What does bull mean?

Definitions for bull
ˈbʊlˌʃɪtbull

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word bull.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. bullnoun

    uncastrated adult male of domestic cattle

  2. bull, bruiser, strapper, Samsonnoun

    a large and strong and heavyset man

    "he was a bull of a man"; "a thick-skinned bruiser ready to give as good as he got"

  3. bullshit, bull, Irish bull, horseshit, shit, crap, dogshitnoun

    obscene words for unacceptable behavior

    "I put up with a lot of bullshit from that jerk"; "what he said was mostly bull"

  4. bullnoun

    a serious and ludicrous blunder

    "he made a bad bull of the assignment"

  5. bull, cop, copper, fuzz, pignoun

    uncomplimentary terms for a policeman

  6. bullnoun

    an investor with an optimistic market outlook; an investor who expects prices to rise and so buys now for resale later

  7. Taurus, Bullnoun

    (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Taurus

  8. Taurus, Taurus the Bull, Bullnoun

    the second sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about April 20 to May 20

  9. bull's eye, bullnoun

    the center of a target

  10. bull, papal bullnoun

    a formal proclamation issued by the pope (usually written in antiquated characters and sealed with a leaden bulla)

  11. bullverb

    mature male of various mammals of which the female is called `cow'; e.g. whales or elephants or especially cattle

  12. bull, bull throughverb

    push or force

    "He bulled through his demands"

  13. bullverb

    try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying

  14. talk through one's hat, bullshit, bull, fakeverb

    speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths

    "The politician was not well prepared for the debate and faked it"

  15. bullverb

    advance in price

    "stocks were bulling"

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Bull

    in composition, generally notes the large size of any thing, as bull-head, bulrush, bull-trout; and is therefore only an inclusive particle, without much reference to its original signification.

  2. BULLnoun

    Etymology: bulle, Dutch.

    A proper gentlewoman, Sir, and a kinswoman of my master’s. —— Even such kin as the parish heifers are to the town bull. William Shakespeare, Henry IV. p. ii.

    Bulls are more crisp upon the forehead than cows. Francis Bacon.

    Best age to go to bull, or calve, we hold,
    Begins at four, and ends at ten years old. Thomas May, Virgil.

    The nobler herds,
    Where round the lordly bull, in rural ease,
    They ruminating lie. James Thomson, Summer, l. 920.

    Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. Psalm xxii. 12.

    At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun,
    And the bright Bull receives him. James Thomson, Spring.

    A bull is letters called apostolick by the canonists, strengthened with a leaden seal, and containing in them the decrees and commandments of the pope or bishop of Rome. John Ayliffe.

    There was another sort of ornament wore by the young nobility, called bullæ; round, or of the figure of a heart, hung about their necks like diamond crosses. Those bullæ came afterwards to be hung to the diplomas of the emperours and popes, from whence they had the name of bulls. Arbuthnot.

    It was not till after a fresh bull of Leo’s had declared how inflexible the court of Rome was in the point of abuses. Francis Atterbury.

    I confess it is what the English call a bull, in the expression, though the sense be manifest enough. Alexander Pope, Letters.

Wikipedia

  1. Bull

    A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species Bos taurus (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the female of the species, the cow, the bull has long been an important symbol in many cultures, and plays a significant role in both beef ranching and dairy farming, and in a variety of other cultural activities.

ChatGPT

  1. bull

    A bull is a male mature bovine animal, often used in the context of cattle, that is used for breeding and meat production. It is known for its strength, aggressiveness, and virility. The term 'bull' is also used in various contexts such as finance, where a 'bull market' refers to a financial market in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. In sports, 'bull' is a term used in darts and bullfighting.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Bullnoun

    the male of any species of cattle (Bovidae); hence, the male of any large quadruped, as the elephant; also, the male of the whale

  2. Bullnoun

    one who, or that which, resembles a bull in character or action

  3. Bullnoun

    taurus, the second of the twelve signs of the zodiac

  4. Bullnoun

    a constellation of the zodiac between Aries and Gemini. It contains the Pleiades

  5. Bullnoun

    one who operates in expectation of a rise in the price of stocks, or in order to effect such a rise. See 4th Bear, n., 5

  6. Bulladjective

    of or pertaining to a bull; resembling a bull; male; large; fierce

  7. Bullverb

    to be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do

  8. Bullverb

    to endeavor to raise the market price of; as, to bull railroad bonds; to bull stocks; to bull Lake Shore; to endeavor to raise prices in; as, to bull the market. See 1st Bull, n., 4

  9. Bullverb

    a seal. See Bulla

  10. Bullverb

    a letter, edict, or respect, of the pope, written in Gothic characters on rough parchment, sealed with a bulla, and dated "a die Incarnationis," i. e., "from the day of the Incarnation." See Apostolical brief, under Brief

  11. Bullverb

    a grotesque blunder in language; an apparent congruity, but real incongruity, of ideas, contained in a form of expression; so called, perhaps, from the apparent incongruity between the dictatorial nature of the pope's bulls and his professions of humility

