 298.
| Let Hawkesbury frown, and *bull-face Brudenell roar; | |
| They well may club, to ease the Nation’s score. |
1775. Phil. Trans., LXVI. 102. The sea-lyon and lyoness are *bull-faced, with long shaggy hair.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. II. v. 106. He is of indomitable *bull-heart; and also, unfortunately, of thick *bull-head.
c. 1205. Lay., 14187. Swa muchel lond . swa wule anes *bule hude . ælches weies ouer-spræden.
1297. R. Glouc., 116. Þo carf he a bole hyde small al to a þong.
c. 1300. St. Brandan, 93. With bole huden stronge y-nou y-nailed therto faste.
1718. Pope, Iliad, VII. 268. With seven thick folds o’ercast, Of tough bull-hides.
1878. H. Stanley, Dark Cont., I. xvi. 439. Well wrapped in bull-hides.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon, 473. *Bull-house, with two pens in it for bull calves.
1859. R. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. R. G. S., XXIX. 321. The neck is *bull-like, short, heavy, and broad.
1673. Dryden, Love in Nunnery, I. II. i. When the Place falls, you shall be *Bull-master-General at Court.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1094. *Bullenekkyde was þat bierne.
1647. Cleveland, Char. Lond. Diurn. Maker (1677), 107. A Bull-neck’d Presbyter.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, vi. Rashleigh, though strong in person, was bull-necked and cross-made.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 2440. Al the armure he was yn Was noght bot of a *bul-skyn.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. VII. vii. 325. The *bull-voiced Marquis Saint-Huruge.
11. Special comb.: bulls and cows (see quot.); † bull-back = pick-a-back; bull-bat, the American Goatsucker (Caprimulgus Americanus); bull-beef, the flesh of bulls, also † a term of abuse; esp. in to bluster like bull-beef, as big as bull-beef, etc.; bull-bird = BULLFINCH; bull-boat, a boat made of hides stretched on a wooden frame; bull-comber, a dung-beetle (Typhœus vulgaris); bull-dance (see quot.); bull-feast, a bull-baiting (Eng.); a bull-fight (Sp.); bull-flesh, fig. brag, swagger; † bull-fly, a stag-beetle; bull-foot (Bot.) Colt’s-foot (Tussilago); bull-god, a god worshipped under the form of a bull; bull-hoof, Bot. (see quot.); bull-man, a monster half bull half man; bullmanship (nonce-wd.), the art of fighting with bulls; bull-of-the-bog, the bittern, from its booming cry; bull-poll, the Turfy Hair-grass (Aira cæspitosa); bull-pout (American), a fish, ? = BIB sb.2; bull-pump (see quot.); bull-pup, a young bull-dog; bull-ring, the arena for a bull-right (Sp.); the place where bulls were baited (Eng.); the ring to which a bull was fastened; bull-roarer, bull-rope (see quot.); bull-run, bull-running, a race after a bull or bull-baiting (e.g., the famous one at Stamford); † bull-seg (dial.), bull-stag, a bull gelded when past his prime; bull-toad, ? = BULL-FROG; bull-ward, the keeper of a bull; bull-week (see quot.); bull-whacker (American), a bullock driver in the Western states; bull-wheel (see quot.). Also BULL-BAIT, -BAITING, etc.
1863. Prior, Pop. Names Brit. Plants, 34. *Bulls and Cows, more commonly called Lords and Ladies, the purple and the pale spadices, respectively, of Arum maculatum.
c. 1600. Rob. Hood (Ritson), II. i. 183. Some were on *bull-back, some dancing a morris.
1883. Macm. Mag., ‘Old Virg. Gentl.,’ 134/1. The *‘bull-bats’ or nighthawks in the air above us are circling to and fro.
1572. Gascoigne, Voy. Holland, in Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk., Ser. II. (1849), 311. Methinks they be a race of *bull-beef born.
c. 1618. Fletcher, Doubl. Marr., III. i. Down with the bul-beefes.
1690. W. Walker, Idiomat. Anglo-Lat., 57. He looks as big as bull-beef.
1785. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Ode III to R. A., Wks. 1812, I. 83. Thou may’st bluster like Bull-beef so big.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, III. 109. We have the crew of the little *bull boat complete.
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), I. xxiv. 195. A skin-canoe—more familiarly called in this country a bull-boat.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog., III. 111. The *bull-comber, clock beetle, and spring beetle.
1855. Whitby Gloss., *Bull-Dance, rustic merriment connected with cattle-show feasts.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Bull-dance, at sea it is performed by men only, when without women. It is sometimes called a stag-dance.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2364/2. Bilboa, July, 12 … To morrow there will be a *Bull Feast.
1768. Earl Malmesbury, Diaries & Corr. (1844), I. 42. The amusements of this town … are, the bull-feast, two play-houses, and, during the carnival, masquerades.
1824. J. Macculloch, Highlands Scotl., I. 367. Some squire is born, and there is a bull-feast at Grantham or Chirk.
1883. Sunday Mag., Sept., 574/2. The bull-ring, or, as it is called, the bull-feast.
1820. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 220. What! shall a little *bull-flesh gain the day?
