different between rule vs bull

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?u?l/, [?u??]
• Rhymes: -u?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English reule, rewle, rule, borrowed from Old French riule, reule, itself an early semi-learned borrowing from Latin regula (“straight stick, bar, ruler, pattern”), from reg? (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”); see regent.

Noun

rule (countable and uncountable, plural rules)

1. A regulation, law, guideline.
   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, Of The Obligations of Christians to a Holy Life

     We profess to have embraced a religion which contains the most exact rules for the government of our lives.
2. A regulating principle.
   • c. 1604, William Shakespeare, All's well that ends well, Act I, scene I

     There's little can be said in 't; 'Tis against the rule of nature.

3. The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.
4. A normal condition or state of affairs.

   My rule is to rise at six o'clock.

5. (obsolete) Conduct; behaviour.
6. (law) An order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wharton to this entry?)

7. (mathematics) A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.

   a rule for extracting the cube root

8. A ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure.
   • a. 1716, Robert South, Sermons

     As we may observe in the Works of Art, a Judicious Artist will indeed use his Eye, but he will trust only to his Rule.

9. A straight line (continuous mark, as made by a pen or the like), especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing.
10. (printing, dated) A thin plate of brass or other metal, of the same height as the type, and used for printing lines, as between columns on the same page, or in tabular work.

Derived terms

Related terms

• regulate
• regent
• regular

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English rulen, borrowed from Old French riuler, from Latin regul?re (“to regulate, rule”), from regula (“a rule”); see regular and regulate.

Verb

rule (third-person singular simple present rules, present participle ruling, simple past and past participle ruled)

1. (transitive) To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.
2. (slang, intransitive) To excel.

3. (intransitive) To decide judicially.
4. (transitive) To establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice.
   • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to some Considerations, the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation

     That's a ruled case with the school-men.

5. (transitive) To mark (paper or the like) with rules (lines).

Synonyms

• (to excel): rock (also slang)

Antonyms

• (to excel): suck (vulgar slang)

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Related to revel.

Noun

rule

1. (obsolete) Revelry.

Verb

rule (third-person singular simple present rules, present participle ruling, simple past and past participle ruled)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To revel.

Further reading

• rule in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• rule in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ReLU, Ruel, lure

Spanish

Verb

rule

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of rular.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of rular.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of rular.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of rular.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?l?no-, from *b?el- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Thracian ???????? (vólinthos, “wild bull”), Albanian buall (“buffalo”) or related bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek ?????? (phallós, “penis”).

Noun

bull (countable and uncountable, plural bulls)

1. An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
   1. Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
2. A male of domesticated cattle or oxen of any age.
3. Any adult male bovine.
4. An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants, camels and seals.
5. A large, strong man.
6. (finance) An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
7. (slang) A policeman.

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

   1. (US) Specifically, a policeman employed in a railroad yard.
8. (LGBT, slang) An elderly lesbian.
9. (Britain, historical, obsolete slang) A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.
   • 1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words

     Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.

10. (Britain) Clipping of bullseye.
    1. (military, firearms) The central portion of a target, inside the inner and magpie.
11. (Philadelphia, slang) A man.
12. (uncountable, informal, euphemistic, slang) Clipping of bullshit.
13. A man who has sex with another man's wife or girlfriend with the consent of both.
    • 2018 ‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding

      The Vixen, often known as ‘Hotwife’, has sex with the encouragement of her husband or boyfriend with the Bull (that’s the guy who is servicing her). Another scenario is that the Vixen has sex with a Bull outside of the couple’s shared abode. Then she comes home and recounts all the details in a blow-by-blow description to turn the Stag on.

14. (obsolete) A drink made by pouring water into a cask that previously held liquor.

Synonyms

• (cattle): gentleman cow (obsolete, euphemistic)
• (slang: male person): guy, dude, bro, cat
• (slang: policeman): cop, copper, pig (derogatory), rozzer (British). See also Thesaurus:police officer

Antonyms

• (finance: investor who sells in anticipation of a fall in prices): bear

Coordinate terms

• cow, ox, calf, steer

Derived terms

• Banbury story of a cock and a bull

Translations

Adjective

bull (not comparable)

1. Large and strong, like a bull.
   • Synonyms: beefy, hunky, robust
   • Antonyms: feeble, puny, weak
2. (of large mammals) adult male

   Synonym: male

   Antonym: female

3. (finance) Of a market in which prices are rising (compare bear)

   Antonym: bear

4. stupid

   Synonym: stupid

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)

1. (intransitive) To force oneself (in a particular direction).

   He bulled his way in.

2. (intransitive) To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.
3. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise the market price of.

   to bull railroad bonds

4. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to raise prices in.

   to bull the market

Derived terms

(terms derived from the adj., noun, or verb bull (etymology 1)):

Translations

Etymology 2

Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and bulla.

Noun

bull (plural bulls)

1. A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
2. A seal affixed to a document, especially a document from the Pope.

Translations

Verb

bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)

1. (dated, 17th century) to publish in a Papal bull

Etymology 3

Middle English bull (“falsehood”), of unknown origin. Possibly related to Old French boul, boule, bole (“fraud, deceit, trickery”). Popularly associated with bullshit.

Noun

bull (uncountable)

1. A lie.
2. (euphemistic, informal) Nonsense.

Synonyms

• (nonsense): See also Thesaurus:nonsense

Translations

Verb

bull (third-person singular simple present bulls, present participle bulling, simple past and past participle bulled)

1. To mock; to cheat.
2. (intransitive) To lie, to tell untruths.
3. (Britain, military) To polish boots to a high shine.

Etymology 4

Old French boule (“ball”), from Latin bulla (“round swelling”), of Gaulish origin. Doublet of bull (“papal bull”) and bulla.

Noun

bull (plural bulls)

1. (16th century, obsolete) A bubble.

References

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?bu?/
• Homophone: vull
• Rhymes: -u?

Etymology 1

From bullir.

Noun

bull m (plural bulls)

1. boiling
2. effervescence

Verb

bull

1. third-person singular present indicative form of bullir
2. second-person singular imperative form of bullir

Etymology 2

From Latin botulus (“sausage”).

Noun

bull m (plural bulls)

1. A type of pork sausage.

Related terms

• budell

Further reading

• “bull” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Cimbrian

Etymology

Reduced form of bóol (“well”).

Adverb

bull (comparative péssor, superlative dar péste)

1. (Sette Comuni) well

References

• “bull” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

French

Etymology

From a clipped form of French bulldozer, from American English bulldozer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bul/, /byl/

Noun

bull m (plural bulls)

1. (construction) bulldozer

Synonyms

• bulldozer
• bouldozeur (with a Francized / Frenchified spelling)

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?tl/
• Rhymes: -?tl

Noun

bull n (genitive singular bulls, no plural)

1. nonsense, gibberish

Declension

Synonyms

• rugl
• vitleysa
• þvæla

Related terms

• bulla (“to talk nonsense, to boil”)

Westrobothnian

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bolli, from Proto-Germanic *bullô.

Noun

bull m

1. wooden bowl, lathed vessel, big bowl

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *bull?.

Noun

bull f

1. loaf

Derived terms

• bullsjiv
• bullstommel
• rågbull