bulldog
Americannoun
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bulldogs
plural
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one of an English breed of medium-sized, short-haired, muscular dogs with prominent, undershot jaws, usually having a white and tan or brindled coat, raised originally for bullbaiting.
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Informal. a stubbornly persistent person.
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a short-barreled revolver of large caliber.
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Metallurgy. slag from a puddling furnace.
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an assistant to the proctor at Oxford and Cambridge universities.
adjective
verb (used with object)
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to attack in the manner of a bulldog.
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Western U.S. to throw (a calf, steer, etc.) to the ground by seizing the horns and twisting the head.
noun
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a sturdy thickset breed of dog with an undershot jaw, short nose, broad head, and a muscular body
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(at Oxford University) an official who accompanies the proctors on ceremonial occasions
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commerce a fixed-interest bond issued in Britain by a foreign borrower
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bulldog
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But above all, El-Sayed is a bulldog, happy to bite back in a way we rarely see from any candidate, never mind a Muslim one.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026
For steward Liam Davidson, it is a desire to see his French bulldog, Bailey, at the end of his fortnight on board.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
It’s her fourth time participating, and last year she secured second place, losing to a 2-year-old hairless Frenchie and English bulldog mix named Petunia who had been rescued from a backyard breeder in Las Vegas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
But most of these intellectual flights are cleverly couched in the jowly mundanities of bulldog existence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Her face reminded Meggie of a bulldog, but perhaps that was more her ferocious expression than its features.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
Could she and Kelce make Samoyeds the next French bulldogs?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
“We’ve seen it in Dalmatians when ‘101 Dalmatians’ came out, or retrievers when ‘Marley & Me’ came out, or French bulldogs when Lady Gaga got her French bulldog” in 2014, said Munden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Because bulldogs are only supposed to live until 8 or 10, he is kind of middle-aged.
From MarketWatch ● May 19, 2026
Dogs pant to keep themselves cool, but the shorter snouts of certain flat-faced breeds like bulldogs and pugs make this difficult.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2025
He has hairy dark arms with tattoos of jokers, swords, bulldogs, and pirate ships.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
Hughes's bulldogged determination could make things interesting at the end.
From Time Magazine Archive
Next day one was still at large in the countryside; the other was bulldogged after he darted into a ball game, tossed two would-be captors, and tried to gore an automobile.
From Time Magazine Archive
Rozier is a brute with guile, whose balance is such that he seems to be bulldogged off the field more often than he is tumbled off his feet.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Federal Board took its cues from the State but the final decision on the status of any lot of oil actually rested on a bulldogged, stone-steady gentleman named Captain E. N. Stanley.
From Time Magazine Archive
With my three little traps and a bulldogged determination, I set out to trap Mister Ringtail.
From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
In Fort Worth, celebrations included the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, named for the Black cowboy who is credited with introducing bulldogging, or steer wrestling.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 19, 2022
Fort Collins, for instance, was supposed to have goat roping, steer bulldogging competitions, a shooting exhibition from the U.S.
From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2021
William “Bill” Pickett was a famous rodeo star credited with founding the sport bulldogging, also known as steer wrestling.
From Fox News ● Jul. 3, 2020
“Some guys just have a knack of bulldogging their way through an inning, you know?”
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2014
Mr. Huxley stopped in a few times while they were there, to take breaks from his bulldogging and to get more direction and advice from Charles.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
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