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Bull

    bool, n. the male of the ox kind: an old male whale, fur-seal, &c.: a sign of the zodiac: one who tries artificially and unduly to raise the price of stocks, and speculates on a rise.—adj. denoting largeness of size—used in composition, as bull-trout: favourable to the bulls, rising.—v.t. to try to raise, as the price of shares, artificially: to copulate with a cow, of a bull.—v.i. to be in heat, of a cow.—ns. Bull′-baiting, the sport of baiting or exciting bulls with dogs; Bull′-bat (U.S.), the night-hawk or goat-sucker; Bull′-beef, the beef or flesh of bulls, coarse beef: (Shak., in pl.) Bull′-beeves; Bull′-begg′ar, a hobgoblin, &c.; Bull′-calf, a male calf: a stupid fellow, a lout; Bull′-dance, a dance of men only; Bull′dog, a breed of dogs of great courage, formerly used for baiting bulls, its general appearance that of a smooth-coated, compact dog, low in stature, but broad and powerful, with a massive head, large in proportion to its body: a person of obstinate courage: a short-barrelled revolver of large calibre: a proctor's attendant at Oxford and Cambridge.—v.t. Bull′-dose (U.S.) to intimidate, bully: flog.—n. Bull′-dōs′er.—adj. Bull′-faced, having a large face.—ns. Bull′-fight, a popular spectacle in Spain, in which a bull is goaded to fury in a kind of circus by mounted picadores armed with lances, and finally despatched by a specially skilful espada or swordsman; Bull′-fight′er; Bull′-finch, a species of red-breasted finch a little larger than the common linnet, closely allied to the grossbeaks and crossbills: a kind of hedge hard to jump; Bull′-frog, a large North American frog.—adj. Bull′-front′ed, having a front or forehead like a bull.—n. Bull′-head, or Miller's Thumb, a small river fish remarkable for its large, flat head.—adj. Bull′-head′ed, impetuous and obstinate.—n. Bull′-head′edness.—adj. Bull′ish.—ns. Bull′ock, an ox or castrated bull; Bull′-roar′er, a provincial English name for a boy's plaything, made of an oblong piece of wood, to one end of which a string is tied, then twisted tightly round the finger, when the whole is whirled rapidly round and round until a loud and peculiar whirring noise is produced—the native Australian turndun, the rhombos of the Greek mysteries; Bull's′-eye, the central boss formed in making a sheet of blown glass (hence adj. Bull's′-eyed), a round piece of glass in a lantern, a policeman's lantern, a round opening or window: the centre of a target, of a different colour from the rest, and usually round: a thick lump of coloured or striped candy; Bull′-terr′ier, a species of dog, a cross-breed between the bulldog and the terrier; Bull′-trout, a large trout of the salmon genus, also migratory in its habits, often called the Gray Trout; Bull′-whack, a heavy whip.—v.t. to lash with such.—n. Bull′wort, the bishop's weed.—Bull into, to plunge hastily into.—A bull in a china-shop, a synonym for a man who does harm through ignorance or fury, a man completely out of place.—Take the bull by the horns, to face a danger or difficulty with courage, to take the initiative boldly in a struggle. [M.E. bole, prob. Scand. bole, boli; most prob. cog. with Bellow.]

  2. Bull

    bool, n. an edict of the pope which has his seal affixed.—adj. Bullan′ticn. Bull′ary, a collection of papal bulls. [L. bulla, a knob, a leaden seal.]

  3. Bull

    bool, n. a ludicrous blunder in speech implying some obvious absurdity or contradiction, often said to be an especial prerogative of Irishmen—'I was a fine child, but they changed me.' [Prob. O. Fr. boul, cheat.]

  4. Bull

    bool, n. drink made by pouring water into a cask that had held liquor.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Bull

    an edict of the Pope, so called from a leaden seal attached to it.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. bull

    An old male whale. Also, a small keg; also the weak grog made by pouring water into a spirit-cask nearly empty.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. bull

    A fort which the English possessed in Canada, and which constituted one of their military depots; it was captured by the French, March 27, 1756.

Suggested Resources

  1. bull

    The bull symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the bull symbol and its characteristic.

  2. BULL

    What does BULL stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the BULL acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Etymology and Origins

  1. Bull

    A papal edict, so called on account of the bulla, or seal.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. BULL

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bull is ranked #3088 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Bull surname appeared 11,646 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 would have the surname Bull.

    86.1% or 10,030 total occurrences were White.
    8.2% or 965 total occurrences were Black.
    2.5% or 296 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.2% or 143 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    1.1% or 139 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    0.6% or 72 total occurrences were Asian.

British National Corpus

  1. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'bull' in Nouns Frequency: #2729

How to pronounce bull?

How to say bull in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of bull in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of bull in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of bull in a Sentence

  1. Bobby Awadalla:

    If we can make skin care as easy and delicious as drinking a Red Bull, I thought, people would use it more, people resist putting cream on their skin because they don’t like the greasy feel and smell. Athletes don’t like sunscreen dripping in their eyes.

  2. Fox News:

    Talk about a year ago and working with Republicans, now he is talking about Republicans that don't agree with voting rights – he's describing them as George Wallace, Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis, what happened to the guy who when he was elected said, ‘To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy?'.

  3. Jeffrey Saut:

    I think we are in a secular bull market that has another eight to 10 years ahead of it.

  4. Koeberle Bull:

    I thought,' they're not gon na care about my three black kids from New Jersey,' and this community genuinely did care about my kids, if Koeberle Bull see something, say something -- I never took that as seriously as I do now, and now I know that it matters.

  5. James Abate:

    To me, this continues to be a counter-trend rally in the context of an intermediate to longer-term decline in the stock market. Our view is that this is nowhere near the resumption of a bull market.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

bull#1#6069#10000

Translations for bull

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"bull." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/bull>.

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