cull
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to select and remove from a group, especially to discard or destroy as inferior.
When I cull the smaller curved saplings, I'm careful to protect and nurture the straighter and larger trees.
-
to discard unwanted parts or remove choice parts from (a group).
Ranchers must decide whether to buy expensive feed or cull their herds to weather the drought.
- Synonyms:
- single out, cherry-pick
-
Quotations are culled from a variety of literature, diaries and letters, local histories, journals, and newspapers.
noun
-
the act of culling.
-
something culled, especially something picked out and put aside as inferior.
verb
-
to choose or gather the best or required examples
-
to take out (an animal, esp an inferior one) from a herd
-
to reduce the size of (a herd or flock) by killing a proportion of its members
-
to gather (flowers, fruit, etc)
-
to cease to employ; get rid of
noun
-
the act or product of culling
-
an inferior animal taken from a herd or group
Other Word Forms
- culler noun
- outcull verb (used with object)
- overcull verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of cull
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English coilen, cuilen, cullen, from Anglo-French, Old French coillir, cuillir, from Latin colligere “to gather”; collect 1
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.
Some of California’s most popular campuses, including the UCs and USC, do not use AI to cull applicants, and use only human readers and admissions staff.
From Los Angeles Times
Bardot - or B.B. as she was known in France - campaigned against the annual seal cull in Canada, and irritated some of her countrymen by condemning the eating of horse meat.
From BBC
To solve it, she has employed a full-time worker whose main job is culling deer.
From BBC
Cooked on a stone slate -- or in a hot pot with vegetables -- the meat comes from bears culled to curb maulings that have killed a record 13 people this year.
From Barron's
The wild deer "populations are essentially culled by trained people," Davies said, adding "the traceability is very clear".
From Barron's
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.
