bull

BUUL/ˈbʊl/

29 meanings of bull

1
nouncountable or uncountable
A male of cattle or a related animal such as a bison or buffalo, especially an adult that has not been castrated.
The rancher paid more for a single prize bull than for twenty of his best cows.
Each spring the neighbor lends out his bull to breed the dairy herd down the road.
UsageSet phrases: like a bull in a china shop (clumsy) and take the bull by the horns (face a problem directly).
Oppositecow
Note
The Old English word could also mean a steer. In this strict use the two are opposites, because castration is exactly what turns a male calf into a steer rather than a bull.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Old English bula could mean a steer. en.wiktionary.org
Castration distinguishes a steer from a bull in the strict cattle terminology. nationalzoo.si.edu
2
rising marketadjective
Marked by rising prices, or by the expectation that prices will rise.
Stock prices nearly doubled over the long bull market that followed the recession.
Analysts warned that the bull run in copper could end as soon as demand slowed.
UsageGoes before a noun: a bull market, a bull run. The opposite is bear: a bear market.
Oppositebear
Note
What it describes is the direction and mood of trading rather than its size: prices are climbing and buyers expect the climb to go on. Its opposite is bear, as in a bear market, the same pairing that names the investors themselves.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
A bull market involves rising prices and optimistic expectations. investor.gov
A bear market is the opposite of a bull market. sec.gov.ng
3
investornouncountable or uncountable
An investor who buys commodities or securities in the expectation that their prices will rise.
She has been a bull on gold for years, buying more every time the price dips.
Bulls on Wall Street argue that the rally still has room to run.
UsageFollowed by on: a bull on gold, bulls on tech stocks. The opposite is a bear.
Oppositebear
Note
A market word for a stance rather than a job: you are a bull on gold, or on bitcoin, when you expect the price to climb and buy on that belief. Its opposite is bear, and the pairing is old; London traders of the early 1700s already called those who bought on credit bulls and short sellers bears.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
In early eighteenth-century London, traders called buyers on credit bulls and short sellers bears. en.wikipedia.org
4
nonsensenouncolloquialeuphemisticuncountable
Nonsense, or untrue talk meant to fool someone; a milder word for a ruder one.
Half of what gets posted on those health forums is pure bull.
The idea that you need to be rich to travel is bull, and she proved it.
Similarnonsense, rubbish, garbage, baloney, hogwash
5
Pope's ordernouncountable
An official document or decree issued by the Pope.
The Pope issued a bull declaring a new feast day for the whole Church.
Copies of the bull were read aloud in churches across Europe.
UsageUsually a papal bull.
Similardecree, edict
Note
The animal and the decree only share a spelling. This bull came into Middle English through Old French bulle from Latin bulla, a round swelling, a word possibly of Gaulish origin, and the same word sits behind the seal fixed to such documents.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The animal sense and the papal-document sense have distinct borrowing histories: Germanic for the animal, French and Latin for the document. en.wiktionary.org
The papal-document sense passed through Middle English and Old French from Latin bulla. en.wiktionary.org
Latin bulla meant a round swelling. en.wiktionary.org
The document and its attached seal derive their names from the same word. en.wikipedia.org
6
nouncountable or uncountable
The adult male of certain large mammals, including whales, elephants, camels and seals.
On the crowded seal beach, two bulls reared up and slammed their chests together.
A lone bull left the elephant herd and crossed the river at dusk.
Oppositecow
7
target centernounUKcountable or uncountable
The center of a target or dartboard, the bullseye; also a shot or throw that hits it.
Every one of her five rounds at a hundred yards went into the bull.
The sergeant studied the target: two shots in the magpie, one in the inner and none in the bull.
Similarbullseye
Note
In British target rifle shooting each scoring ring has a name: the bull is at the center, ringed first by the inner and then by the magpie. A shot is described by the zone it lands in: in the bull, in the inner, in the magpie. It is chiefly British, used on the range and at the darts board alike, and a shot or throw that lands there can itself be called a bull.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
Military rifle-target terminology places the bull inside the inner and magpie scoring zones. en.wiktionary.org
The bull is a central scoring area, but modern British target-rifle targets include a smaller V-bull inside it. nra.org.uk
8
male (before animal name)adjectivebefore a noun
Adult and male, said of a large mammal and placed before its name.
A bull elephant can be heard rumbling long before it comes into view.
With a deep grunt, the bull moose lowered its antlers and charged.
Similarmale
Oppositefemale
Note
It sits in front of an animal's name as a label, and it reaches well beyond cattle: Edgar Rice Burroughs writes of the snarl of "the bull ape" in The Return of Tarzan (1913). It does not compare and does not stand after its noun, so no elephant is "more bull" than another. When the species is already clear, the noun on its own does the same work.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
Edgar Rice Burroughs uses the words “the bull ape” in a description of a snarl in The Return of Tarzan. gutenberg.org
9
horned cattlenouncountable or uncountable
Loosely, any bovine of an aggressive or long-horned breed, whatever its age or sex.
Day-trippers to the ranch tend to call every longhorn a bull, though most of the herd are cows and calves.
The family has bred fighting bulls for three generations, and their heifers charge just as hard as the males.

