bull
To force oneself; to move aggressivelyTo force oneself (in a particular direction); to move aggressively.
» Tom wants to ride a bull.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
9 senses(intransitive, often)To force oneself (in a particular direction); to move aggressively.
He bulled his way in.
(intransitive)To be in heat; to be ready for mating with a bull.
(transitive)To mate with (a cow or heifer).
(transitive)To endeavour to raise the market price of.
to bull railroad bonds
try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying
(transitive)To endeavour to raise prices in.
to bull the market
(dated)To publish in a papal bull.
To mock; to cheat.
(intransitive)To lie, to tell untruths.
(UK, transitive)To polish (boots) to a high shine.
Examples
136 sentencesTom wants to ride a bull.
Tom wanted to ride a bull.
Tom was killed by a bull.
Don't let the bull gore you.
Most people think that pit bulls are dangerous.
Translations
2 languagesOrigin
From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”)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.
From Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and bulla.
From Middle English bull, bul, boule (“falsehood, deceit”), probably from Old French boul, boule, bole (“fraud, deceit, cunning”), from Old French bouler, boler (“to deceive, delude, lure, take in”), from Middle Low German bôlen (“to court, to woo”). Cognate with German buhlen (“to woo”). Doublet of bully.
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Forms
bulls, bulling, bulled, bulledSynonyms
3 synonyms- push or force:bull through
- speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths:talk through one's hatfake
Word family
100 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle