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Gull
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae.
"The tide was out, and we drew up amid the strong bracing smell of seaweed, with gulls screeching, wheeling around, and gliding on the wind."
- 2 A cheating trick; a fraud. slang
"BENEDICK. [Aside] I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence."
- 3 A breach or hole made by the force of a torrent; fissure, chasm. dialectal
- 4 A player, supporter or other person connected with Torquay United Football Club.
- 5 mostly white aquatic bird having long pointed wings and short legs wordnet
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- 6 Any of various pierid butterflies of the genus Cepora.
- 7 A stupid animal.
- 8 A channel made by a stream; a natural watercourse; running water. dialectal
- 9 a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of wordnet
- 10 One easily cheated; a dupe.
- 11 A swindler or trickster. obsolete
"You'll excuse me, sir, but as you are fresh, take care to avoid the gulls; they fly about here in large flocks, I assure you, and do no little mischief at times." "I never understood that gulls were birds of prey," said I.—"Only in Oxford, sir; and here, I assure you, they bite like hawks, and pick many a poor young gentleman as bare before his three years are expired, as the crows would a dead sheep upon a common. […]""
- 1 To deceive or cheat.
"O, but to ha' gulled him / Had been a mastery."
- 2 To sweep away by the force of running water; to carve or wear into a gully. dialectal
- 3 fool or hoax wordnet
- 4 To mislead. US, slang
- 5 make a fool or dupe of wordnet
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- 6 To trick and defraud. US, slang
- 7 To flatter, wheedle. dialectal
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish foílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoileag. Compare French goéland, a borrowing from Breton. Eclipsed Middle English lare (borrowed from Latin larus) and Middle English mewe (from Old English mæw).
Perhaps from an obsolete term gull (“to swallow, guzzle”), from Middle English golen (“to make swallowing motions, gape”), from Middle English gole (“throat”).
Perhaps from an obsolete term gull (“to swallow, guzzle”), from Middle English golen (“to make swallowing motions, gape”), from Middle English gole (“throat”).
From Middle English gole (“a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream”), from Middle Low German goel, gȫl, gȫle (“swamp, marshy lowland”), related to Old Dutch gulla (“pool, puddle”), Old French goille (“pool, puddle, pond”), all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *goli, *golljā (“puddle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *guljaz, *guljǭ.
From Middle English gole (“a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream”), from Middle Low German goel, gȫl, gȫle (“swamp, marshy lowland”), related to Old Dutch gulla (“pool, puddle”), Old French goille (“pool, puddle, pond”), all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *goli, *golljā (“puddle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *guljaz, *guljǭ.
In reference to the seagulls found in Torquay, a coastal town.
In reference to the seagulls found in Torquay, a coastal town.
See also for "gull"
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