Banbury story of a cock and a bull
A roundabout, nonsensical story.
BANBURY STORY, of a Cock and a Bull, an Idle relation, in order to pick Acquaintance on the Road, till a convenient Place and Opportunity offer to rob or plunder.
bull
/ˈbʊl/
noun 10verb 9adj 4name 2
Collocations
4ADJ.
escaped, general, outlandish, short, stronger
The escaped bull charged through the farmer's field and destroyed the fence.
VERB + BULL
appear, battle, catch, land, planning, take, taking, throw
The farmer managed to catch the bull before it escaped through the broken fence.
BULL + NOUN
accompt, ape, e, elephant, horns, reigneth, session, stories
The bull with massive horns charged across the field toward the farmer.
PREP.
about, from, in, than, with, with
The farmer argued with the bull to move it back into the barn.
Definitions
noun
1
An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
2
An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
3
A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
4
Any adult male bovine.
5
An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.
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.
The upshot of the affair was that she accompanied me next morning. I rowed into the adjoining cove and up to the edge of the beach. There were seals all about us in the water, and the bellowing thousands on the beach compelled us to shout at each other to make ourselves heard. "I know men club them," I said, trying to reassure myself and gazing doubtfully at a large bull, not thirty feet away, upreared on his fore-flippers and regarding me intently. "But the question is, How do they club them?"
adj
1
Large and strong, like a bull.
2
Adult male.
a bull elephant
With the low, guttural snarl of the bull ape he sprang for the Frenchman.
3
Characterized by rising prices or belief that prices will rise.
a bull market
4
Stupid.
verb
1
To force oneself (in a particular direction); to move aggressively.
He bulled his way in.
2
To be in heat; to be ready for mating with a bull.
3
To mate with (a cow or heifer).
4
To endeavour to raise the market price of.
to bull railroad bonds
5
To endeavour to raise prices in.
to bull the market
Thesaurus
Synonyms
noun — the second sign of the zodiac
noun — (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Taurus
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
bull session
An informal discursive group discussion, often one where politics, economics or current events are discussed.
For instance, if you were having a bull session in somebody’s room, and somebody wanted to come in, nobody’d let them in if they were some dopey, pimply guy.
shoot the bull
To chinwag; to talk idly.
1976-1977, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure I didn't get what this group therapy was all about, it seeme
bull in a china shop
A person who is clumsy, aggressive, without care, concern or self-control.
The various plotters and counterplotters go their devious ways, proceeding with all the subtlety of bulls in china shops, but we never do learn what the plot is all about.
mess with the bull and you get the horns
Synonym of when you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
Example Bank
601
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 fa
Wiktionary02
The upshot of the affair was that she accompanied me next morning. I rowed into the adjoining cove and up to the edge of the beach. There were seals all about us in the water, and the bellowing thousa
Wiktionary03
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 conj
Wiktionary04
a bull elephant
Wiktionary05
With the low, guttural snarl of the bull ape he sprang for the Frenchman.
Wiktionary06
a bull market
WiktionaryUsage Notes
i Register
In some senses, bull is marked as dated, informal, obsolete, euphemistic, UK. Watch for register when choosing this word.
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