Dictionary-Definition.com :: Bull definition

Definition of 'Bull'

From: GCIDE

Bull \Bull\, a. Of or pertaining to a bull; resembling a bull; male; large; fierce. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Bull \Bull\, v. i. To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

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. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
A fresh bull of Leo's had declared how inflexible the court of Rome was in the point of abuses. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
Syn: See Blunder. [1913 Webster]