[f. BULL sb.1 + -ISH1.]
1. Of or pertaining to a bull; resembling or having the nature of a bull.
1566. Nuce, Seneca’s Octavia (1581), 166 b. Cuckoldes bullysh badge.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1752), 314. His bullish nature will be ploughed out in three years.
1830. Fraser’s Mag., II. 610. They are bullish, they are unmanageable, vindictive and irreconcileable.
2. Stock-Exchange, etc. Tending to or aiming at a rise in the price of stocks or of merchandise.
1882. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 July, 5/2. We want to … make prices higher that Paris may see how ‘bullish’ we are.
1884. Manch. Exam., 11 June, 4/4. In this market … a great majority are ‘bullish’ about cotton.
