Nearby Words

bulldoze

[bool-dohz] Origin

bull·doze

[bool-dohz] verb, -dozed, -doz·ing.
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.

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Bulldoze is one of our favorite verbs.
So is lollygag. Does it mean:
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.
to spend time idly; loaf.

Origin:
1875–80, Americanism; origin uncertain; the notion that it represents a v. use of bull dose, i.e., a dose fit for a bull, is probably specious; defs. 1, 2, 4, 5 are back formations from bulldozer tractor


3. browbeat, cow, bully, hector; tyrannize.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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World English Dictionary
bulldoze (ˈbʊlˌdəʊz)
 
vb
1.  to move, demolish, flatten, etc, with a bulldozer
2.  informal to force; push: he bulldozed his way through the crowd
3.  informal to intimidate or coerce
 
[C19: probably from bull1 + dose]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bulldoze
1876, originally a noun, bulldose "a severe beating or lashing," lit. "a dose fit for a bull," a slang word referring to the intimidation beating of black voters (by either blacks or whites) in the chaotic 1876 U.S. presidential election. As a verb, by 1880.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

bulldoze definition


  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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