1881. Sat. Review, July 9, p. 40, col. 2. A Californian bull-doser
is a pistol which carries a bullet heavy enough to destroy human
life with certainty.
Bullet. To give the bullet, verbal phr. (common).—To discharge an
employé. Cf., To give the bag, sense 2, under Bag, and Sack. [Possibly
a punning allusion to the word ‘discharge.’] The term is variously
used. To shake the bullet at anyone, is to threaten with ‘the sack,’
but not to give actual notice to leave. To get the bullet is to get
notice, while to get the instant bullet is to be discharged upon the
spot.
1841. Savage, Dict. of Art of Printing. A workman was said to have
got the bullet when he was discharged instanter—without the
customary notice on either side.
1872. Chamb. Jour., March 9, p. 147. When a fellow gets the bullet
from his work, he mostly has a spell at cab-driving.
1887. Punch, Sept. 17, p. 126. I have just got the ‘bullet,’
Mate—sacked without notice.
Bullfinch, subs. (old).—1. A stupid fellow.
2. (hunting.)—A high thick hedge; one difficult to jump or rush
through. [Most authorities agree in suggesting the origin of this term
in a corruption of ‘bull-fence,’ i.e., a fence capable of preventing
cattle from straying.]
1832. Quart. Rev., Mar., 226. The bull-finch fence ... is a
quickset hedge of perhaps fifty years’ growth, with a ditch on one
side or the other, and so high and strong that [one] cannot clear
it. [M.]
1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. ix. The third is a
teaser—an ugly black bull-finch with a ditch on the landing side,
and a drop into a ploughed field.
1880. The Times, Nov. 2, p. 4, col. 5. They are almost invariably
attired in double-stitched shooting coats, that will stand the
ordeal of ‘bull-finches’ and brambles.
1889. Man of the World, June 29. See Harrington, the belted earl,
bear down an opponent in the jousts, charging with lance or sword
as if he were riding at a South Notts bull-finch.
Bull-Jine, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s term for a locomotive. [Thought
to be of American origin, New York thieves using the same term, as also
an abbreviated form—bull.]
Bull Money, subs. (harlotry).—Money extorted from or given by those who
in places of public resort have been detected in flagrante delicto with
a woman, as a bribe to silence.
Bull-Nurse, subs. (nautical).—See quot.
1885. Graphic, April 4, p. 326, col. 3. ‘Bull-nurses.’ Perhaps we
ought to apologise for using this word; but years ago (it may be so
still) it was the sailors’ phrase to indicate a male-attendant on
the sick.
Bullock, subs. (schoolboys’).—1. See quot.
1855. J. K., in Notes and Queries, 1 S., v., 12, 3 Nov., p. 344.
Bullock, a cheat; but as I think, only when cheating at marbles.