2. A letter, edict, or respect, of the pope, written in
Gothic characters on rough parchment, sealed with a bulla,
and dated ``a die Incarnationis,'' i. e., ``from the day
of the Incarnation.'' See Apostolical brief, under
{Brief}.
A fresh bull of Leo's had declared how inflexible
the court of Rome was in the point of abuses.
--Atterbury.
3. A grotesque blunder in language; an apparent congruity,
but real incongruity, of ideas, contained in a form of
expression; so called, perhaps, from the apparent
incongruity between the dictatorial nature of the pope's
bulls and his professions of humility.
And whereas the papist boasts himself to be a Roman
Catholic, it is a mere contradiction, one of the
pope's bulls, as if he should say universal
particular; a Catholic schimatic. --Milton.
{The Golden Bull}, an edict or imperial constitution made by
the emperor Charles IV. (1356), containing what became the
fundamental law of the German empire; -- so called from
its golden seal.
{Bull bat} (Zo["o]l.), the night hawk; -- so called from the
loud noise it makes while feeding on the wing, in the
evening.
{Bull calf}.
(a) A stupid fellow.
{Bull mackerel} (Zo["o]l.), the chub mackerel.
{Bull pump} (Mining), a direct single-acting pumping engine,
in which the steam cylinder is placed above the pump.
{Bull snake} (Zo["o]l.), the pine snake of the United States.
{Bull stag}, a castrated bull. See {Stag}.
{Bull wheel}, a wheel, or drum, on which a rope is wound for
lifting heavy articles, as logs, the tools in well boring,
etc.
Note: The wild bull of the Old Testament is thought to be the
oryx, a large species of antelope.
2. One who, or that which, resembles a bull in character or
action. --Ps. xxii. 12.
3. (Astron.)
(a) Taurus, the second of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
(b) A constellation of the zodiac between Aries and
Gemini. It contains the Pleiades.
At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun, And
the bright Bull receives him. --Thomson.
4. (Stock Exchange) One who operates in expectation of a rise
in the price of stocks, or in order to effect such a rise.
See 4th {Bear}, n., 5.
{Bull baiting}, the practice of baiting bulls, or rendering
them furious, as by setting dogs to attack them.
{John Bull}, a humorous name for the English, collectively;
also, an Englishman. ``Good-looking young John Bull.''
--W. D.Howells.
{To take the bull by the horns}, to grapple with a difficulty
instead of avoiding it.