Bully

Definition: Bully

Bully

Adjective

1. (informal) very good; "a bully pulpit"; "a neat sports car"; "had a great time at the party"; "you look simply smashing".

Noun

1. A cruel and brutal fellow.

Verb

1. Be bossy towards; "Her big brother always bullied her when she was young".

2. Discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "bully" was first used: 1538. (references)

Etymology: Bully \Bul"ly\, noun, Bully beef \Bul"ly beef`\ [French bouilli boiled meat, from bouillir to boil. See Boil, verb. The word bouilli was formerly commonly used on the labels of canned beef.]. (references)

Literature

Mining

Multilingual Slang

Slang in 1811

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Bully

Approbation

Interjection: hear hear! bully for you! well done! bravo! bravissimo! euge! macte virtute! so far so good, that's right, quite right; optime! one cheer more; may your shadow never be less! esto perpetua! long life to! viva! enviva! Godspeed! valete et plaudite! encore! bis!

Bad Man

Rough, rowdy, hooligan, tough, ugly customer, mean mother, ruffian, bully, meanie; Jonathan Wild; hangman.

Blusterer

Noun: blusterer, swaggerer, vaporer, roisterer, brawler; fanfaron; braggart; (boaster); bully, terrorist, rough; bulldozer, hoodlum, hooligan, larrikin, roarer; Mohock, Mohawk; drawcansir, swashbuckler, Captain Bobadil, Sir Lucius O'Trigger, Thraso, Pistol, Parolles, Bombastes Furioso, Hector, Chrononhotonthologos; jingo; desperado, dare-devil, fire eater; fury; (violent person); rowdy; slang-whanger, tough.

Cheerfulness

Adjective: cheerful; happy; cheery, cheerly; of good cheer, smiling; blithe; in spirits, in good spirits; breezy, bully, chipper; in high spirits, in high feather; happy as the day is long, happy as a king; gay as a lark; allegro; debonair; light, lightsome, light hearted; buoyant, debonnaire, bright, free and easy, airy; janty, jaunty, canty; hedonic; riant; sprightly, sprightful; spry; spirited, spiritful; lively, animated, vivacious; brisk as a bee; sparkling, sportive; full of play, full of spirit; all alive.

Combatant

Noun: combatant; disputant, controversialist, polemic, litigant, belligerent; rival, corrival; fighter, assailant; champion, Paladin; mosstrooper, swashbuckler fire eater, duelist, bully, bludgeon man, rough.

Courage

Man, man of mettle; hero, demigod, Amazon, Hector; lion, tiger, panther, bulldog; fighting-cock; bully, fire eater.

Evil doer

Savage, brute, ruffian, barbarian, semibarbarian, caitiff, desperado; Apache, hoodlum, hood, plug-ugly, pug-ugly, Red Skin, tough; Mohawk, Mo-hock, Mo-hawk; bludgeon man, bully, rough, hooligan, larrikin, dangerous classes, ugly customer; thief.

Fear

Put in fear, put in bodily fear; terrorize, intimidate, cow, daunt, overawe, abash, deter, discourage; browbeat, bully; threaten.

Inexpedience

Best, choice, select, picked, elect, recherche, rare, priceless; unparagoned, unparalleled; (supreme); superlatively; good; bully, crackajack, giltedged; superfine,

Insolence

Domineer, bully, dictate, hector; lord it over; traiter de haut en bas, regarder de haut en bas; exact; snub, huff., beard, fly in the face of; put to the blush; bear down, beat down; browbeat, intimidate; trample down, tread down, trample under foot; dragoon, ride roughshod over.

Rashness

Desperado, rashling, madcap, daredevil, Hotspur, fire eater, bully, bravo, Hector, scapegrace, enfant perdu; Don Quixote, knight-errant, Icarus; adventurer; gambler, gamester; dynamitard; boomer.

Severity

Assume, usurp, arrogate, take liberties; domineer, bully; tyrannize, inflict, wreak, stretch a point, put on the screw; be hard upon; bear a heavy hand on, lay a heavy hand on; be down upon, come down upon; ill treat; deal hardly with, deal hard measure to; rule with a rod of iron, chastise with scorpions; dye with blood; oppress, override; trample under foot; tread under foot, tread upon, trample upon, tread down upon, trample down upon; crush under an iron heel, ride roughshod over; rivet the yoke; hold a tight hand, keep a tight hand; force down the throat; coerce; give no quarter; (pitiless) a.