1583. J. Higins, Junius’ Nomenclator (N.). Cerf volant, a *bullflie, or hornet.
1611. Cotgr., Cerf volant, the great horned beetle, or bull-flie.
1706. Phillips, Bull-fly or Bull-bee, an Insect.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 158. Tussilago is named … in Englishe Horse houe or *Bullfoote.
1816. G. S. Faber, Orig. Pag. Idol., I. 433. The *bull-god of Phenicia.
1871. Rossetti, Burden Nineveh, xviii. That Bull-god once did stand And watched the burial-clouds of sand.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 328. The *Bull-hoof or Dutchman’s Laudanum … a climber, whose fruit is … about the size of a large olive.
1866. Treas. Bot., Bull-hoof, Murucuja ocellata.
1816. G. S. Faber, Orig. Pag. Idol., I. 232. That being was succeeded by a second *bull-man.
1821. New Monthly Mag., II. 340. To her [Seville’s] school of *bullmanship that art owes all its refinements.
1815. Scott, Guy M., i. The deep cry of the bog-blitter, or *bull-of-the-bog.
1880. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, 36. Some bulrushes and great bunches of *bullpolls…. The bullpoll sends up tall slender stalks with graceful feathery heads.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pioneer, xxiii. (1869), 101/1. ‘Away with you, you varmint!’ said Billy Kirby, plucking a *bull-pout from the meshes.
1881. Raymond, Gloss., *Bull-pump (Cornwall), a direct single-acting pump…. The steam lifts piston and pump-rods, and the weight of these makes the down-stroke.
1883. Congregationalist, July, 585. Toying with a tiny, toddling *bull-pup.
1609. D. Rogers, in Digby Myst. (1882), Introd. 26. He caused … The *bull ringe … to be taken vp.
1802. Southey, King Ramiro, viii. Let me be led to your bull-ring … And let me be set upon a stone.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, Introd. A poor mastiff that had misbehaved in the bull-ring.
1881. Academy, 9 April, 263/3. A flat slip of wood a few inches long, narrowing to one or both ends, and fastened by one end to a thong for whirling it round, when it gives an intermittent whirring or roaring noise, heard a long way off … it is known as a country boy’s plaything in Europe, called in England a ‘whizzer’ or *‘bull-roarer.’
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 173. A *bull-rope … is a hawser let through a block on the bow-sprit end to the buoy, to keep the buoy clear of the stem.
1864. Chambers, Bk. of Days, 13 Nov., II. 575/2. As … there could be no *bull-run without a bull.
1656. J. Harrington, Oceana, 196. There is a solemnity of the Pipers, and Fidlers of this Nation … call’d the *Bull-running, and he that catcheth and holdeth the Bull, is the annuall and Supream Magistrate of that Comitia, or Congregation, called King-Piper.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, I. V. i. 310. if there was a bull-running within twenty miles, he was sure to be there.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (1856), 141. Makinge a *bullsegge of a bull that is two or three yeares olde.
1820. Scott, Monastery, iv. ‘Roaring like bullsegs, to frighten the leddy.’
1680. Lond. Gaz., No. 1482/4. One red *Bull Stag with the same Mark.
1776. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 149/1. Good ox beef, instead of which he had substituted bull beef and bull stag beef.
1806. Moore, Poems, 166. Let the *bull-toad taint him over.
1614. Hornby, Sco. Drunk. (1859), 19. It is a cage of all base villany … *Bulwards and beare-wards with like company.
1878. Halliwell, *Bull-week, the week before Christmas, in which the work people at Sheffield push their strength to the utmost.
1878. Black, Green Past., xiii. 106. Not even the stoutest *bull-whacker who ever crossed the plains would dare to say a word on this subject.
1883. E. V. Smalley, in Century Mag., July, 329/2. Attached to the derrick is also a big windlass, called the *‘bull-wheel,’ which hoists the drilling apparatus out of the [oil] well.
b. Comb. with gen. bull’s: † bull’s feather, a horn, the mark of cuckoldry; bull’s-noon, midnight (dial.); bull’s-nose (see quot.); bull’s-pizzle, the penis of the bull, formerly a much-used instrument of flagellation.
1707. Arraign. Wom., II. 167 (N.). There’s many an honest Man hath worn the *Bull’s Feather.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, V. 295 (D.). They may very probably adorn, as well as bestow the bull’s feather.
18[?]. Northampton dial. If I go on at this rate I shan’t be done at *bull’s-noon.
1839. C. Clark, J. Noakes & Mary Styles, 17. No bull’s-noon hours I’ll ha’ ya keep.
1842. Gwilt, Archit. (1875), Gloss., *Bull’s Nose, the external or other angle of a polygon, or of any two lines meeting at an obtuse angle.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. 187. The Boteswaine … walked abaft the Maste, and his Mate afore the Maste … eche of them a *bulls pissell dried in their handes.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. I. 879. Th’ illustrious Bassa … with Bull’s-pizzle … Was taw’d as gentle as a Glove.
1737. trans. (anon.), Gil Blas, vi. 1771, I. 26. I felt on my shoulders half a dozen lusty bangs of a bull’s pizzle.
