cull

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To select and gather the best items from a larger group.

   The editor culled the finest poems from hundreds of submissions.

2. 2
   verb

   To kill selected animals in order to reduce a population.

   Officials decided to cull part of the deer herd to protect the forest.

3. 3
   noun

   An organized killing of selected animals.

   The badger cull provoked angry protests from animal rights groups.

From Middle English cullen, cuilen, coilen, from Old French cuillir (“collect, gather, select”), from Latin colligō (“gather together”). Doublet of coil.

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