Ship

Boat, pinnace, launch; life boat, long boat, jolly boat, bum boat, fly boat, ferry oat, canal boat; swamp boat, ark, bully, bateau battery, broadhorn, dory, droger, drogher; dugout, durham boat, flatboat, galiot; shallop, gig, funny, skiff, dingy, scow, cockleshell, wherry, coble, punt, cog, kedge, lerret; eight oar, four oar, pair oar; randan; outrigger; float, raft, pontoon; prame; iceboat, ice canoe, ice yacht.

Threat

Verb: threat, threaten; menace; snarl, growl, gnarl, mutter, bark, bully.

Crosswords: Bully

German (bully).

Ok, Intimidate me, bully me if it makes you feel big. I mean it's not like you can just kill me (Batman Returns; writing credit: Bob Kane; Daniel Waters)

I used to be quite a scrapper at school, y'know. There was this one big bully, always used to be pickin' on me, so one day I went wham-o (The Monkees; writing credit: Dee Caruso; Gerald Gardner)

Oh, my God, that mean bully act is so 1983 I could vomit (Will & Grace; writing credit: Evan Weinstein)

Leave him alone, you bully! If Peter were here (Peter Pan and the Pirates; writing credit: Gregory Bernstein; Sara Bernstein)

Listen, my niece has been living with us for 3 months, and she is my responsibility, if some bully is harassing her, I'm gonna do something about it (Titus; writing credit: Karl-Heinz Käfer)

Big Billy, who had a big belly was also a big bully. (references; author: unknown)

Bully for Pink (1965)

The Littlest Bully (1960)

Bully for Bugs (1953)

The Bully (1951)

A Bully Romance (1939)

Wooly Bully (performing artist: Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! (Unforgettable Americans) (reference)

• Jake Drake: Bully Buster (Ready for Chapters) (reference)

• Take the Bully by the Horns (reference)

• The Ant Bully (reference)

• The Berenstain Bears and the Bully (First Time Books) (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• GTO - The Bully (Vol. 2) (reference)

• Big Bully (reference)

• Bully (Unrated Edition) (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Bully (reference)

• Bully [EXPLICIT LYRICS] (reference)

• Raging Bully [LIVE] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Consumer Goods

• Floor Bully 91300Q Floor Stripping Tool (reference)

  (more baby examples; more wireless phone examples; more garden examples; more kitchen examples; more tool examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Set to between Old Hickory and Bully Nick. Credit: Library of Congress.

A darktown lawn party: A bully time. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

And then, to harness himself like a bully, and to strap himself up like a flirt, to wear a corset under a cuirass, is to be ridiculous twice over

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "bully": bully about ♦ bully around ♦ bully beef ♦ bully boy ♦ bully for him! ♦ bully for you! ♦ bully is always a coward ♦ bully off ♦ bully pulpit ♦ Bully tree ♦ hired bully ♦ Interjection: hear hear! bully for you! well done! bravo! bravissimo! euge! macte virtute! so far so good. Additional references.

Beginning with "bully": bully-and-biscuit, bully-beef, bully-boy, bully-boys, bully-off.

Albanian

mish kau (beef), kokorroç, detyroj (bind, coerce, compel, constrain, dragoon, enforce, entail, force, have, haze, impel, keep, make, move, obligate, oblige, outface, pin down, press, push, rack, screw, strong arm, tie). (various references)

Arabic 

‏لحم بقر معلب, ‏حامي العاهرة, ‏تنمر, ‏سغير, ‏زميل (associate, buddy, chum, compatriot, fellow, friend, mate), ‏ضايق (aggrieve, annoy, distress, disturb, dog, fret, get in the way, gnaw, grate, grill, harass, harrow, harry, incommode, inconvenience, irk, jar, jolt, molest, nag, persecute, pester, pick, rag, rattle, saddle, torment), ‏خوف (browbeat, dread, fear, fright, frighten, frightfulness, give a scare, horror, panic, put the wind up, scare, terror, trepidation), ‏المتنمر, ‏المستأسد, ‏أرهب (alarm, browbeat, buffalo, bulldoze, daunt, dread, horrify, overawe, shoot up, terrify, terrorize), ‏رفيق (associate, billyboy, boy friend, brush, buddy, chum, companion, compatriot, comrade, comradely, consort, escort, familiar, fellow, friend, helpmate, lenient, mate, pal, pard, partner, playfellow, stool, vis a vis, yokefellow), ‏رافق (accompany, bring, carry, chaperon, companion, company, escort, follow, join, pursue, see, see off, string, string along with, take, take along, take out). (various references)

