bulldoze

present singular third person bulldozes · participle present bulldozing · participle past bulldozed · past bulldozed

1. To destroy with a bulldozer.

   He's certainly very chirpy for a man whose house has just been bulldozed down.

   1 more example

   Chulalongkorn [University] set to bulldoze historic Chinese-Thai shrine, build condos

   2020 June 15, Coconuts Bangkok, “Chulalongkorn set to bulldoze historic Chinese-Thai shrine, build condos”, in coconuts.co, Bangkok: coconuts.co, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2021, retrieved 16 Jun 2020

2. To push someone over by heading straight over them. Often used in conjunction with "over".

   He just ran across the field bulldozing everyone over.

3. To push through forcefully.

   For the second time in a week, Wenger's team gave themselves an encouraging platform. In the 11th minute Theo Walcott drilled in a corner, and Olivier Giroud bulldozed through unopposed to thump the ball goalwards.

   2012 November 10, Amy Lawrence, “Fulham's Mark Schwarzer saves late penalty in dramatic draw at Arsenal”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2021

   1 more example

   Born in the mid-2010s, the concept of the girlboss promised a utopia where women could bulldoze into workplaces, pull up a seat at male-dominated tables and become a celebrated CEO on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List by the ripe age of 23 (and do it all, of course, wearing a fuchsia blazer and a balayage hairdo).

   2025 November 6, Ellie Muir, “In All's Fair, the girlboss archetype has never been more embarrassing”, in The Independent, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2026

4. To push into a heap, as a bulldozer does.

   Again the animal had bulldozed all of its bedding into a heap at one end of its cage.

   1 more example

   There stood a low yellow compact machine which apparently did the digging and bull-dozed back the earth.

   1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 469

5. To shoot down an idea immediately and forcefully.

   That was a good suggestion, but you just bulldozed it.

   1 more example

   After the EAC published its report last summer, and the media finally began to take an interest, it looked as if all this might change. But then the issue, like so many others, was bulldozed by Brexit.

   2020 February 26, George Monbiot, “Toxic sofas are a secret scandal – and an ‘EU red tape’ bonfire will make it worse”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2020

6. USdatedslangTo intimidate; to restrain or coerce by intimidation or violence; used originally of the intimidation of black voters in Louisiana.

   The practice of whipping and killing negroes in the Southern States was called bull-dozing. The word is a corruption of bull dose, or strong dose - in the sense that a bull fence is a strong fence. “Give him the bull dose” was the direction when a negro had to be severely punished.

   1877 February 3, “Varieties”, in Family Herald: A Domestic Magazine of Useful Information and Amusement, page 223

   4 more examples

   Whatever may be the long delayed result of the election of 1876, there is one point which has not yet been commented on, and that is, its effect upon our language. There is no surer indication of the mightiness of a national event than this, that a number of new expressions and new words have been born into our common speech, through the strong travail of the times. You will find in the mouths of the people and the press at least three combinations of words which, in the strongest sense they are now used in, have never been there before. One of them is “Counted out,” or “Counted in.” Another is, “Wait for the returns,” and a third, pure slang, is, “bulldozed.” […] ”Wait for the returns,” has drifted from politics into business, religion, home and society, and bulldozed is the common word for intimidation in any of the extraordinary occupations of life.

   1876 November, A. Straw, The Globe: An Illustrated Magazine, volume 4, page 108

   The standard of qualifications for teachers has been very greatly advanced, till at the present day not one in ten of the old pedagogues who taught “readin’, ritin’ and ‘rithmetic,” and bulldozed unruly pupils with the birch, the beech or the willow rod, or in their absence the ferrule, would be able to procure a third grade or any grade certificate to be able to teach in the most secluded rural “deestrict” in all of the western states.

   1877 January, W.B.Chrisler, Bruce Carr, Sarah E. Turner, editor, The Common School Teacher: Devoted to the Cause of Common Schools, volume 2, page 113

   He endeavoured to persuade, then to drive, and lastly to bulldoze, and this is where he made a mistake that came near to ruining his future happiness. The bull lowered his head, uttered a war whoop, and, raising his antagonist from the face of the earth, sent him spinning through some twenty feet or more. […] The bull is now doing duty in a butcher’s shop as a stock in trade and (Mr William H.) Searing is nursing two sore ribs.

   1881 January 20, “Bulldozing A Bull. An Experiment in which a Mount Vernon man failed signally”, in Wit and Wisdom: From All the New York Papers and Every Humorous Paper in the Land, page 7

   In any effort to recall incidents of reconstruction, “bulldozing” and kindred slang expressions are sure to present themselves. It is impossible to avoid them, so they may as well be taken up first as last. “Bulldozing” is the new name for an old deviltry. It is the last stage of negro intimidation, and is sometimes known as “the Mississippi plan”. There have been three stages in the development, - namely, “mule-lifting”, “ku-kluxing” and “bulldozing. Ku-kluxing was he keystone of the arch of intimidation. It was secret, cruel, relentless, and bloody, and, shall I say? cowardly. It whipped, and murdered, and burned behind a mask. Bulldozing was simply ku-kluxing with the mask thrown aside. It was cruel, relentless, and bloody, but not secret. It trusted for safety to its strength and - save the mark! - respectability!

   1895 August, James Chester, “Recollections of Reconstruction”, in The United Service: A monthly Review of Military and Naval Affairs, volume 14, chapter 2, page 130