bull

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a serious and ludicrous blunder

   They sure made a bad bull of the assignment!

2. 2
   noun

   obscene words for unacceptable behavior

   I put up with a lot of bullshit from that jerk

3. 3
   noun

   a formal proclamation issued by the pope, usually written in antiquated characters and sealed with a leaden bulla

   The papal bull condemned the military intervention.

4. 4
   noun

   a large,strong and heavyset person

   They were a bull of a sawyer.

5. 5
   verb

   to advance in price

   Stocks were bulling last week.

6. 6
   verb

   to speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths

   Without any evidence, I had to bull to try and make people believe me.

7. 7
   verb

   to try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying

   The fast rise in price made me suspect someone is trying to bull the market.

8. 8
   verb

   to push or force

   They bulled through their demands.

Etymology

From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no-, from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Albanian bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”). Of sense 11, (a man or boy), derived from the Philadelphia English pronunciation of boy, which is practically a homophone of bull.