bulling

Pluralbullings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of bull.

   The fullback kept bulling forward, dragging two tacklers with him.

   Traders were bulling the stock all morning, hoping to sell before the close.

   Note

   The -ing form gathers verbs from three worlds: the playing field, where a runner keeps bulling forward; the farm; and the market, where traders bull a stock to push its price up. On the farm it cuts both ways. Without an object, a bulling cow is one in heat; with an object, it is the bull that does the bulling.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An act of mating between a cow and a bull.

   The herd records show the date of every bulling, so the farm can plan for calving.

   Each heifer needed only a single bulling before the vet confirmed she was in calf.

   Similarmating

   Note

   This is a stockbreeder's noun, and a countable one: a cow may receive more than one bulling, and the British Farmer's Magazine of 1865 found much difference of opinion about how many she should get. Farms recorded them as dates of service, which is why, when a herdsman left in 1874, The Farmer's Magazine could give the bullings of only a few cows.

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