Verb (American University).—At Dartmouth College to recite badly; to
make a poor recitation. [From the substantive bull, a blunder or
contradiction, or from the use of the word as a prefix, signifying
large, lubberly, blundering.]
Stale bull, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Stock held over for a long period
with profit.
Bull and Cow, subs. (rhyming slang).—A row.
Bull-Bait, verb (? nonce word).—To bully; hector; badger. [Clearly a
figurative usage of the legitimate word.]
1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xviii., p. 82. ‘Which I
meantersay,’ cried Joe, ‘that if you come into my place
bull-baiting and badgering me, come out!’
Bull-Beef, subs. (old).—A frequently recurring term of contempt.
Prisoners apply it to the hard, stringy meat supplied to them, and
formerly the expression was in general use. ‘As ugly as bull-beef’; ‘as
big as bull-beef’; ‘go and sell yourself for bull-beef’; were common
colloquialisms at the end of the last and the beginning of the present
century. Sometimes contracted into bull. Cf., Bully beef.
1579. Gosson, Apol. of the Schoole of Abuse, p. 64 (Arber). I
vnderstand they are all in a fustian fume.... They haue eaten
bul-bief, and threatned highly too put water in my woortes
whensoeuer they catche me.
1607. Rowlands, Diogines Lanthorne, p. 8 (H. Cl. Repr., 1873). How
lookes yonder fellow? what’s the matter with him trow? has a eaten
bul-beefe? there’s a lofty slaue indeede, hee’s in the altitudes.
1738–1819. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Rights of Kings, Ode I., in wks.
(Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 219. The Cooks, Bluff on th’ occasion,
put on bull’s-beef looks.
1782. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. 3, in wks. (1809) I., 62.
Yet thou may’st bluster like bull-beef so big.
1860. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Season Ticket, x. Which look as
cheap as bull-beef at one cent a pound.
1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, p. 524. To look as big as
bull-beef. To look stout and hearty, as if fed on bull-beef.
Bull-beef was formerly recommended for making men strong and
muscular.
1888. Ashton, Mod. Street Ballads, p. 61.
For soon he will his trial take,
And hard bull-beef be munching.
Bull Calf, subs. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull calf, a great
hulkey or clumsy fellow.
Bull Chin, subs. (old).—Explained by quotation.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull chin, a fat,
chubby child.
Bull-Dance, subs. (nautical).—A dance in which only men take part. Cf.,
Stag-dance, Gander-party, Hen-party, etc.
1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bull-dance. At sea it is performed
by men only when without women. It is sometimes called a
stag-dance.
1887. Graphic, March 26, p. 315, col. 3. It is obliged to be a
bull-dance. Gentlemen dance with gentlemen, and the pianist is, of
course, a gentleman also.
Bull-Dog, subs. (old).—1. A sheriff’s officer; a bailiff.
1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iii., 2. Mock. But pray what’s
the matter, Mrs. Lyric?
Lyric. Nothing, sir, but a shirking bookseller that owed me about forty
guineas for a few lines. He would have put me off, so I sent for a
couple of bull-dogs, and arrested him.
2. (old.)—A pistol; in the naval service a main-deck gun. Cf., Barker
and Bull-dog blazer.
1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, iii., 2. He whips out his
stiletto, and I whips out my bull-dog.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ii., 191. ‘I have always a brace of
bull-dogs about me.’... So saying, he exhibited a very handsome,
highly-finished, and richly-mounted pair of pistols.
1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bull-dog or muzzled bull-dog, the
great gun which stands housed in the officer’s ward-room cabin.
General term for main-deck guns.
1881. Daily News, Oct. 27, p. 6, col. 2. Revolver cartridges of the
ordinary ‘bull-dog’ pattern.