Bull

Bull, bool, n. the male of the ox kind: an old male whale, fur-seal, &c.: a sign of the zodiac: one who tries artificially and unduly to raise the price of stocks, and speculates on a rise.—adj. denoting largeness of size—used in composition, as bull-trout: favourable to the bulls, rising.—v.t. to try to raise, as the price of shares, artificially: to copulate with a cow, of a bull.—v.i. to be in heat, of a cow.—ns. Bull′-baiting, the sport of baiting or exciting bulls with dogs; Bull′-bat (U.S.), the night-hawk or goat-sucker; Bull′-beef, the beef or flesh of bulls, coarse beef: (Shak., in pl.) Bull′-beeves; Bull′-begg′ar, a hobgoblin, &c.; Bull′-calf, a male calf: a stupid fellow, a lout; Bull′-dance, a dance of men only; Bull′dog, a breed of dogs of great courage, formerly used for baiting bulls, its general appearance that of a smooth-coated, compact dog, low in stature, but broad and powerful, with a massive head, large in proportion to its body: a person of obstinate courage: a short-barrelled revolver of large calibre: a proctor's attendant at Oxford and Cambridge.—v.t. Bull′-dose (U.S.) to intimidate, bully: flog.—n. Bull′-dōs′er.—adj. Bull′-faced, having a large face.—ns. Bull′-fight, a popular spectacle in Spain, in which a bull is goaded to fury in a kind of circus by mounted picadores armed with lances, and finally despatched by a specially skilful espada or swordsman; Bull′-fight′er; Bull′-finch, a species of red-breasted finch a little larger than the common linnet, closely allied to the grossbeaks and crossbills: a kind of hedge hard to jump; Bull′-frog, a large North American frog.—adj. Bull′-front′ed, having a front or forehead like a bull.—n. Bull′-head, or Miller's Thumb, a small river fish remarkable for its large, flat head.—adj. Bull′-head′ed, impetuous and obstinate.—n. Bull′-head′edness.—adj. Bull′ish.—ns. Bull′ock, an ox or castrated bull; Bull′-roar′er, a provincial English name for a boy's plaything, made of an oblong piece of wood, to one end of which a string is tied, then twisted tightly round the finger, when the whole is whirled rapidly round and round until a loud and peculiar whirring noise is produced—the native Australian turndun, the rhombos of the Greek mysteries; Bull's′-eye, the central boss formed in making a sheet of blown glass (hence adj. Bull's′-eyed), a round piece of glass in a lantern, a policeman's lantern, a round opening or window: the centre of a target, of a different colour from the rest, and usually round: a thick lump of coloured or striped candy; Bull′-terr′ier, a species of dog, a cross-breed between the bulldog and the terrier; Bull′-trout, a large trout of the salmon genus, also migratory in its habits, often called the Gray Trout; Bull′-whack, a heavy whip.—v.t. to lash with such.—n. Bull′wort, the bishop's weed.—Bull into, to plunge hastily into.—A bull in a china-shop, a synonym for a man who does harm through ignorance or fury, a man completely out of place.—Take the bull by the horns, to face a danger or difficulty with courage, to take the initiative boldly in a struggle. [M.E. bole, prob. Scand. bole, boli; most prob. cog. with Bellow.]