cull

American  

[kuhl] / kʌl /

verb (used with object)

1. 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.

2. 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

3. to collect; gather; pluck.

   Quotations are culled from a variety of literature, diaries and letters, local histories, journals, and newspapers.

   Synonyms:

   amass, garner

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noun

1. the act of culling.

2. something culled, especially something picked out and put aside as inferior.

cull British  

/ kʌl /

verb

1. to choose or gather the best or required examples

2. to take out (an animal, esp an inferior one) from a herd

3. to reduce the size of (a herd or flock) by killing a proportion of its members

4. to gather (flowers, fruit, etc)

5. to cease to employ; get rid of

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noun

1. the act or product of culling

2. 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

This wasn’t a major housecleaning but more like a culling of online subscriptions.

From The Wall Street Journal

Predictably, calls for shark culls have gathered momentum and volume.

From BBC

Animal welfare activists allege that the number of dogs that have been culled is much higher than what the police have confirmed so far.

From BBC

A cull of these half-dead businesses is freeing up capital and labor for more entrepreneurial, productive firms, while also allowing those healthier companies to improve their own profitability.

From The Wall Street Journal

That decision will be tied in with when the URC can find another side to replace the culled Welsh team in the league.

From BBC

Related Words

• extract
• glean
• pluck
• select
• sift
• winnow