bull·doze

[bool-dohz] verb, bull·dozed, bull·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.
00:10
Bulldoze is one of our favorite verbs.
So is fletcherise. Does it mean:
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
bulldoze (ˈbʊlˌdəʊz) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
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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Example sentences
Then, bulldoze across the rows starting at the pond center, moving toward the
  nearer levee.
Elephants are strong enough to bulldoze entire trees and you might think that
  there can be no defence against such brute strength.
There is no intention to bulldoze, with the exception of the road.
He did not plant large expanses of lawn, bulldoze the site to make it level, or
  cut down many trees.
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