_A Bull_ (Vol. ii., p. 441.).--I have heard it argued that the word
_bull_, meaning an incoherent blunder, was derived from the Pope's
Bulls, the tyrannical contents and imperious tone of which often made so
odd a contrast with the humility of the subscription, "Servus servorum
Dei," that the name _bull_ was applied to anything that seemed absurdly
inconsistent or self-contradictory.