Bull Calf, subs. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull calf, a great hulkey or clumsy fellow.
Bull Chin, subs. (old).—Explained by quotation.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull chin, a fat, chubby child.
Bull-Dance, subs. (nautical).—A dance in which only men take part. Cf., Stag-dance, Gander-party, Hen-party, etc.
1867. Smyth, Sailors' Word Book. Bull-dance. At sea it is performed by men only when without women. It is sometimes called a stag-dance.
1887. Graphic, March 26, p. 315, col. 3. It is obliged to be a bull-dance. Gentlemen dance with gentlemen, and the pianist is, of course, a gentleman also.
Bull-Dog, subs. (old).—1. A sheriff's officer; a bailiff.
1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iii., 2. Mock. But pray what's the matter, Mrs. Lyric?
Lyric. Nothing, sir, but a shirking bookseller that owed me about forty guineas for a few lines. He would have put me off, so I sent for a couple of bull-dogs, and arrested him.
2. (old.)—A pistol; in the naval service a main-deck gun. Cf., Barker and Bull-dog blazer.
1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, iii., 2. He whips out his stiletto, and I whips out my bull-dog.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, ii., 191. 'I have always a brace of bull-dogs about me.'. . . So saying, he exhibited a very handsome, highly-finished, and richly-mounted pair of pistols.
1867. Smyth, Sailors' Word Book. Bull-dog or muzzled bull-dog, the great gun which stands housed in the officer's ward-room cabin. General term for main-deck guns.
1881. Daily News, Oct. 27, p. 6, col. 2. Revolver cartridges of the ordinary 'bull-dog' pattern.
3. (old.)—See quot.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Bull-dog, a sugar-loaf.
4. (University.)—A proctor's assistant or marshall. Cf., quot. from Brewer's Reader's Handbook.
1823. Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, I., x. (1842), 59. Long forgotten stories about proctor's bit and bull-dogs baffled. [m.]
1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. III., ch. iii. 'The proctor and his bull-dogs came up . . . and gave chase to the delinquents . . . the night was dark, and they reached the College in safety.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, Prologue.
We unworthier told Of college: he had climb'd across the spikes, And he had squeezed himself betwixt the bars, And he had breath'd the Proctor's dogs.
1880. Brewer, Reader's Handbook. Bull-dogs, the two servants of a university proctor, who follow him in his rounds, to assist him in apprehending students who are violating the university statues, such as appearing in the streets after dinner without cap and gown, etc.
5. (University: obsolete.)—name for a member of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Bull-Dog Blazer, subs. (American).—A revolver. [Probably a mere amplification of the kindred English canting term; bull-dog, a pistol, + blazer, an allusion to the flash attendant upon firing.] For synonyms, see Meat in the pot.
Bull-Dose, subs. (American).—A severe castigation or flogging. Verb.—To thrash; to intimidate; to bully. A term of Southern political origin, originally referring to an association of negroes formed to insure, by violent and unlawful means, the success of an election. The phrase has now
