bullhead

American  

[bool-hed] / ˈbʊlˌhɛd /

noun

1. any of several North American, freshwater catfishes of the genus Ictalurus, having a rounded or truncate caudal fin.

2. any of several other fishes, as the freshwater sculpins of the genus Cottus, especially those species having a hornlike spine on each side of the head.

3. an obstinate or stupid person.

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bullhead British  

/ ˈbʊlˌhɛd /

noun

1. any of various small northern mainly marine scorpaenoid fishes of the family Cottidae that have a large head covered with bony plates and spines

2. any freshwater North American catfish of the genus Ameiurus (or Ictalurus ), having a large head bearing several long barbels

3. a scorpion fish, Scorpaena guttata , of North American Pacific coastal waters

4. informal a stupidly stubborn or unintelligent person

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Etymology

Origin of bullhead

An Americanism dating back to 1665–75; bull ¹ + head

Example Sentences

Fish passage has also been opened for other species recorded in the river, including the critically endangered European eel as well as grayling, trout, lamprey, minnow, stone loach, and bullhead.

From BBC • Nov. 13, 2025

McNeish, who has examined the fish carcasses since late August, has identified non-native species including bass, sunfish, bullhead catfish and mosquitofish.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2024

One fish, a brown bullhead, had the astounding concentration of twenty-five hundred parts per million.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 3, 2017

He sorted through more than 200 bullhead in pursuit of a channel catfish.

From Washington Times • Oct. 25, 2014

A bullhead can immediately identify the water in which a recent adversary has been swimming, and he can distinguish between this fish and all others in the school.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas