bull
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bull¹
- /bʊl/
- /bʉl/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Rhymes with -ʊl
Where it comes from
From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no-, from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Albanian bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”). Of noun sense 2.6, (a man or boy), derived from the Philadelphia English pronunciation of boy, which is practically a homophone of bull.
noun bulls
-
Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
Similar: gentleman cow
-
Any bovine of an aggressive or long-horned breed regardless of age and sex.
Similar: gentleman cow
- A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
- Any adult male bovine.
- An 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.
- Beef. 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.'
-
A large, strong man.
Similar: bloke, boy, bro, broski, bruh, cat, chap, chappy, chield, cove, covey, dog [⇒ thesaurus] (slang)
- An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices. 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 ensu
-
A 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.
Similar: 5-O, alphabet, barney, beatsman, bizzie, bluebottle, bluecoat, blue heeler, blue meanie, bobby, body snatcher, bogey
- An elderly lesbian.
- A man who has sex with someone else's partner. 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
- A man or boy.
-
A 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.
Similar: bullseye
- Clipping of bullseye 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
- The central portion of a target, inside the inner and magpie.
- Clipping of bullshit
- A drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor.
adjective
verb bulls · bulling · bulled
- To force oneself (in a particular direction); to move aggressively. He bulled his way in.
- To be in heat; to be ready for mating with a bull.
- To mate with (a cow or heifer).
- To endeavour to raise the market price of. to bull railroad bonds
- To endeavour to raise prices in. to bull the market
bull²
- /bʊl/
- /bʉl/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Rhymes with -ʊl
Where it comes from
From Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and bulla.
noun bulls
- A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
- A seal affixed to a document, especially a document from the Pope.
verb bulls · bulling · bulled
- To publish in a papal bull.
bull³
- /bʊl/
- /bʉl/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Rhymes with -ʊl
Where it comes from
From Middle English bull, bul, boule (“falsehood, deceit”), probably from Old French boul, boule, bole (“fraud, deceit, cunning”), from Old French bouler, boler (“to deceive, delude, lure, take in”), from Middle Low German bôlen (“to court, to woo”). Cognate with German buhlen (“to woo”). Doublet of bully.
Often reanalyzed by surface analysis to be an expurgated clipping of bullshit.
noun
-
A lie.
Similar: alternative fact, anti-fact, invention, bluff, bollocks, bullshit, canard, cap, chin, clanker, contradiction, cram
-
Nonsense.
Similar: absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, apple grease, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls, baloney, banana oil, Bandini, baragouin
verb bulls · bulling · bulled
- To mock; to cheat.
- To lie, to tell untruths.
- To polish (boots) to a high shine. We were to repeat our normal practise of me bulling his boots and him ironing my kit.
bull⁴
- /bʊl/
- /bʉl/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Rhymes with -ʊl
Where it comes from
From Middle English bowle, boule, from Old French bulle, boule (“ball”), from Latin bulla (“round swelling”), of Gaulish origin. Doublet of bull (“papal bull”) and bulla.
noun bulls
- A bubble.
Bull⁵
proper noun the Bull
- The constellation and zodiacal sign Taurus. The Bull reigneth in the neck, & in the throat.
proper noun
- A surname transferred from the nickname derived from the name of the animal.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: pig, crap, fuzz, waffle, bullshit, shit, dogshit, buncombe, cop, bunk, strapper, rot, copper, horseshit, rising, hogwash
Translations
Every language
noun adult male animal
| 한국어 | 수컷 sukeot |
|---|---|
| Português | macho |
| Français | mâle |
| Deutsch | Bulle, Stier |
| Italiano | maschio |
| Ελληνικά | βόδι vódi |
| Русский | саме́ц saméc |
noun uncastrated adult male bovine
| Español | toro |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 황소 hwangso |
| 日本語 | 雄牛 oushi, 牡牛 oushi |
| 中文 | 公牛 gōngniú, 特 tè |
| हिन्दी | सांड sāṇḍ, बैल bail, ऋषभ ŕṣabh |
| Kiswahili | fahali |
| Português | touro, toiro |
| Français | taureau |
| Deutsch | Bulle, Stier |
| Italiano | toro |
| Ελληνικά | ταύρος távros |
| Română | taur |
| Русский | бык byk |
| Tiếng Việt | bò đực |
| العربية | ثَوْر ṯawr |
| עברית | שור šor, פר par |
noun large, strong man
| Português | brutamontes |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Bulle |
| Ελληνικά | ταύρος távros, βόδι vódi, βούβαλος voúvalos |
| Русский | бык byk, буга́й bugáj, быча́ра byčára |
noun finance: investor who buys in anticipation of a rise in prices
| Deutsch | Bulle |
|---|---|
| Italiano | toro, rialzista |
| Русский | бык byk |
noun slang: policeman
| Español | poli, madero |
|---|---|
| Português | tira |
| Français | vache, bœuf, chien, poulet, cogne |
| Deutsch | Bulle, Bullette |
| Ελληνικά | μπάτσος bátsos, γουρούνι gouroúni, γουρουνάκι gourounáki |
| Русский | мент ment, ляга́вый ljagávyj, му́сор músor |
verb lie
| Español | mamar |
|---|
verb force oneself
| Português | forçar |
|---|
noun official document from the Pope
| Español | bula |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 불라 bulla |
| Português | bula |
| Français | bulle |
| Deutsch | Bulle |
| Italiano | bolla |
| Русский | бу́лла búlla |
| العربية | مَرْسُوم marsūm |
noun nonsense
| Español | bulo |
|---|---|
| Português | papo-furado, conversa fiada, besteira |
| Français | bêtises |
Talk about this word "bull." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bull. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. bull. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bull "bull." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bull.Cite this
@misc{bull_2026,
title = {bull},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bull},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
