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Bully
Definitions
- 1 Very good. US, dated, slang
"a bully horse"
- 2 Jovial and blustering. obsolete, slang
"Bless thee, bully doctor!"
- 1 excellent wordnet
- 1 Well done; often sarcastic in modern use. often
"Bully, she's finally asked for that promotion!"
- 1 A person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as being vulnerable or of less power or privilege. countable, uncountable
"A playground bully pushed a girl off the swing."
- 2 a cruel and brutal fellow wordnet
- 3 A noisy, blustering, tyrannical person, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome. countable, uncountable
"Besides, bullies seldom execute the threats they deal in; and men of trick and cunning are not always men of desperate resolves."
- 4 a hired thug wordnet
- 5 A hired thug. countable, uncountable
"Mr. Fisher returned from town... he had learnt that our opponents intended to shift the scene of operations to the Chats... We understood that they had hired two bullies for the purpose of deciding the matter par voie de fait. Mr Fisher hired two of the same description, who were supposed to be more than a match for the opposition party."
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- 6 A sex worker's minder. countable, uncountable
"The Proclamation Society and the Society for the Suppression of Vice were more concerned with obscene literature […] than with hands-on street battles with prostitutes and their bullies […]."
- 7 Bully beef. uncountable
- 8 A brisk, dashing fellow. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"What sayest thou, Bully Bottom?"
- 9 The small scrum in the Eton College field game. countable, uncountable
- 10 Any of various small freshwater or brackishwater fish of the family Eleotridae; sleeper gobies. countable, uncountable
- 11 An (eldest) brother; a fellow workman; comrade Ireland, Northern-England, countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
"Frae Team Gut to Whitley, we' coals black an' brown For the Amphitrite loaded, the keel had come down— But the bullies ower neet had their gobs se oft wet, That the nyem o' the ship yen an' a' did forget."
- 12 A companion; mate (male or female). countable, dialectal, uncountable
- 13 A darling, sweetheart (male or female). countable, obsolete, uncountable
"I kiss his dirty shoe, and from heart-string / I love the lovely bully. What is thy name?"
- 14 A standoff between two players from the opposing teams, who repeatedly hit each other's hockey sticks and then attempt to acquire the ball, as a method of resuming the game in certain circumstances. countable, uncountable
- 15 A miner's hammer. countable, uncountable
- 1 To intimidate (someone) as a bully. transitive
"You shouldn't bully people for being weak."
- 2 discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate wordnet
- 3 To act aggressively towards. transitive
"The Potters know their strengths and played to them perfectly here, out-muscling Bolton in midfield and bullying the visitors' back-line at every opportunity."
- 4 be bossy towards wordnet
Etymology
From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( + -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *bōlô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English Bōla, Bōlla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *bō- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian bālinš (“brother”). More at boy. The term acquired a negative connotation during the 17th century; first ‘noisy, blustering fellow’ then ‘a person who is cruel to others’. Possibly influenced by bull (“male cattle”) or via the ‘prostitute's minder’ sense. The positive senses are dated, but survive in phrases such as bully pulpit.
From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( + -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *bōlô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English Bōla, Bōlla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *bō- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian bālinš (“brother”). More at boy. The term acquired a negative connotation during the 17th century; first ‘noisy, blustering fellow’ then ‘a person who is cruel to others’. Possibly influenced by bull (“male cattle”) or via the ‘prostitute's minder’ sense. The positive senses are dated, but survive in phrases such as bully pulpit.
From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( + -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *bōlô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English Bōla, Bōlla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *bō- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian bālinš (“brother”). More at boy. The term acquired a negative connotation during the 17th century; first ‘noisy, blustering fellow’ then ‘a person who is cruel to others’. Possibly influenced by bull (“male cattle”) or via the ‘prostitute's minder’ sense. The positive senses are dated, but survive in phrases such as bully pulpit.
From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( + -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *bōlô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English Bōla, Bōlla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *bō- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian bālinš (“brother”). More at boy. The term acquired a negative connotation during the 17th century; first ‘noisy, blustering fellow’ then ‘a person who is cruel to others’. Possibly influenced by bull (“male cattle”) or via the ‘prostitute's minder’ sense. The positive senses are dated, but survive in phrases such as bully pulpit.
See also for "bully"
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