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Buck vs Bull - What's the difference?

buck | bull |

In intransitive terms the difference between buck and bull

is that buck is to bend; buckle while bull is to be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.

As an adjective bull is

large and strong, like a bull.

buck

English

(wikipedia buck)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (buc), bucke, bukke, from (etyl) buc, bucc, ). Sense 6 is from mid 19th century, but of unknown origin.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the ferret and shad.
  • (US) An uncastrated sheep, a ram.
  • A young buck; an adventurous, impetuous, dashing, or high-spirited young man.
  • (British, obsolete) A fop or dandy.
  • * 1808 , (editor), The Connoisseur'', ''The British Essayists , Volume 32, page 93,
  • This pusillanimous creature thinks himself, and would be thought, a buck .
  • * 1825 , , I Zingari'', ''The English in Italy , Volume II, page 153,
  • The Captain was then a buck and dandy, during the reign of those two successive dynasties, of the first rank of the second order ; the characteristic of which very respectable rank of fashionables I hold to be, that their spurs impinge upon the pavement oftener than upon the sides of a horse.
  • (US, dated, derogatory) A black or Native American man.
  • (US, Australia, NZ, informal) A dollar (one hundred cents).
  • Can I borrow five bucks ?
  • (South Africa, informal) A rand (currency unit).
  • (by extension, Australia, South Africa, US, informal) Money
  • Corporations will do anything to make a buck
  • (US, slang) One hundred.
  • The police caught me driving a buck -forty on the freeway.
    That skinny guy? C'mon, he can't weigh more than a buck and a quarter.
  • (dated) An object of various types, placed on a table to indicate turn or status; such as a brass object, placed in rotation on a US Navy wardroom dining table to indicate which officer is to be served first, or an item passed around a poker table indicating the dealer or placed in the pot to remind the winner of some privilege or obligation when his or her turn to deal next comes.
  • (US, in certain metaphors or phrases) Blame; responsibility; scapegoating; finger-pointing.
  • pass the buck''; ''the buck stops here
  • (UK, dialect) The body of a post mill]], particularly in . See Wikipedia:[[w:Mill_machinery#Windmill_machinery, Windmill machinery.
  • (finance, jargon) One million dollars.
  • (informal) A euro
  • A frame on which firewood is sawed; a sawhorse; a sawbuck.
  • Synonyms
    * (male deer) stag * (male goat) billygoat, billy, buckling, buck-goat, he-goat * (male ferret) hob, hob-ferret * (ram) ram, tup * bill, bone, clam, cucumber, dead president, greenback, note, one-spot, paper, simoleon, single, smackeroo * (item that indicates dealer in poker) button, dealer button
    Derived terms
    * buckskin * crossbuck * young buck * pass the buck, buck-passing, the buck stops here * sawbuck (not descended from buck , but clearly influenced by) * buck naked (origin uncertain)
    See also
    * doe, doeling, ewe, gill, jill, nanny, nanny-goat, she-goat

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To copulate, as bucks and does.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . See above. Compare (bow).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To bend; buckle.
  • To leap upward arching its back, coming down with head low and forelegs stiff, forcefully kicking its hind legs upward, often in an attempt to dislodge or throw a rider or pack.
  • * 1849 , Jackey Jackey, The Statement of the Aboriginal Native Jackey Jackey, who Accompanied Mr. Kennedy'', William Carron, ''Narrative of an Expedition Undertaken Under the Direction of the Late Mr. Assistant Surveyor E. B. Kennedy , 2004 Gutenberg Australia eBook #0201121,
  • At the same time we got speared, the horses got speared too, and jumped and bucked all about, and got into the swamp.
  • To throw (a rider or pack) by bucking.
  • * W. E. Norris
  • The brute that he was riding had nearly bucked him out of the saddle.
  • (military) To subject to a mode of punishment which consists of tying the wrists together, passing the arms over the bent knees, and putting a stick across the arms and in the angle formed by the knees.
  • (by extension) To resist obstinately; oppose or object strongly.
  • The vice president bucked at the board's latest solution.
  • (by extension) To move or operate in a sharp, jerking, or uneven manner.
  • The motor bucked and sputtered before dying completely.
  • (by extension) To overcome or shed (, an impediment or expectation), in pursuit of a goal; to force a way through despite (an obstacle); to resist or proceed against.
  • The plane bucked a strong headwind.
    Our managers have to learn to buck the trend and do the right thing for their employees.
    John is really bucking the odds on that risky business venture. He's doing quite well.
  • (riveting) To press a reinforcing device (bucking bar) against (the force of a rivet) in order to absorb vibration and increase expansion. See Wikipedia: .
  • (forestry) To saw a tree into shorter lengths, as for firewood.
  • Derived terms
    * bucker * buck up * buck for * bucking bronco * buck the trend

    Etymology 3

    See beech.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Scotland) The beech tree.
  • (Johnson)
    Derived terms
    * buckmast, buck-mast

    Etymology 4

    Noun

  • lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed
  • The cloth or clothes soaked or washed.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To soak, steep or boil in lye or suds, as part of the bleaching process.
  • To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water.
  • (mining) To break up or pulverize, as ores.
  • (Webster 1913)

    bull

    English

    (wikipedia bull)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) bul, bule, from (etyl) . More at blow.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An adult male of domesticated cattle or oxen.
  • #Specifically, one that is uncastrated.
  • An adult male of certain large mammals, such as whales, elephants and seals.
  • A large, strong man.
  • (lb) An investor who buys (commodities or securities) in anticipation of a rise in prices.
  • (lb) 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.
  • *1859 ,
  • *: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).
  • A man.
  • Synonyms
    * guy, dude, bro, cat * cop, copper, pig (derogatory''), rozzer (''British ). See also
    Antonyms
    * bear
    Coordinate terms
    * cow, ox, calf, steer

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Large and strong, like a bull.
  • Of large mammals, male.
  • a bull elephant
  • (finance) Of a market in which prices are rising (compare bear)
  • Synonyms
    * (large and strong) beefy, hunky, robust * (male): male
    Antonyms
    * (large and strong): feeble, puny, weak * (male): female * (of a market): bear

    Verb

  • To force oneself (in a particular direction).
  • He bulled his way in .
  • To lie, to tell untruths.
  • To be in heat; to manifest sexual desire as cows do.
  • (UK, military) To polish boots to a high shine.
  • (finance) To endeavour to raise the market price of.
  • to bull railroad bonds
  • (finance) To endeavour to raise prices in.
  • to bull the market

    Derived terms

    * bulldog * bulldozer * bulldust * bullfrog * bullhorn * bull in a china shop * bullseye * bullshit * bull wheel * shoot the bull * take the bull by the horns

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) bulle'', from (etyl) ''bulle'', from Low (etyl) ''bulla

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.
  • A seal affixed to a document, especially a document from the Pope.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to publish in a Papal bull
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) . Popularly associated with (bullshit).

    Noun

    (-)
  • A lie.
  • (euphemistic, informal) Nonsense.
  • Synonyms
    * (nonsense) See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to mock, cheat
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a bubble
  • ----