bull pen

or bullpen

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noun

Baseball.

a place where relief pitchers warm up during a game.
the relief pitchers on a team.

Informal.

a large cell or room, usually next to the courtroom, where prisoners are temporarily held.
a large room in an office occupied by many employees.

any temporary or crowded quarters, as sleeping quarters in a lumber camp.

a pen for a bull or bulls.

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Origin of bull pen

1800–10, Americanismfor def. 4; 1920–25 for def. 1

Words nearby bull pen

bullock's-heart, Bullock's oriole, bullocky, bull of the woods, bullous, bull pen, bullpout, bull riding, bullring, bull-roarer, bull rope

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bull pen in a sentence

Storey said Wright often returned applications “dripping in red pen.”
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.|David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One industry executive complained that Wright returned unapproved applications “dripping in red pen.”
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.|David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
So, I had a pen and a pencil and started scribbling and drawing, and I felt good about it.
The Renegade: Robert Downey Sr. on His Classic Films, Son’s Battle with Drugs, and Bill Cosby|Marlow Stern|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Artists would use pen names and scrawl them across subway cars, walls, shops, and office buildings.
Catch Him If You Can: Reliving Banksy’s New York Invasion|Alex Suskind|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST

When you are firing out at night, the red tracers go out into the blackness as if you were drawing with a light pen.
War Is Hell and Such Good Fun|Don Gomez|November 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The well-known "cock and bull" stories of small children are inspired by this love of strong effect.
Children's Ways|James Sully
Squinty, several times, looked at the hole under the pen, by which he had once gotten out.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum
Several times after this the boy and his sisters came to look down into the pig pen.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
And right after that, some nice sour milk would come splashing down into the trough of the pen.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum

British Dictionary definitions for bull pen

bullpen

/ (ˈbʊlˌpɛn) /

noun

US informal a large cell where prisoners are confined together temporarily

baseball a part of a baseball field where relief pitchers warm up

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012