bulldog
Americannoun
-
bulldogs
plural
-
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.
-
Informal. a stubbornly persistent person.
-
a short-barreled revolver of large caliber.
-
Metallurgy. slag from a puddling furnace.
-
an assistant to the proctor at Oxford and Cambridge universities.
adjective
verb (used with object)
-
to attack in the manner of a bulldog.
-
Western U.S. to throw (a calf, steer, etc.) to the ground by seizing the horns and twisting the head.
noun
-
a sturdy thickset breed of dog with an undershot jaw, short nose, broad head, and a muscular body
-
(at Oxford University) an official who accompanies the proctors on ceremonial occasions
-
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:
The results can be found today in professional locker rooms around the country, today’s stars never forgetting the 5-foot-4 bulldog who gave them their first headline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 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
At the time, Ibrahimovic had an English bulldog who could handle going downhill, but struggled going the other way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
They told the landlord they had one French bulldog, despite owning a micro bully and two XL bullies, a breed banned in 2024.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
Grandpop’s voice sounded different without teeth, and his top lip tucked itself behind his bottom like a bulldog.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
“Due to the unique anatomy of their airways, bulldogs can experience more respiratory distress in their golden years and may also have a harder time regulating their temperature as a result,” Greenstein says.
From MarketWatch ● May 19, 2026
For example, the likes of pugs, Frenchies and English bulldogs all have issues with their breathing because of their squashed facial features and Scottish Fold cats suffer a lot from arthritis.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
Other popular members of this snub-nosed club include English bulldogs, Boston terriers, pugs and Brussels griffons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
You got some of the biggest bulldogs in Congress on the R and D side all working on this.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
They also raised cattle, goats, ducks, turkeys, terriers, bees, and English bulldogs.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
One of the Africans who publicly agreed with Stevenson was Nigeria's earthy, bulldogged Foreign Minister Jaja Wachuku, who noted that the wild, radical charges were not "the only opinion that exists within the African scene."
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
Hughes's bulldogged determination could make things interesting at the end.
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
