From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bull \Bull\, n. [OE. bule, bul, bole; akin to D. bul, G. bulle,
Icel. boli, Lith. bullus, Lett. bollis, Russ. vol'; prob. fr.
the root of AS. bellan, E. bellow.]
1. (Zool.) The male of any species of cattle (Bovid[ae]);
hence, the male of any large quadruped, as the elephant;
also, the male of the whale.
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Note: The wild bull of the Old Testament is thought to be the
oryx, a large species of antelope.
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2. One who, or that which, resembles a bull in character or
action. --Ps. xxii. 12.
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3. (Astron.)
(a) Taurus, the second of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
(b) A constellation of the zodiac between Aries and
Gemini. It contains the Pleiades.
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At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun,
And the bright Bull receives him. --Thomson.
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4. (Stock Exchange) One who operates in expectation of a rise
in the price of stocks, or in order to effect such a rise.
See 4th Bear, n., 5.
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5. a ludicrously false statement; nonsense. Also used as an
expletive. [vulgar]
Syn: bullshit, Irish bull, horseshit, shit, crap, crapola,
bunk, bunkum, buncombe, guff, nonsense, rot, tommyrot,
balderdash, hogwash, dogshit.
[WordNet 1.5]
Bull baiting, the practice of baiting bulls, or rendering
them furious, as by setting dogs to attack them.
John Bull, a humorous name for the English, collectively;
also, an Englishman. "Good-looking young John Bull." --W.
D.Howells.
To take the bull by the horns, to grapple with a difficulty
instead of avoiding it.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bull \Bull\, a.
Of or pertaining to a bull; resembling a bull; male; large;
fierce.
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Bull bat (Zool.), the night hawk; -- so called from the
loud noise it makes while feeding on the wing, in the
evening.
Bull calf.
(a) A stupid fellow.
Bull mackerel (Zool.), the chub mackerel.
Bull pump (Mining), a direct single-acting pumping engine,
in which the steam cylinder is placed above the pump.
Bull snake (Zool.), the pine snake of the United States.
Bull stag, a castrated bull. See Stag.
Bull wheel, a wheel, or drum, on which a rope is wound for
lifting heavy articles, as logs, the tools in well boring,
etc.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bull \Bull\, v. i.
To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.
[Colloq.]
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bull \Bull\, v. t. (Stock Exchange)
To endeavor to raise the market price of; as, to bull
railroad bonds; to bull stocks; to bull Lake Shore; to
endeavor to raise prices in; as, to bull the market. See 1st
Bull, n., 4.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bull \Bull\, n. [OE. bulle, fr. L. bulla bubble, stud, knob,
LL., a seal or stamp: cf. F. bulle. Cf. Bull a writing,
Bowl a ball, Boil, v. i.]
1. A seal. See Bulla.
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2. A letter, edict, or respect, of the pope, written in
Gothic characters on rough parchment, sealed with a bulla,
and dated "a die Incarnationis," i. e., "from the day of
the Incarnation." See Apostolical brief, under Brief.
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A fresh bull of Leo's had declared how inflexible
the court of Rome was in the point of abuses.
--Atterbury.
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3. A grotesque blunder in language; an apparent congruity,
but real incongruity, of ideas, contained in a form of
expression; so called, perhaps, from the apparent
incongruity between the dictatorial nature of the pope's
bulls and his professions of humility.
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And whereas the papist boasts himself to be a Roman
Catholic, it is a mere contradiction, one of the
pope's bulls, as if he should say universal
particular; a Catholic schimatic. --Milton.
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The Golden Bull, an edict or imperial constitution made by
the emperor Charles IV. (1356), containing what became the
fundamental law of the German empire; -- so called from
its golden seal.
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Syn: See Blunder.
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