bulls

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of bull.

   The bulls are kept apart from the cows until the breeding season.

   On the beach, rival seal bulls fought for control of the colony.

   Note

   The plural reaches well beyond the farm. Bulls can be the adult males of whales, elephants, camels and seals, as in seal bulls guarding a beach, and the word is also used of large, strong men. It is a regular -s plural, so the possessive takes only an apostrophe: the bulls' pen.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of bull.

   The fullback bulls through two tacklers on almost every carry.

   A big trader who bulls a thinly traded stock can push its price up within hours.

   Note

   One -s form serves several quite different verbs. Most often it is the pushing one, which nearly always names a path or direction: he bulls through the line, she bulls her way to the front. In market talk it takes a stock as its object and means trying to drive its price up. On the farm the subject can be either animal: a bull bulls a heifer, while a cow that bulls is in heat.

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