What does "bull" mean?
An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.; Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
Bull
/ˈbʊl/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.; Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
- Grammar: bull is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: copper, pig, adult bovine male, aerogram.
- Useful contrasts: romanian farm animal, accuracy, bear.
- Usage evidence: The landlord told me a cock and bull story about why we didn't have heat for three days.
How to use "bull"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bull" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bull" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bull" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bull" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bull" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "copper" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bull", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.; Specifically, one that is uncastrated. countable, uncountable
- 2 A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
- 3 A lie. uncountable
- 4 A bubble. obsolete
- 5 a serious and ludicrous blunder wordnet
Show 27 more definitions
- 6 An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.; Any bovine of an aggressive or long-horned breed regardless of age and sex. broadly, countable, uncountable
- 7 A seal affixed to a document, especially a document from the Pope.
- 8 Nonsense. euphemistic, informal, uncountable
- 9 mature male of various mammals of which the female is called ‘cow’; e.g. whales or elephants or especially cattle wordnet
- 10 A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age. countable, uncountable
- 11 uncastrated adult male of domestic cattle wordnet
- 12 Any adult male bovine. countable, uncountable
- 13 Obscene word for unacceptable behavior wordnet
- 14 An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals. countable, uncountable
"The quick eyes of a female caught sight of him first. With a barking guttural she called the attention of the others. Several huge bulls stood erect to get a better view of the intruder. With bared fangs and bristling necks they advanced slowly toward him, with deep-throated, ominous growls."
- 15 a formal proclamation issued by the pope (usually written in antiquated characters and sealed with a leaden bulla) wordnet
- 16 A large, strong man. countable, uncountable
- 17 the center of a target wordnet
- 18 An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices. countable, uncountable
"This accompt has been made to appear a bull accompt, i.e. that the bulls cannot take their stock. The fact is the reverse; it is a bear accompt, but the bears, unable to deliver their stock, have conjointly banged the market, and pocketed the tickets, to defeat the rise and loss that would have ensued to them by their buying on a rising price on the accompt day […]"
- 19 (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Taurus wordnet
- 20 A policeman; a detective; a railroad security guard. US, countable, slang, uncountable
"You never waited until the train stopped to get off. The railroad bulls were waiting at the stops searching for freeloaders."
- 21 a large and strong and heavyset man wordnet
- 22 An elderly lesbian. countable, slang, uncountable
- 23 an investor with an optimistic market outlook; an investor who expects prices to rise and so buys now for resale later wordnet
- 24 A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings. UK, countable, historical, obsolete, slang, uncountable
"Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon."
- 25 uncomplimentary terms for a policeman wordnet
- 26 Clipping of bullseye. UK, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable
"A second good game was to cannon one galloping camel with another, and crash it into a near tree. Either the tree went down (valley trees in the light Hejaz soil were notably unstable things) or the rider was scratched and torn; or, best of all, he was swept quite out of his saddle, and left impaled on a thorny branch, if not dropped violently to the ground. This counted as a bull, and was very popular with everyone but him."
- 27 Clipping of bullseye.; The central portion of a target, inside the inner and magpie. UK, countable, uncountable
- 28 A man or boy. Philadelphia, countable, slang, uncountable
- 29 Clipping of bullshit. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, euphemistic, informal, slang, uncountable
- 30 A man who has sex with someone else's partner, with the consent of both. countable, uncountable
"The Vixen, often known as ‘Hotwife’, has sex with the encouragement of her husband or boyfriend with the Bull (that’s the guy who is servicing her). Another scenario is that the Vixen has sex with a Bull outside of the couple’s shared abode. Then she comes home and recounts all the details in a blow-by-blow description to turn the Stag on."
- 31 A drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 32 Beef. slang, uncountable
"Meanwhile the Tommies had discovered several large tins of ham in the captured lorry. 'That,' said the big Nazi, 'is for our tea.' 'No,' said a Tommy sergeant-major. 'That's for our tea. For you, chummy, we've kept a nice bit of bull.'"
Verb
- 1 To force oneself (in a particular direction); to move aggressively. intransitive, often
"He bulled his way in."
- 2 To publish in a papal bull. dated
- 3 To mock; to cheat.
- 4 advance in price wordnet
- 5 To be in heat; to be ready for mating with a bull. intransitive
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 To lie, to tell untruths. intransitive
- 7 speak insincerely or without regard for facts or truths wordnet
- 8 To mate with (a cow or heifer). transitive
- 9 To polish (boots) to a high shine. UK, transitive
"We were to repeat our normal practise of me bulling his boots and him ironing my kit."
- 10 try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying wordnet
- 11 To endeavour to raise the market price of. transitive
"to bull railroad bonds"
- 12 push or force wordnet
- 13 To endeavour to raise prices in. transitive
"to bull the market"
Adjective
- 1 Large and strong, like a bull. not-comparable
- 2 Adult male. attributive, not-comparable
"a bull elephant"
- 3 Characterized by rising prices or belief that prices will rise. not-comparable
"a bull market"
- 4 Stupid. not-comparable
Proper Noun
- 1 The constellation and zodiacal sign Taurus.
"The Bull reigneth in the neck, & in the throat."
- 2 A surname transferred from the nickname derived from the name of the animal.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The landlord told me a cock and bull story about why we didn't have heat for three days."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bull"?
Common synonyms include: copper, pig, adult bovine male, aerogram, air letter, airgraph.
How do you use "bull" in a sentence?
The landlord told me a cock and bull story about why we didn't have heat for three days.
How do you pronounce "bull"?
Pronounced /ˈbʊl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no-, from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Albanian bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”). Of sense 11, (a man or boy), derived from the Philadelphia English pronunciation of boy, which is practically a homophone of bull.
Etymology 2
From Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and bulla.
Etymology 3
From Middle English bull, bul, boule (“falsehood, deceit”), probably from Old French boul, boule, bole (“fraud, deceit, cunning”), from Old French bouler, boler (“to deceive, delude, lure, take in”), from Middle Low German bôlen (“to woo, court”), related to German buhlen (“to woo”), English bully. Often reanalyzed by surface analysis to be an expurgated clipping of bullshit.
Etymology 4
From Middle English bowle, boule, from Old French boule (“ball”), from Latin bulla (“round swelling”), of Gaulish origin. Doublet of bull (“papal bull”) and bulla.