[f. BULLY sb.1]
1. trans. To act the bully towards; to treat in an overbearing manner; to intimidate, overawe.
1710. Palmer, Proverbs, 69. His poor neighbour is bully’d by his big appearance.
1747. Gentl. Mag., XVII. 247/1. The French observing that we were not to be bullied by their 17 sail, [etc.].
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xii. 96. He saw, that he had no chance of bullying the servant.
1874. Greville, Mem. Geo. IV. (1875), III. xxi. 8. For the purpose of bullying the House of Lords, who would not be bullied.
b. To overweigh, overbalance.
1883. J. D. Jerrold Kelly, in Harper’s Mag., Aug., 449/1. A light displacement being bullied by large sails.
2. To drive or force by bullying; to frighten into a certain course; with away, into, out of, to.
1723. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 27. What ails you, to bully away our customers so?
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, II. xxxviii. 258. They are in the right not to be bullied out of their child.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. iv. 444. They are bullied by the Plenipotentiaries to support him.
1854. Bright, Sp., Russia, 31 March (1876), 227. I have no belief that Russia … would have been bullied into any change of policy.
3. intr. and absol. To bluster, use violent threats; to swagger.
1733. Bramston, Man of Taste, 8 (L.).
| So Britain’s Monarch once uncover’d sate, | |
| While Bradshaw bully’d in a broad-brimm’d hat. |
1783. Johnson, Lett., II. ccci. 272. I bullied and bounced … and compelled the apothecary to make his salve according to the Edinburgh Dispensatory.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1863), 143. The officer … mounted a small horse, galloping up and down … bullying, swearing.
