Meanings
- datedsimileWary and unfriendly; on the verge of a fight.
"Some disagreement," admitted Harmon, grinning. "These up-State farmers and I love each other like a couple of strange bulldogs. Still—"
1918, Holworthy Hall, The Man Nobody Knew2 more examples
When I think of those folks, living in one room and getting along like a couple of strange bulldogs, I feel like stringing with the man who says that we get our hell on this earth sometimes.
1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening PostThese three got along like strange bulldogs, due to the fact that they were all captains and no privates when the three of them were together.
1925, The First Yale Unit: A Story of Naval Aviation, 1916-1919
Origin
strange is used with the sense of unfamiliar, unacquainted.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
like strange bulldogs. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20strange%20bulldogs
“like strange bulldogs.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20strange%20bulldogs. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “like strange bulldogs,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20strange%20bulldogs.
Source: like strange bulldogs on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.