Bulgarian 

сутеньор (fancy men, gigolo, ponce, souteneur), сводник (cadet, decoy, go between, pander, pimp, procurer), симпатия (liking, sympathy), хулиган (butch, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, lout, punk, rough, roughneck, rowdy, tearaway, yob), тормозя (badger, bait, bedevil, chivy, excruciate, fret, harass, hunt down, jade, murder, persecute, pester, pick on, plague, play up, prey, push, put upon, rack, rag, ride, scourge, worry), кавгаджия (brawler, broiler, scrapper, wrangler), вкарване на топката в игра, малтретирам (abuse, ill treat, ill use, maltreat, manhandle, mishandle, mistreat, misuse, rough up, work over), побойник (bruiser, ruffian, thrasher). (various references)

Chinese 

轢 (to bully, wheel-rut), 欺� (to bully), 欺侮 (to bully), 欺凌 (to bully and humiliate), 欺�" (to bully, to push around). (various references)

Czech

zastrašovat (terrorize), tyran (despot, oppressor, tyrant), terorizovat (terrorize), násilník (bullyboy, mugger, rapist, rough, thug), klacek (bludgeon, club, cudgel, hobbledehoy, lout, lubber, stick), šikanovat (harass, victimize). (various references)

Danish

boremejsel (chisel bit). (various references)

Dutch

boorhamer (air percussion drill, percussive drill, rock drill drifter). (various references)

Farsi 

پهلوان پنبه (Bravado), قلدری کردن , قلدر, گوشت (Brawn, Viand), گردن کلفت (Dumpy, Roughneck, Ruffian, Stodgy, Thug), تحکیم کردن (Prestress, Strengthen). (various references)

Finnish

tyrannisoida (browbeat, tyrannize), simputtaa, kallioporakone. (various references)

French

brutalisons, brutalisez, brutaliser, brutalisent, b�"uf en boite, tyran, terroriser, petit dur, marteau perforateur, malmener, garde de prostituée, faire peur, ennuyer, corned-beef, épatant. (various references)

German

tyrann (thug, tyrant). (various references)

Greek 

κρουστικό γεωτρύπανο, νταήσ (rowdy), νταής, παλληκαρεύομαι (roister), φοβερίζω (awe, bulldoze, menace, threaten), αερόσφυρα (air drill, dry drill, pneumatic drill, pneumatic hammer, pneumatic pick), θρασύδειλοσ (dastard, scaramouch), θρασύδειλος (cowardly), διατρητική σφύρα, ψευτοπαλλήκαρο (swashbuckler). (various references)

Hebrew 

ל�"תעמר (be harsh, ill treat), ל�"פחי�" (browbeat, cow, daunt, dismay, frighten, put the wind up, scare, terrify), ל�"ציק באלימות, בריון (hoodlum, hooligan, outlaw, plug ugly, punk, rebel, ruffian, tearaway, terrorist, thug). (various references)

Hungarian

remek (aces, bitching, clinker, corking, crackajack, dandy, dashing, delicious, divvy, excellent, glorious, grand, great, helluva, ideal, jake, masterful, mind-blowing, nifty, prime, proud, racy anecdote, rattling, ripping, scrumptious, smashing, sniffy, spiffy, superb, swell, tall, thumbs up, to be all aces, top notch, wow), pompás (beyond all praise, brilliant, dandy, divine, glorious, gorgeous, grand, grandiose, heavenly, hunky-dory, lavish, lovely, magnificent, pageant, pompous, princely, proud, rattling, rich, ripping, scrumptious, smashing, some, splendid, stunning, superb, swell, tiptop, top notch), zsarnok (absolute ruler, autocrat, despot, dictator, oppressor, satrap, terrorist, tyrant), marhahúskonzerv (bully beef), másokat terrorizáló ember, erőszakos ember (ape, bucko, bully boy, go-getter). (various references)

