a bull in a china shop
Someone very clumsy or careless in a delicate situation.
Bulls · Bò đực 55
Related topics: Historical slang (1800s) Food Cattle Colors Dated Animal idioms
bull and cow
An argument; a row.
bull con
A confidence trick, or deceptive speech by a swindler.
bull ring
A corral wherein horses are exercised and riders trained.
bull up
To throw darts, aiming at a bullseye, to determine who goes first in a match.
charge like a wounded bull
To charge exorbitant prices.
fit as a Mallee bull
In good physical health.
half bull
A coin worth half a crown (two shilling and sixpence; 2s 6d).
harness bull
A uniformed police officer.
hung like a bull
Having a particularly large penis.
if you mess with the bull, you get the horns
Synonym of when you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
like a bull in a china shop
Clumsy, aggressive, without care, concern or self-control.
load of bull
Something that is not true, a mass of lies (refers to bullshit).
mess with the bull and you get the horns
Synonym of when you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
mess with the bull, get the horns
Synonym of when you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
red rag to a bull
Something that will enrage another particular person.
strong as a bull
Very strong.
take (or grab) the bull by the horns
To deal bravely and decisively with a difficult, dangerous, or unpleasant situation; to deal with a matter in a direct manner, especially to confront a difficulty rather than avoid it.
useful as tits on a bull
Totally useless.
when you mess with the bull, you get the horns
If you provoke someone dangerous, you can expect an aggressive reaction.
a brazen bull
An instrument of torture. See PHALARIS. He may bear a bull that hath borne a calf (Erasmus: Proverbs) — "He that accustometh hym-selfe to lytle thynges, by lytle and lytle shal be able to go a waye with greater thynges'* (Ta verner).
A bull ID a china shop
A maladroit hand interfering with a delicate business; one who produces reckless destruction.
a cock and bull story
A long, rambling, idle, or incredible yarn; a canard. There are various so-called explanations of the origin of the term, but the most likely is that it is connected with the old fables in which cocks, bulls, and other animals discoursed in human language on things m general.
banbury story of a cock and a bull
A fanciful and implausible tale
Brazen Bull
Perillos of Athens made a brazen bull for Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, intended for the execution of criminals, who were shut up m the bull, fires being lighted below the belly. Phalaris admired the in- vention, and tested it on Perillos himself, who was the first person baked to death in the horrible monster.
bull
An Exchange Alley term for one who buys stock on speculation for time, i.e. agrees with the seller, called a Bear, to take a certain sum of stock at a future day, at a stated price: if at that day stock fetches more than the price agreed on, he receives the difference; if it falls or is cheaper, he either pays it, or becomes a lame duck, and waddles out of the Alley. See LAME DUCK and BEAR.
bull
One who agrees to purchase stock at a future day, at a stated price, but who simply speculates for a rise in public securities to render the transaction a profitable one. Should stocks fall, the BULL is then called upon to pay the difference. See BEAR, who is the opposite of a BULL, the former selling, the latter purchasing—the one operating for a fall, the other for a rise.
bull and boar
A butcher shop or meat market
Bull and Gate
Bull and Mouth. Public- house signs. A corruption of Boulogne Gate or Mouth, adopted out of compliment to Henry VIII, who took Boulogne in 1544. The public-house sign consisting of a plain (or coloured) bull is usually with reference to the cognizance of the house of Clare. The sign of the famous Bull and Mouth Inn in Alders- gate St.
bull butter
bullshit
bull calf
A great hulkey or clumsy fellow. See HULKEY.
bull gravy
Nonsense; bullshit.
bull hankers
Persons who over-drive bulls, or frequent bull baits.
bull in a china shop
Someone who causes damage or chaos due to their carelessness
bull session
An informal discussion or gathering where people talk casually
bull the cask
To pour hot water into an empty rum puncheon, and let it stand until it extracts the spirit from the wood. The mixture is drunk by sailors in default of something stronger.—Sea.
bull's feather
A horn: he wears the bull's feather; he is a cuckold.
cock and a bull story
A roundabout story, without head or tail, i.e. beginning or ending.
cock and bull story
A long, rambling anecdote.—See Peroration to Tristram Shandy.
grab the bull by the horns
Take control of a difficult situation with confidence and determination
John Bull
The national nickname for an Englishman, represented as a bluff, kind- hearted, bull-headed farmer. The character is from Dr. John Arbuthnof s satire The History of John Bull, which was originally published in 1712 as Law in a Bottomless Pit. "John Bull" is the Englishman, the Frenchman is termed Lewis Baboon, the Dutchman Nicholas Frog, etc.
like a bull at a gate
To act impulsively and aggressively
like a red rag to a bull
Something that provokes a strong and angry reaction
milking the bull
Wasting effort on something unproductive
shoot the bull
to chat casually and idly
Sitting Bull
A famous warrior chief of the Sioux Indians, born on Grand River, South Dakota, in 1834. He commanded the Indians who defeated General Custer at Little Big Horn, 1 876, but was Rilled on December 5th, 1890 while resisting arrest at Fort Yates, N. Dakota, during the Sioux rebellion of that year.
The Farnese Bull
A colossal group attribu- ted to Apollonius and Tauriscus of Tralles, in
The Geneva Bull
A nickname given to Stephen Marshall (c. 1594-1655), a Presby- terian divine, and one of the authors of Smectymnuus (?.v.), because he was a disciple of John Calvin, of Geneva, and when preach- ing he roared like a "bull of Bashan.
The Pope's bull
An edict or mandate issued by the Pope, so called from the heavy leaden seal (Lat. build) appended to the document. See GOLDEN BULL.
throw the bull
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
throw the bull around
To discuss or throw around an idea
to score a bull
See BULL'S-EYE. To take the bull by the horns. To attack or encounter a threatened danger fearlessly; to go forth boldly to meet a difficulty.
town bull
A common whoremaster. To roar like a town bull; to cry or bellow aloud.
town bull
A bull kept by the parish, in country places, for breeding purposes.
you can't milk a bull
Some things are impossible or pointless to attempt