bull definition | Dictionary.com

Synonyms

Nearby Entries

bull - 24 dictionary results

bull

1 [boo

Use bull in a Sentence

–noun

1.	the male of a bovine animal, esp. of the genus Bos, with sexual organs intact and capable of reproduction.

2.	the male of certain other animals, as the elephant and moose.

3.	a large, solidly built person.

4.	a person who believes that market prices, esp. of stocks, will increase (opposed to bear ).

5.	(initial capital letter) Astronomy, Astrology. the constellation or sign of Taurus.

6.	a bulldog.

7.	Slang. a police officer.

–adjective

male.

9.	of, pertaining to, or resembling a bull, as in strength.

10.	having to do with or marked by a continuous trend of rising prices, as of stocks: a bull market.

–verb (used with object)

11.	Stock Exchange. to attempt to raise the price of.

12.	to speculate in, in expectation of a rise in price.

13.	to force; shove: to bull one's way through a crowd.

14.	Nautical. to ram (a buoy).

—Idioms

15.

bull in a china shop,

a.	an awkward or clumsy person.

b.	an inconsiderate or tactless person.

c.	a troublemaker; dangerous person.

16.	take the bull by the horns, to attack a difficult or risky problem fearlessly.

Origin:
1150–1200; ME bule, OE bula; akin to ON boli; see bullock

Related forms:

bull-like, adjective

bull

2 [boo

–noun

1.	a bulla or seal.

2.	Roman Catholic Church. a formal papal document having a bulla attached.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME bulle < AF < ML bulla seal, sealed document; see bulla

bull

3 [boo

–noun Slang.

1.	exaggerations; lies; nonsense.

—Idiom

2.	shoot the bull, to talk aimlessly: We just sat around shooting the bull.

Origin:
1620–30; < ML bulla play, game, jest, perh. special use of L bulla bubble; now generally taken as a euphemistic shortening of bullshit

Bull

[boo

–noun

John. John Bull.

Bull

[bool]

–noun

O⋅le (Bor⋅ne⋅mann) [oh-luh bor-nuh-mahn]

, 1810–80, Norwegian violinist and composer.

bull.

bulletin.

Hal⋅sey

[hawl-zee]

–noun

William Frederick (“Bull”

), 1882–1959, U.S. admiral.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source

Link To bull

bull¹ (bŏŏl)

1. An adult male bovine mammal.
2. The uncastrated adult male of domestic cattle.
3. The male of certain other large animals, such as the alligator, elephant, or moose.
4. An optimist, especially regarding business conditions.
5. A person who buys commodities or securities in anticipation of a rise in prices or who tries by speculative purchases to effect such a rise.
6. Foolish, deceitful, or boastful language.
7. Insolent talk or behavior.
An exceptionally large, strong, and aggressive person.
1. An optimist, especially regarding business conditions.
2. A person who buys commodities or securities in anticipation of a rise in prices or who tries by speculative purchases to effect such a rise.
3. Foolish, deceitful, or boastful language.
4. Insolent talk or behavior.
Slang A police officer or detective.
Slang
1. Foolish, deceitful, or boastful language.
2. Insolent talk or behavior.

v.   bulled, bull·ing, bulls

v.   tr.
To push; force.
v.   intr.
To push ahead or through forcefully: "He bulls through the press horde that encircles the car" (Scott Turow).
adj.

Male.
Large and strong like a bull.
Characterized by rising prices: a bull market.

[Middle English bule, from Old English bula, probably from Old Norse boli; see bhel-² in Indo-European roots.]

bull² (bŏŏl)

An official document issued by the pope and sealed with a bulla.
The bulla used to seal such a document.

[Middle English bulle, from Old French, from Medieval Latin bulla; see bulla.]

bull³ (bŏŏl)

n. A gross blunder in logical speech or expression.

[Origin unknown.]

Bull (bŏŏl)

n. See Taurus.

Bull (bōōl, bŏŏl)

Norwegian violinist who toured extensively through the United States and attempted to found a Norwegian colony in Pennsylvania (1852).

Tau·rus (tôr'əs)

n. In all senses also called Bull.

A constellation in the Northern Hemisphere near Orion and Aries.
1. The second sign of the zodiac.
2. One who is born under this sign.

[Middle English, from Latin, bull, the constellation Taurus; see tauro- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Bull

Bull\, n. [OE. bule, bul, bole; akin to D. bul, G. bulle, Icel. boli, Lith. bullus, Lett. bollis, Russ. vol'; prob. fr. the root of AS. bellan, E. bellow.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) The male of any species of cattle (Bovid[ae]); hence, the male of any large quadruped, as the elephant; also, the male of the whale.

