Irish bull
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of Irish bull
First recorded in 1795–1805
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.
To employ an Irish bull, the chief event of last week was one that didn't happen.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week a Catholic philosopher was hooked by an Irish bull.
From Time Magazine Archive
"The distinction 290 of objects into phenomena and noumena, i.e., into things that for us exist, and things that for us do not exist, is an Irish bull in philosophy," said Heine.
From Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher by Jones, Henry, Sir
No; and that isn't an Irish bull, either.
From The Rules of the Game by White, Stewart Edward
Warham frightened them with the terrors of royal displeasure; and the clerics had to content their conscience with an Irish bull and a subterfuge.
From Henry VIII. by Pollard, A. F. (Albert Frederick)
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.
