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bulldoze

 - 4 dictionary results

bull⋅doze

  [bool-dohz] verb, -dozed, -doz⋅ing.
Use bulldoze in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to clear, level, or reshape the contours of (land) by or as if by using a bulldozer: to bulldoze a building site.
2. to clear away by or as if by using a bulldozer: to bulldoze trees from a site.
3. to coerce or intimidate, as with threats.
–verb (used without object)
4. to use a bulldozer: To clear this rubble away we may have to bulldoze.
5. to advance or force one's way in the manner of a bulldozer.
Origin:
1875–80, Americanism; orig. uncert.; the notion that it represents a v. use of bull dose, i.e., a dose fit for a bull, is prob. specious; defs. 1, 2, 4, 5 are back formations from bulldozer tractor

Synonyms:
3. browbeat, cow, bully, hector; tyrannize.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bulldoze
bull·doze   (bŏŏl'dōz')   
v.   bull·dozed, bull·doz·ing, bull·dozes

v.   tr.

  1. To clear, dig up, or move with a bulldozer.

  2. To treat in an abusive manner; bully.

  3. To coerce in an unsympathetic or cruel way. See Synonyms at intimidate.

  4. To do away with; demolish: "A massive bipartisan majority voted . . . to bulldoze the social programs of decades in the next 30 days" (Peter Goldman).

v.   intr.

  1. To operate a bulldozer.

  2. To proceed forcefully or insensitively: "intends to bulldoze ahead with plans for extensive reconstruction" (New York Times).


[Perhaps from alteration of obsolete bulldose, severe beating : bull1 + dose.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
bulldoze

  1. tv.
    to apply pressure or force to get someone to do something. : You think you can bulldoze people into doing what you want!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

bulldoze 
1876, originally bulldose "a severe beating or lashing," lit. "a dose fit for a bull," a slang word referring to the beating of black voters (by either blacks or whites) in the 1876 U.S. presidential election. A bulldozer was a person who intimidates by violence until the meaning was extended to ground-clearing caterpillar tractor in 1930.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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