Library / English Dictionary

BULL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A serious and ludicrous blunder

Example:

he made a bad bull of the assignment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

bloomer; blooper; blunder; boner; boo-boo; botch; bungle; flub; foul-up; fuckup; pratfall (an embarrassing mistake)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

eutherian; eutherian mammal; placental; placental mammal (mammals having a placenta; all mammals except monotremes and marsupials)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Uncastrated adult male of domestic cattle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

Bos taurus; cattle; cows; kine; oxen (domesticated bovine animals as a group regardless of sex or age)

Meronyms (parts of "bull"):

horn (one of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bull"):

bullock (young bull)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Obscene words for unacceptable behavior

Example:

what he said was mostly bull

Synonyms:

bull; bullshit; crap; dogshit; horseshit; Irish bull; shit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

buncombe; bunk; bunkum; guff; hogwash; rot (unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements))

Domain usage:

dirty word; filth; obscenity; smut; vulgarism (an offensive or indecent word or phrase)

Derivation:

bull (speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths)

Sense 5

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

bull; papal bull

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

decree; edict; fiat; order; rescript (a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge))

Sense 6

Meaning:

The center of a target

Synonyms:

bull; bull's eye

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

center; centre; midpoint (a point equidistant from the ends of a line or the extremities of a figure)

Holonyms ("bull" is a part of...):

mark; target (a reference point to shoot at)

Sense 7

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

Bull; Taurus; Taurus the Bull

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

house; mansion; planetary house; sign; sign of the zodiac; star sign ((astrology) one of 12 equal areas into which the zodiac is divided)

Sense 8

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

Bull; Taurus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Bull" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Domain category:

astrology; star divination (a pseudoscience claiming divination by the positions of the planets and sun and moon)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A large and strong and heavyset man

Example:

a thick-skinned bruiser ready to give as good as he got

Synonyms:

bruiser; bull; Samson; strapper

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

adult male; man (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman))

Sense 10

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

investor (someone who commits capital in order to gain financial returns)

Antonym:

bear (an investor with a pessimistic market outlook; an investor who expects prices to fall and so sells now in order to buy later at a lower price)

Derivation:

bull (advance in price)

bull (try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying)

Sense 11

Meaning:

Uncomplimentary terms for a policeman

Synonyms:

bull; cop; copper; fuzz; pig

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("bull" is a kind of...):

officer; police officer; policeman (a member of a police force)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Advance in price

Example:

stocks were bulling

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bull" is one way to...):

climb; go up; rise (increase in value or to a higher point)

Verb group:

bull (try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths

Example:

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

Synonyms:

bull; bullshit; fake; talk through one's hat

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "bull" is one way to...):

affect; dissemble; feign; pretend; sham (make believe with the intent to deceive)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s on something

Derivation:

bull (obscene words for unacceptable behavior)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "bull" is one way to...):

job; speculate (invest at a risk)

Verb group:

bull (advance in price)

Domain category:

investing; investment (the act of investing; laying out money or capital in an enterprise with the expectation of profit)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Push or force

Example:

He bulled through his demands

Synonyms:

bull; bull through

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "bull" is one way to...):

bear on; push (press, drive, or impel (someone) to action or completion of an action)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

A skin and mucous membrane disease characterized by an eruption of macules, papules, nodules, vesicles, and/or bullae with characteristic bull's-eye lesions usually occurring on the dorsal aspect of the hands and forearms.

(Erythema Multiforme, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The first symptom is usually a rash, which may look like a bull's eye.

(Lyme Disease, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

There was a policeman not far off, advancing with his bull’s eye open; and at the sight, I thought my visitor started and made greater haste.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The Miniature Bull Terrier is a bull terrier with a height of 10-14 inches and a weight up to 24-33 pounds.

(Miniature Bull Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)

From the bull’s side, just forward of the flank, protruded a feathered arrow-end, which accounted for his savageness.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He's a true John Bull. Now, Miss Sallie, you shall have a chance without waiting to draw.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The bull weighed over eight hundred pounds—fully twenty pounds of meat per mouth for the forty-odd wolves of the pack.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I forget whether it was the Blue Bull, or the Blue Boar; but I know it was the Blue Something, and that its likeness was painted up on the back of the coach.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then we walked home with some, or rather many, stoppages to rest, and with our hearts full of a constant dread of wild bulls.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Challenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)