bull

plural bulls

1. An adult male, specifically:
   1. countableuncountableSpecifically, one that is uncastrated.

      Synonyms: gentleman cow

   2. broadlycountableuncountableAny bovine of an aggressive or long-horned breed regardless of age and sex.

      Synonyms: gentleman cow

   3. countableuncountableA male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
   4. countableuncountableAny adult male bovine.
   5. countableuncountableAn adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.

      The quick eyes of a female caught sight of him first. With a barking guttural she called the attention of the others. Several huge bulls stood erect to get a better view of the intruder. With bared fangs and bristling necks they advanced slowly toward him, with deep-throated, ominous growls.

      1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 196

      1 more example

      The upshot of the affair was that she accompanied me next morning. I rowed into the adjoining cove and up to the edge of the beach. There were seals all about us in the water, and the bellowing thousands on the beach compelled us to shout at each other to make ourselves heard. "I know men club them," I said, trying to reassure myself and gazing doubtfully at a large bull, not thirty feet away, upreared on his fore-flippers and regarding me intently. "But the question is, How do they club them?"

      1904, Jack London, chapter 30, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC

   6. slanguncountableBeef.

      Meanwhile the Tommies had discovered several large tins of ham in the captured lorry. 'That,' said the big Nazi, 'is for our tea.' 'No,' said a Tommy sergeant-major. 'That's for our tea. For you, chummy, we've kept a nice bit of bull.'

      1949, Stephen Peter Llewellyn, Journey Towards Christmas, page 142

2. A person, compared to the animal.
   1. countableuncountableA large, strong man.

      Synonyms: bloke, boy, bro, broski, bruh, cat, chap, chappy

   2. countableuncountablebusinessAn investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.

      Bulls are hoping the prosecutions draw a line under the sector's troubled past and will allow it to tap billions of dollars of cash from Wall Street.

      2023 December 9, Scott Chipolina, “Unlikely resurgence for bitcoin as bulls bet on Wall Street adoption”, in FT Weekend (Companies & Markets section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15

      1 more example

      This accompt has been made to appear a bull accompt, i.e. that the bulls cannot take their stock. The fact is the reverse; it is a bear accompt, but the bears, unable to deliver their stock, have conjointly banged the market, and pocketed the tickets, to defeat the rise and loss that would have ensued to them by their buying on a rising price on the accompt day […]

      1821, Bank of England, The Bank - The Stock Exchange - The Bankers ..., page 64

   3. UScountableslanguncountableA policeman; a detective; a railroad security guard.

      You never waited until the train stopped to get off. The railroad bulls were waiting at the stops searching for freeloaders.

      2021, Rickie Lee Jones, Last Chance Texaco, Grive Press, published 2022, page 93

      1 more example

      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.

      1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01

      Synonyms: 5-O, alphabet, barney, beatsman, bizzie, bluebottle, bluecoat, blue heeler

   4. countableslanguncountableAn elderly lesbian.
   5. countableuncountableBDSMA man who has sex with someone else's partner.

      1 more example

      The Vixen, often known as ‘Hotwife’, has sex with the encouragement of her husband or boyfriend with the Bull (that’s the guy who is servicing her). Another scenario is that the Vixen has sex with a Bull outside of the couple’s shared abode. Then she comes home and recounts all the details in a blow-by-blow description to turn the Stag on.

      2018 June 1, Holly O'Mahony, “‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding”, in The Sun, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2018

   6. PhiladelphiacountableslanguncountableA man or boy.
3. UKcountablehistoricalobsoleteslanguncountableA crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.

   Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.

   1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words

   Synonyms: bullseye

4. UKabbreviationclippingcountableuncountableClipping of bullseye.

   1 more example

   A second good game was to cannon one galloping camel with another, and crash it into a near tree. Either the tree went down (valley trees in the light Hejaz soil were notably unstable things) or the rider was scratched and torn; or, best of all, he was swept quite out of his saddle, and left impaled on a thorny branch, if not dropped violently to the ground. This counted as a bull, and was very popular with everyone but him.

