bull pen
or bull·pen
- 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, Americanism for def 4; 1920–25 for def 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bull pen
Historical Examples
Jack was still excluded from the favorite game of “bull-pen.”
The Hoosier School-boyEdward Eggleston
I stuck her over there in the bull-pen and then I come straight to you.
Local ColorIrvin S. Cobb
Into this bull-pen, as it was called, Black ushered Carney by the light of a candle.
Bulldog CarneyW. A. Fraser
So I said, “Lodgers are often forced into the bull-pen, too, are they not?”
BrokeEdwin A. Brown
Behind this stand the bull-pen, and the profits and rentals go to the Church.
Woman, Church & StateMatilda Joslyn Gage