bull

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bull1

▶noun

• 1 an uncastrated male bovine animal.

• 2 a large male animal, e.g. a whale or elephant.

• 3 Brit. a bullseye.

• 4 Stock Exchange a person who buys shares hoping to sell them at a higher price later. Often contrasted with bear2.

▶verb

• 1 informal move powerfully or violently.

• 2 (be bulling) (of a cow) be on heat.

– phrases
like a bull at a gate acting hastily and without thought.
like a bull in a china shop behaving clumsily in a delicate situation.
take the bull by the horns deal decisively with a difficult situation.

– origin OE bula, from ON boli; cf. bullock.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bull2

▶noun a papal edict.

– origin ME: from OFr. bulle, from L. bulla ‘bubble, rounded object’ (in med. L. ‘seal or sealed document’).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bull3

▶noun informal nonsense.

– origin C17: of unknown origin.