Definition of "bull"

bull¹

/ˈbʊl/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural bulls
1. An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
  1. Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
  2. (loosely) Any bovine of an aggressive or long-horned breed regardless of age and sex.
2. A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
3. Any adult male bovine.
4. An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.
5. A large, strong man.
6. (finance) An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
  Quotations
  This accompt has been made to appear a bull accompt, i.e. that the bulls cannot take their stock. The fact is the reverse; it is a bear accompt, but the bears, unable to deliver their stock, have conjointly banged the market, and pocketed the tickets, to defeat the rise and loss that would have ensued to them by their buying on a rising price on the accompt day […]
  1821, Bank of England, The Bank - The Stock Exchange - The Bankers ..., page 64
  Bulls are hoping the prosecutions draw a line under the sector's troubled past and will allow it to tap billions of dollars of cash from Wall Street.
  2023 December 9, Scott Chipolina, “Unlikely resurgence for bitcoin as bulls bet on Wall Street adoption”, in FT Weekend, Companies & Markets, page 15
7. (US, slang) A policeman; a detective; a railroad security guard.
  Quotations
  You never waited until the train stopped to get off. The railroad bulls were waiting at the stops searching for freeloaders.
  2021, Rickie Lee Jones, Last Chance Texaco, Grive Press 2022, p. 93
  The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
  1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, page 01
8. (LGBT, slang) An elderly lesbian.
9. (UK, historical, obsolete slang) A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.
  Quotations
  Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.
  1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words
10. (UK) Clipping of bullseye.
  Quotations
  A second good game was to cannon one galloping camel with another, and crash it into a near tree. Either the tree went down (valley trees in the light Hejaz soil were notably unstable things) or the rider was scratched and torn; or, best of all, he was swept quite out of his saddle, and left impaled on a thorny branch, if not dropped violently to the ground. This counted as a bull, and was very popular with everyone but him.
  1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 219
  1. (military, firearms) The central portion of a target, inside the inner and magpie.
11. (Philadelphia, slang) A man or boy (derived from the Philadelphia English pronunciation of “boy”, which is practically a homophone of “bull”)
12. (uncountable, informal, euphemistic, slang) Clipping of bullshit.
13. A man who has sex with someone else's partner, with the consent of both.
  Quotations
  The Vixen, often known as ‘Hotwife’, has sex with the encouragement of her husband or boyfriend with the Bull (that’s the guy who is servicing her). Another scenario is that the Vixen has sex with a Bull outside of the couple’s shared abode. Then she comes home and recounts all the details in a blow-by-blow description to turn the Stag on.
  2018 June 1, Holly O'Mahony, “‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding”, in The Sun‎
14. (obsolete) A drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor.
15. (slang, uncountable) Beef.
  Quotations
  Meanwhile the Tommies had discovered several large tins of ham in the captured lorry. 'That,' said the big Nazi, 'is for our tea.' 'No,' said a Tommy sergeant-major. 'That's for our tea. For you, chummy, we've kept a nice bit of bull.'
  1949, Stephen Peter Llewellyn, Journey Towards Christmas, page 142
adjective
not comparable
1. Large and strong, like a bull.
2. (attributive, of large mammals) Adult male.
3. (finance) Of a market in which prices are rising (compare bear).
4. Stupid.
verb
third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled
1. (intransitive, often with into or through) To force oneself (in a particular direction).
2. (agriculture, intransitive, of a cow or heifer) To be in heat; to be ready for mating with a bull.
3. (agriculture, transitive, of a bull) To mate with (a cow or heifer).
4. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise the market price of.
5. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise prices in.

bull²

/ˈbʊl/

noun
plural bulls
1. A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
2. A seal affixed to a document, especially a document from the Pope.
verb
third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled
1. (dated, 17th century) to publish in a Papal bull

bull³

/ˈbʊl/

noun
uncountable
1. A lie.
2. (euphemistic, informal) Nonsense.
verb
third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled
1. To mock; to cheat.
2. (intransitive) To lie, to tell untruths.
3. (UK, military) To polish boots to a high shine.

bull⁴

/ˈbʊl/

noun
plural bulls
1. (obsolete) A bubble.

Definition of "bull"

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bull2

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