bully

[bool-ee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bully ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural bul·lies.

a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.

Archaic. a man hired to do violence.

Obsolete. a pimp; procurer.

Obsolete. good friend; good fellow.

Obsolete. sweetheart; darling.

verb (used with object), bul·lied, bul·ly·ing.

to act the bully toward; intimidate; domineer.

verb (used without object), bul·lied, bul·ly·ing.

to be loudly arrogant and overbearing.

adjective

Informal. fine; excellent; very good.

dashing; jovial; high-spirited.

interjection

Informal. good! well done!

Origin of bully

First recorded in 1530–40, bully is from the Middle Dutch word boele lover

Related formsbul·ly·a·ble, adjectiveun·bul·lied, adjectiveun·bul·ly·ing, adjective

Synonyms for bully

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bully ON THESAURUS.COM

6. cow, browbeat, coerce; terrorize, tyrannize.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bullying

imperious, hectoring, swaggering, despotic

Examples from the Web for bullying

Contemporary Examples of bullying

Removing choice is bullying and seems a horrid basis on which to anchor your relationship.
Public Marriage Proposals Must Die
Tauriq Moosa
December 28, 2014
In light of the Michael Brown shooting, others have come forward to share their own stories of bullying, and harassment by police.
Are College Educated Police Safer?
Keli Goff
December 1, 2014
He recounts to her the bullying he receives at school, with classmates spitting on him as he walks down the halls.
‘To Russia With Love’: Can Johnny Weir Save Russia’s Gays?
Kevin Fallon
October 29, 2014
But The Source was also starting to develop a bullying reputation within the industry.
It Was All a Dream: Drama, Bullshit, and the Rebirth of The Source Magazine
Alex Suskind
October 14, 2014
“No camp counter-productive with bullying and lies,” he wrote.
Freeeeedom! Hollywood Fights for Scottish Independence
Nico Hines
September 15, 2014

Historical Examples of bullying

Grace's strategy was very clever, but Nora's bullying is all wrong.
Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus
Jessie Graham Flower
She removed his clothes too, bullying him in a motherly way.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
He'll see at once that you'll not stand this sort of bullying.
A Rent In A Cloud
Charles James Lever
"Your bullying does not terrify me in the least, Jasper Wilde," she said, calmly.
Jolly Sally Pendleton
Laura Jean Libbey
"Saves up his strength for bullying his family," the judge rejoined.
Peak and Prairie
Anna Fuller

British Dictionary definitions for bullying

bully

noun plural -lies

a person who hurts, persecutes, or intimidates weaker people

archaic a hired ruffian

obsolete a procurer; pimp

obsolete a fine fellow or friend

obsolete a sweetheart; darling

verb -lies, -lying or -lied

(when tr , often foll by into) to hurt, intimidate, or persecute (a weaker or smaller person), esp to make him do something

adjective

dashing; jollymy bully boy

informal very good; fine

interjection

Also: bully for you informal well done! bravo!

Word Origin for bully

C16 (in the sense: sweetheart, hence fine fellow, hence swaggering coward): probably from Middle Dutch boele lover, from Middle High German buole, perhaps childish variant of bruoder brother

bully

noun plural -lies

any of various small freshwater fishes of the genera Gobiomorphus and Philynodon of New ZealandAlso called (NZ): pakoko, titarakura, toitoi

Word Origin for bully

C20: short for cockabully

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

Word Origin and History for bullying

1802, verbal noun from bully (v.).

bully

1530s, originally "sweetheart," applied to either sex, from Dutch boel "lover; brother," probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch broeder "brother" (cf. Middle High German buole "brother," source of German Buhle "lover;" see brother (n.)).

Meaning deteriorated 17c. through "fine fellow" and "blusterer" to "harasser of the weak" (1680s, from bully-ruffian, 1650s). Perhaps this was by influence of bull (n.1), but a connecting sense between "lover" and "ruffian" may be in "protector of a prostitute," which was one sense of bully (though not specifically attested until 1706). The expression meaning "worthy, jolly, admirable" (especially in 1864 U.S. slang bully for you!) is first attested 1680s, and preserves an earlier, positive sense of the word.

bully

1710, from bully (n.). Related: Bullied; bullying.