Note: The wild bull of the Old Testament is thought to be the oryx, a large species of antelope.

2. One who, or that which, resembles a bull in character or action. --Ps. xxii. 12.

3. (Astron.) (a) Taurus, the second of the twelve signs of the zodiac. (b) A constellation of the zodiac between Aries and Gemini. It contains the Pleiades.

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

4. (Stock Exchange) 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.

Bull baiting, the practice of baiting bulls, or rendering them furious, as by setting dogs to attack them.

John Bull, a humorous name for the English, collectively; also, an Englishman. "Good-looking young John Bull." --W. D.Howells.

To take the bull by the horns, to grapple with a difficulty instead of avoiding it.

Bull

Bull\, a. Of or pertaining to a bull; resembling a bull; male; large; fierce.

Bull bat (Zo["o]l.), the night hawk; -- so called from the loud noise it makes while feeding on the wing, in the evening.

Bull calf. (a) A stupid fellow.

Bull mackerel (Zo["o]l.), the chub mackerel.

Bull pump (Mining), a direct single-acting pumping engine, in which the steam cylinder is placed above the pump.

Bull snake (Zo["o]l.), the pine snake of the United States.

Bull stag, a castrated bull. See Stag.

Bull wheel, a wheel, or drum, on which a rope is wound for lifting heavy articles, as logs, the tools in well boring, etc.

Bull

Bull\, v. i. To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do. [Colloq.]

Bull

Bull\, v. t. (Stock Exchange) 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.

Bull

Bull\, n. [OE. bulle, fr. L. bulla bubble, stud, knob, LL., a seal or stamp: cf. F. bulle. Cf. Bull a writing, Bowl a ball, Boil, v. i.]

1. A seal. See Bulla.

2. 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.

A fresh bull of Leo's had declared how inflexible the court of Rome was in the point of abuses. --Atterbury.

3. 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.

And whereas the papist boasts himself to be a Roman Catholic, it is a mere contradiction, one of the pope's bulls, as if he should say universal particular; a Catholic schimatic. --Milton.

The Golden Bull, an edict or imperial constitution made by the emperor Charles IV. (1356), containing what became the fundamental law of the German empire; -- so called from its golden seal.

Syn: See Blunder.

Language Translation for : bull

Spanish: toro,

German: der Bulle,

Japanese: 雄牛

More Translations »

bull (1)

O.E. bula "a steer," or O.N. boli "bull," both from P.Gmc. *bullon- (cf. M.Du. bulle, Ger. Bulle), perhaps from a Gmc. verbal stem meaning "to roar," which survives is some Ger. dialects and perhaps in the first element of boulder (q.v.). The other possibility is that it is from PIE *bhel- "to inflate, swell" (the source also of the Gk. word for "whale;" see bole). An uncastrated male, reared for breeding, as opposed to a bullock or steer. Extended after 1615 to males of other large animals (elephant, alligator, whale, etc.). Stock market sense is from 1714. Bulldog is from 1500, perhaps from shape, perhaps originally used for baiting bulls; bullfrog is from 1738, on resemblance of voice. Bulldyke is from 1926 (see dyke). Bull's eye "center of a target" is from 1833. Bullpen in the baseball sense is first recorded 1915, perhaps from earlier slang meaning "temporary holding cell for prisoners" (1809). Phrase to take the bull by the horns first recorded 1711.

bull (2)

"papal edict," 1297, from L. bulla "sealed document," originally the word for the seal itself, from bulla "round thing, knob," said to be ult. from Gaulish, from PIE *bul- (cf. Lith. bule "buttocks," M.Du. puyl "bag").

Bull

An investor who thinks the market, a specific security or an industry will rise.

Investopedia Commentary

Bulls are optimistic investors who are presently predicting good things for the market, and are attempting to profit from this upward movement. For example if you are bullish on the S&P 500 you will attempt to profit from a rise in the index by going long on it. Bulls are are the exact opposite of the market's bears, who are pessimistic and believe that a particular security, commodity or entity will suffer a decline in price.

Bullishness does not necessarily apply only to the stock market you could for example be bullish on just about anything, including commodities like soy beans, crude oil or even peanuts.

See also: Bear, Bear Market, Bull, Bull Market, Commodity, Long, S&P 500

bull

An investor who believes the price of a particular security or security prices in general will follow a broad upward trend. An investor can often be a bull on a specific security but not on the general market, and vice versa. Compare bear.

Bull
Bull Information Systems

bull

In addition to the idioms beginning with bull, also see cock and bull story; hit the bull's-eye; shoot the breeze (bull); take the bull by the horns.

Search another word or see bull on Thesaurus | Reference

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Advertise with Us · Link to Us · NASCAR® · Contact Us