   1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 219

   1. UKcountableuncountableengineeringThe central portion of a target, inside the inner and magpie.
5. abbreviationclippingeuphemisticinformalslanguncountableClipping of bullshit.
6. countableobsoleteuncountableA drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor.

1. not comparableLarge and strong, like a bull.

   Synonyms: beefy, hunky, robust · Antonyms: feeble, puny, weak

2. attributivenot comparableOf large mammals, adult male.

   a bull elephant

   2 more examples

   With the low, guttural snarl of the bull ape he sprang for the Frenchman.

   1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 45

   A bull elk can easily cover miles of rugged country in no time, especially if he is wounded or on the run.

   2021 [2001], John Eldredge, chapter 1, in Wild at Heart, Expanded edition, Nelson Books, →ISBN, page 2

   Synonyms: male · Antonyms: female

3. not comparablebusinessCharacterized by rising prices or belief that prices will rise.

   a bull market

   Antonyms: bear

4. not comparableStupid.

   Synonyms: stupid

present singular third person bulls · participle present bulling · participle past bulled · past bulled

1. intransitiveoftenTo force oneself (in a particular direction); to move aggressively.

   He bulled his way in.

2. intransitiveagricultureTo be in heat; to be ready for mating with a bull.
3. transitiveagricultureTo mate with (a cow or heifer).
4. transitivebusinessTo endeavour to raise the market price of.

   to bull railroad bonds

5. transitivebusinessTo endeavour to raise prices in.

   to bull the market

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.

present singular third person bulls · participle present bulling · participle past bulled · past bulled

1. datedTo publish in a papal bull.First known use 17th century

1. uncountableA lie.

   Synonyms: alternative fact, anti-fact, invention, bluff, bollocks, bullshit, canard, cap

2. euphemisticinformaluncountableNonsense.

   Synonyms: absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, apple grease, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls

present singular third person bulls · participle present bulling · participle past bulled · past bulled

1. To mock; to cheat.
2. intransitiveTo lie, to tell untruths.
3. UKtransitivegovernmentTo polish (boots) to a high shine.

   We were to repeat our normal practise of me bulling his boots and him ironing my kit.

   2014, Sean Connolly, British Army on the Rampage (B.A.O.R.), page 118

plural bulls

1. obsoleteA bubble.First known use 16th century

1. astrologyThe constellation and zodiacal sign Taurus.

   The Bull reigneth in the neck, & in the throat.

   1668, ‘Godfridus’, The Knowledge of Things Unknown, London: G.P. for G. Sawbridge, page 19

   5 more examples

   Those stars said to belong to the Ram might as well be supposed to belong to the Bull or the Lion.

   1862, [Frances Rolleston], Mazzaroth, or, The Constellations, London: Rivingtons, page 15

   The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, And next the Crab, the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales; The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-Goat, The Man that carries the Water-pot, And Fish with glittering scales.

   1893, E. W. Bullinger, Witness of the Stars, London: The author, page 16

   An early Grecian gem shows three nude figures, hand in hand, standing on the head of the Bull, one pointing to seven stars in line over the back, which Landseer referred to the Hyades.

   1899, Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-Names and their Meaning, New York: G.E. Stechert, page 380

   In the Assyrian Standard [...] we see the figure of an Archer above that of a galloping Bull, and in another Assyrian Standard, that of Sargon II., we find not only the Archer and the Bull, the two constellations which 4,000 b.c. marked the equinoctial colure, but we may also clearly trace a reference to the two constellations which at the same date marked the solstitial colure, namely, those of the Lion and the Water-man.

   1903, Emmeline M. Plunket, Ancient Calendars and Constellations, London: John Murray, page 79

   Now, if you went down into the forest where the spring gum-tips gleam gold and ruby in whatever sunshine, Heaven thinks fit to apportion at this season to residents of the Dandenongs (who surely were all born Aquarians) what sign of the Zodiac would you expect to meet? [...] Not Taurus the Bull, who is paddocked, or Cancer the Crab, who lives underground in these regions.

   1947 November 14, Mountain District Free Press and Frentree Gully News, Tecoma, Vic., page 8, column 2

1. A surname transferred from the nickname derived from the name of the animal.