Less common meanings

10
push throughverbintransitive
To force one's way forward, moving aggressively in a particular direction, often into or through something.
The fullback lowered his shoulder and bulled his way into the end zone.
Reporters tried to bull past the guards and into the courtroom.
UsageUsually bull your way somewhere, or bull through or into something: he bulled his way to the front.
Similarpush, force, barge, muscle, plow
Note
The picture is the animal's head-down charge, getting somewhere by weight and force rather than by finesse.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Bulls lower their heads to charge, providing the physical basis of the image. en.wikipedia.org
Bulls can move forcefully through obstacles because of their size and strength. extension.umn.edu
11
powerfuladjective
Big and powerfully strong, the way a bull is.
The new linebacker combines bull strength with surprisingly quick feet.
The bouncer's bull neck bulged above his collar as he folded his arms and blocked the door.
Similarbeefy, robust
Oppositeweak, puny, feeble
12
nouncountable or uncountable
A large, powerfully built man of great physical strength.
The bouncer was a bull of a man, with a neck as thick as a fence post.
The coach put his two biggest bulls on the front line to open holes for the runners.
Similarhulk, giant, bruiser
Oppositeweakling
13
mate with cowsverbtransitive
Of a bull, to mate with a cow or heifer.
Turned out with the herd in early summer, the young Angus had bulled nearly every heifer by August.
A healthy yearling can bull about twenty heifers in a single breeding season.
Similarbreed, serve, cover
14
police officernounslangUScountable or uncountable
A policeman or a detective, or a security guard employed by a railroad.
A railroad bull caught him asleep in an empty boxcar and threw him off at the next stop.
The bulls from the precinct came around twice asking who had fenced the jewelry.
Similarcop, policeman, detective
Note
American slang from the wrong side of the law names the police this way. In Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood's The Bat (1926), bulls sit beside stir and fence in the narration's underworld slang, and the railroad bull was the guard waiting at the stops for people riding the trains for free. It belongs to crime stories and casual speech, not to a plain report about the police.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Bull is American slang for a policeman, detective, or railroad security guard. en.wiktionary.org
The Bat appeared as a novel in 1926, credited to Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood. en.wikipedia.org
These words occur together in the narrator's description of the Bat, not in a thief's spoken dialogue. en.wikisource.org
Railroad bulls pursued people riding trains without paying, including at stops. gutenberg.org
15
push prices upverbtransitive
To try to raise the market price of something, such as stocks or bonds, or the level of prices in a market.
A group of speculators tried to bull the cotton market by buying every bale they could find.
Traders spent the week bulling railroad stocks ahead of the merger vote.
Similarboost, inflate
Oppositebear
Note
Here the investor's stance becomes something done to a price. To bull railroad bonds, or a whole market, is to work at pushing prices up, and the object is whatever is being pushed. The verb names the attempt, not the result: speculators can bull a market and still watch it fall, which is why it never simply means that prices rose.
16
tell liesverbintransitive
To tell untruths, saying things one knows to be false.
He was bulling about his war record, and everyone at the table knew it.
Some people bull just to make a story sound better.
Similarlie, fib
17
beefnounslanguncountable
Beef, the meat of cattle.
Similarbeef
Note
As slang for the meat, bull is uncountable like beef itself. In Stephen Peter Llewellyn's Journey Towards Christmas (1949), British soldiers keep the ham from a captured lorry for their own tea and leave a German "a nice bit of bull." Because the "nonsense" meaning is uncountable too, the food meaning needs a mess tin or a plate nearby before a listener hears meat rather than nonsense.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Stephen Peter Llewellyn wrote Journey Towards Christmas. awm.gov.au
Journey Towards Christmas was first published in 1949, as shown on its original title page. 22battalion.org.nz
The book describes British soldiers finding ham in a captured lorry and keeping it for their tea while reserving beef for a German prisoner. 22battalion.org.nz
The quoted words are spoken by a British sergeant-major to the German prisoner. 22battalion.org.nz
18
official sealnouncountable
A seal attached to a document, especially one issued by the Pope.
A round lead bull still hangs from the parchment on a cord of red silk.
The archivist cradled the charter carefully so that the weight of its bull would not tear the parchment.
Similarseal
19
in heatverbintransitive
Of a cow or heifer, to be in heat and ready to mate with a bull.
Two of the heifers were bulling this morning, so we moved them in with the Hereford.
Cows that don't bull again within a few months of calving should be checked by the vet.
Note
Farm English uses the verb from both sides of the mating. Here the cow or heifer is the subject and there is no object: she is bulling when she is in heat and ready for the bull. Put the bull in the subject's place and give him a cow or heifer as object, and it becomes the bull's own verb. The subject tells you which is meant.
20
polish bootsverbUKtransitive
To polish boots until they have a high shine.
You'll bull those boots until I can see my face in them, Private!
Recruits sat up past midnight bulling their boots for the passing-out parade.
Similarpolish, shine, buff
Note
British soldiers bull their boots, and the job belongs to the routine of military life alongside ironing kit: in Sean Connolly's British Army on the Rampage (2014), two soldiers trade the chores, one bulling the other's boots while the other irons his kit. Outside the forces the word still sounds like army talk, so it suits soldiering stories better than everyday shoe care.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Bulling boots is part of British military life. army.mod.uk
Sean Connolly wrote British Army on the Rampage. en.wiktionary.org
The book describes a regular exchange in which one soldier bulls the other's boots while the other irons his kit. en.wiktionary.org
21
nounslang
A man who has sex with another person's partner with the consent of both members of the couple.
22
verb
To mock someone, or to cheat them.
23
adjective
Stupid; lacking intelligence or good sense.
24
noundialectalPhiladelphia
A man or boy.
25
nounslang
An elderly lesbian.
26
nounobsoleteUK
A British crown piece, a coin worth five shillings, or that sum of money.
27
nounobsolete
A weak drink got by filling an emptied spirits barrel with water and letting it soak up the leftover alcohol.
28
verbdated
To announce or proclaim something by means of a formal decree from the Pope.
29
nounobsolete
A small ball of air or gas inside a liquid, or a thin film filled with air.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of bull apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3, 6–15, 17, 19

