Forms: 1–3 bulluc, 5 bullok, 6 bolok, 6–7 bullocke, 6– bullock. [OE. bulluc; see BULL sb.1, and cf. ballock, hassock. (The alleged form bulluca is spurious.)]
1. Orig. a young bull, or bull calf; but afterwards, and in later times always, a castrated bull, an ox.
a. 1000. Interlinear Gloss. on the Liber Scintillarum, liv. (MS. Reg. 7. C. iv.). To bulluce [Lat. ad vitulum].
a. 1240. Cuckoo Song, in Ritson, Anc. Songs, 3. Bulluc sterteþ . bucke uerteþ.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 55. Bullok, boculus, vitulus.
1521. Bury Wills (1850), 122. Item, delyuerid the boloks, vj, acordyng after ye will.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iv. I know that, but my mind was on bullockes and steeres.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 202. Why that’s spoken like an honest Drouier, so they sel Bullockes.
1611. Bible, Ps. li. 19. Then shall they offer bullockes vpon thine altar.
1720. Gay, Poems (1745), I. 178. Here lowing bullocks raise their horned head.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), II. 135. Bullocks are … more used to plough than camels.
† 2. Applied loosely to a bull, or bovine beast generally. Obs. exc. dial.
1535. Coverdale, Job xxi. 10. Their bullock gendreth, and that not out of tyme.
1787. Marshall, Norfolk Gloss. (E. D. S.), Bullocks, a general term, in Norfolk, for all kinds of cattle at turneps, [etc.]; whether they be oxen, steers, heifers, or cows.
1875. Parish, Sussex Dial., Bullock, a fat beast of either sex … ‘Yes, she’s a purty cow … one of these days she’ll make a nice bullock.’
† 3. Jestingly used for: A papal bull. Obs.
1537. Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (1845), 378. I send you here a bullock which I did find amongst my bulls.
1589. Warner, Alb. Eng., V. xxiv. 121. Some egge vs sla the Prince and shewe a Bullocke fra the Pope.
4. A slang term applied in Australian cities to a countryman or bushman.
5. In the names of various plants, as Bullock’s Eye, the common Houseleek, Sempervivum tectorum; Bullock’s Heart, the fruit of Anona reticulata; Bullock’s Lungwort, the Great Mullein, Verbascum Thapsus L.
1597. Gerard, Herbal, cclvi. 630. The countrey people … in Kent, doe giue their cattell the leaues to drinke against the cough of the lungs … whereupon they do call it Bullocks Longwoort.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., IV. 135. Great Mullein … was … Bullock’s Lungwort.
1861. Mrs. Lankester, Wild Flowers, 57. House-leek … is frequently called Jupiter’s Eye, Bullock’s Eye, or Jupiter’s Beard.
1866. Treas. Bot., Bullock’s Heart, a name given to the fruit of Anona reticulata, a kind of custard apple.
6. Comb. and Attrib. a simple attrib., as bullock-cart, -chariot, -dray, -hump, -land, -load, -pasture, -shed, -ship, -train, -turnip, -vessel, -wagon, -wainster; b. objective genitive, as bullock-driver, -teasing; also bullock-leech, a cattle-doctor; bullock-puncher (Australian) = bullock-driver; bullock’s-eye (see quot.; cf. BULL’S-EYE); also see 5; bullock-trunk, a trunk suited for carriage in a bullock-cart, or on bullock-back.
1858. Merc. Mar. Mag., V. 47. The difference … is 48 hours by *bullock-carts.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. xii. 316. *Bullock-chariots, and goadsmen in Roman Costume.
1857. Westgarth, Victoria, &c. xi. 251. Carriage by *bullock-drays from Melbourne.
1792. Gentl. Mag., LXII. I. 175. We lost … about 600 privates, besides pack-horse and *bullock-drivers.
1862. Lloyd, Tasmania, xix. 480. Shepherds, Bullock drivers, and other servants were seized with the desire to turn diggers of gold.
1849–52. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., IV. 1355. The *bullock-hump … is not by any means so characteristic of this race.
1881. Daily News, 31 Aug., 2/2. The excellent *bullock land … would meet ready purchasers.
1774. Lambert, in Phil. Trans., LXVI. 498. A farrier and *bullock-leach.
1803. Wellington, Lett., in Gurw., Disp., II. 567. We have not lost a *bullock-load of any thing during the war.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Eye, *Bullock’s Eye, Oeil de bœuf, denotes a little sky-light in the covering, or roof, intended to illumine a granary, or the like.
1865. Cornh. Mag., XI. 105. The filthy quarters allotted me in an old *bullock-shed … exhausted all endurance.
1858. W. Ellis, Visits Madagascar, ii. 21. Mr. Jeffreys … died during a voyage from Madagascar to Mauritius in the miserable hold of a *bullock ship.
1879. Dowden, Southey, iii. 47. The sorry spectacle of *bullock-teasing made a slighter impression on him.
1859. Lang, Wand. India, 182. The Government has a *bullock-train for the conveyance of stores.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 78. *Bullock-trunks … are preferable, as they are permanently useful.
1884. Whitby Gaz., 9 Aug., 2/5. The crop of … *bullock turnips must now be sown.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea, II. 179. There were some Tartar peasants passing … with small *bullock-waggons.
1883. Gd. Words, July, 420/1. The *bullock-wainster who dared to hinder his progress.
