different between exasperate vs bully

English

Etymology

From Latin exasper?; ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asper? (“make rough”), from asper (“rough”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /???zæsp(?)?e?t/
• (Received Pronunciation, also) IPA^(key): /???z??sp??e?t/
• Rhymes: -æsp??e?t
• Hyphenation: ex?as?per?ate

Verb

exasperate (third-person singular simple present exasperates, present participle exasperating, simple past and past participle exasperated)

1. To tax the patience of, irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.
   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 3, scene 6:

     And this report

     Hath so exasperate [sic] the king that he

     Prepares for some attempt of war.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 3:

     The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.

   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, chapter 11:

     Beadle goes into various shops and parlours, examining the inhabitants; always shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy, exasperating the public.

   • 1987 January 5, "Woman of the Year: Corazon Aquino," Time:

     [S]he exasperates her security men by acting as if she were protected by some invisible shield.

   • 2007 June 4, "Loyal Mail," Times Online (UK) (retrieved 7 Oct 2010):

     News that Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, is set to receive a bumper bonus will exasperate postal workers.

Translations

Adjective

exasperate (comparative more exasperate, superlative most exasperate)

1. (obsolete) exasperated; embittered.
   • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act V, Scene 1,^[1]

     Thersites. Do I curse thee?

     Patroclus. Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no.

     Thersites. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk […]

   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman & Hall, 1857, Book 4, p. 177,^[2]

     Like swallows which the exasperate dying year

     Sets spinning […]

Related terms

See also

• exacerbate

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “exasperate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eksaspe?rate/, /e?zaspe?rate/

Verb

exasperate

1. adverbial present passive participle of exasperar

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.pe?ra?.te/, [?ks?äs?p???ä?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.pe?ra.te/, [??z?sp?????t??]

Verb

exasper?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exasper?

English

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 *b?lô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English B?la, B?lla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *b?- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian b?linš (“brother”). More at boy.

The term acquired negative senses 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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?li/
• Rhymes: -?li

Noun

bully (countable and uncountable, plural bullies)

1. A person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those who are weaker or have less power or privilege. [from late 17th c.]

2. A noisy, blustering, tyrannical person, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome.
3. A hired thug.
   • 1849, John McLean, Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory, pp. 42-3:

     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.

   Synonyms: henchman, thug

4. A sex worker’s minder.

   Synonyms: pimp; see also Thesaurus:pimp

   • 2009, Dan Cruikshank, Secret History of Georgian London, Random House, p. 473:

     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 […].

5. (uncountable) Bully beef.
6. (obsolete) A brisk, dashing fellow.
7. The small scrum in the Eton College field game.
8. Various small freshwater or brackishwater fish of the family Eleotridae; sleeper goby.
9. (obsolete or dialectal, Ireland and Northern England) An (eldest) brother; a fellow workman; comrade
10. (dialectal) A companion; mate (male or female).

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:friend

11. (obsolete) A darling, sweetheart (male or female).

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sweetheart
12. (field hockey) 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. Also called bully-off.
13. (mining) A miner's hammer.

Translations

Verb

bully (third-person singular simple present bullies, present participle bullying, simple past and past participle bullied)

1. (transitive) To intimidate (someone) as a bully.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:intimidate

2. (transitive) To act aggressively towards.

   Synonyms: push around, ride roughshod over

Translations

Adjective

bully (comparative bullier, superlative bulliest)

1. (US, slang) Very good.

   Synonyms: excellent; see also Thesaurus:excellent

   • 1916, The Independent (volumes 35-36, page 6)

     She is a bully woman, not only a good mother, but a wonderful in-law

2. (slang, obsolete) Jovial and blustering.

   Synonym: dashing

   • 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor Act II, scene iii:

Derived terms

• bully boy
• bully pulpit

Translations

Interjection

bully

1. (often followed by for) Well done!

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:well done

Translations

Further reading

• bully on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English bully, itself a derivation of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bu.li/
• Hyphenation: bul?ly

Noun

bully m (plural bully's)

1. (field hockey) bully (way of resuming the game with a standoff between two opposing players who repeatedly hit each other's sticks, then try to gain possession of the ball)

Spanish

Noun

bully m (plural bullys or bullies or bully)

1. bully