Middle English bole, bul, bule blended Old English bula ("bull, steer") with Old Norse boli. Both come from Proto-Germanic *bulô ("bull"), which goes back to *bʰl̥no-, a Proto-Indo-European form built on the root *bʰel-, meaning "to blow, swell up." Close relatives are German Bulle, German Low German Bull, Dutch bul, and West Frisian bolle. More distant ones are Old Irish ball ("limb") and Albanian bolle ("testicles"), and perhaps Latin follis ("bellows, leather bag") and Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, "penis").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 11 facts

Middle English bole, bul and bule combined Old English bula, meaning “bull, steer,” with Old Norse boli. en.wiktionary.org
Both source words derive from Proto-Germanic *bulô, meaning “bull,” ultimately from PIE *bʰl̥no- and the root *bʰel-, meaning “to blow, swell up.” en.wiktionary.org
Swedish bulla denotes a papal document and comes from Latin bulla; remove it from this list of relatives of the animal word. runeberg.org
German Bulle is a close relative. en.wiktionary.org
German Low German Bull is a close relative. en.wiktionary.org
Dutch bul is a close relative. en.wiktionary.org
West Frisian bolle is a close relative. en.wiktionary.org
Old Irish ball, meaning “limb,” is a more distant relative. en.wiktionary.org
Albanian bolle, meaning “testicles,” is a more distant relative. en.wiktionary.org
Latin follis, meaning “bellows, leather bag,” may be related. en.wiktionary.org
Ancient Greek φαλλός, transliterated phallós and meaning “penis,” may be related. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 5, 18

From Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla ('round swelling, seal'), possibly from Gaulish. The decree is named after the round lead seal fixed to it. It is a doublet of bull ('bubble') and bulla.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

The word descends from Middle English bulle through Old French bulle from Latin bulla. en.wiktionary.org
Latin bulla denotes a rounded swelling or object and a seal. en.wiktionary.org
Latin bulla may come from Gaulish. en.wiktionary.org
The decree takes its name from the round lead seal attached to it. en.wikipedia.org
Bull in this sense is a doublet of bull meaning 'bubble' and of bulla. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 4, 16, 20

The likely source is boul, boule, bole in Old French, meaning "fraud, deceit, cunning," which came from the verb bouler, boler ("to deceive, delude, lure" or "take in"). That verb in turn came from bôlen, a Middle Low German verb meaning "to woo, court." In Middle English the word was bull, bul, boule ("falsehood, deceit"). German buhlen ("to woo") and English bully are related. Many people now take it to be a cleaned-up shortening of bullshit.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

The likely source is Old French boul, boule, bole, meaning fraud, deceit, cunning. en.wiktionary.org
The Old French noun derives from bouler, boler, meaning to deceive, delude, lure, take in. en.wiktionary.org
The Old French verb derives from Middle Low German bôlen, meaning to woo, court. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English bull, bul, boule meant falsehood, deceit. en.wiktionary.org
German buhlen means to woo and is etymologically related. en.wiktionary.org
English bully is etymologically related. en.wiktionary.org