Indonesian

baut, tukang gertak, menggertak (bluff, bluster, browbeat, buffalo, goash, snap at, snarl, spur, threaten), judes, algojo (executioner, hangman, tormentor). (various references)

Italian

tiranneggiare (domineer, tyrannise, tyrannize), prepotente (bossy, high handed, overbearing, overpowering), opprimere (charge, grind, load, oppress, overlay, overpower, ride, smother, soffocate, suppress, tyrannize, vex, weigh down), martello perforatore (air percussion drill, percussive drill, rock drill drifter), dominatore (dominator, ruler). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

�"鬼大将 (boss of the children), 苛めっ子 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

がき� いしょう (boss of the children), いじめっ�". (various references)

Manx

postyragh (bullying, hectoring, self-important), postyr (scold), croshvuilley (bully off), braggartaghey, braggartagh (bullying, vaunting). (various references)

Pig Latin

ullybay.(various references)

Portuguese

valentão (goon, ruffian, tough), tirânico (arbitrary, domineering, oppressive, tyrannic, tyrannical, tyrannous), rixa (affray, riot, rumpus, scrimmage, scuffle, tussle), oprimir (bow, burden, cumber, hold down, load, oppress, overbear, overlay, overtax, overwhelm, pinch, press, weight, whelm, yoke), mandão (bossy, cock-a-doodle-doo), maltratar (abuse, fib, ill-treat, ill-use, maltreat, manhandle, maul, mishandle, mistreat, misuse, mob), fanfarrão (blatherskite, blow, blusterer, blusterous, boaster, boastful, bouncer, brag, braggadocio, braggart, bulldozer, dandy, fanfaron, mouther, roisterer, roistering, scaramouch, sidy, swaggerer, swanky, thrasonical, windy), famoso (bright, celebrated, famed, famous, far-famed, great, noted, renowned, successful), esplêndido (clipping, crack, famous, glorious, gorgeous, lovely, magnificent, nailing, noble, palmary, princely, ripping, scrumptious, splendid, splendiferous, stunning, superb, topping, wonderful), escaramuça (scrimmage, skirmish), carne salgada (junk), assustar (affray, affright, appal, appall, daunt, dismay, frighten, funk, intimidate, scare, startle), arreliar (bullyrag, chaff, corkscrew, fret, kid, needle, persecute, rag, ruffle, tease, torment, twit), ameaçar (bludgeon, menace, overhang, threaten). (various references)

Romanian

brutaliza (bedevil, brutalize, mishandle, misuse), bravo (attaboy, bravo, capital, excellent, good business, good show, hear, hot dog, well done), bãtãuş (beater, brawler, rough neck, rowdy, striker), tiran (oppressor, tyrant), teroriza (bludgeon, browbeat, bulldozer, haze, huff, terrorize), terorist (bulldozer, goon, gunman, terrorist, terrorizer), târâie-brâu (brawler, kicker, scallywag, squabbler), om certãreţ, nu lãsa în pace (keep at, pester, pother), nemaipomenit (abject, bright, egregious, lovely, lumme, magnificent, nut, priceless, sad, tremendous, unbelievable, unheard of, unparalleled, unprecedented), intimida (browbeat, concuss, confuse, cow, daunt, face down, frighten, intimidate, shake), huligan (bulldozer, hoodlum, hooligan, larrikin, rough, rough neck, rowdy, ruffian, tough), grozav (a, almighty, atrocious, awful, awfully, bally, beastly, classy, clinking, Dandy, desperate, dreadful, exceedingly, excessively, famous, fell, first rate, formidable, frightful, gee, ghastly, grand, horrible, horrid, immense, immensely, jolly, killing, like blazes, like hell, lovely, mad, magnificent, mightily, nicely, nifty, plush, plushy, proper, ripping, some, stunning, swell, terrible, terribly, terrific, thundering, topping, tremendous, tremendously, uncommonly, vastly, whacking), ciomãgar (brawler). (various references)

Russian 

хулиган (highbinder, hoodlum, hooligan, oik, plug ugly, plug-ugly, rough, rough neck, rough-neck, rowdy, ruffian), запугивать задира, задирать, задира (cock sparrow, cockerel, rooster, teaser). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zlostavljati (abuse, ballyrag, maltreat, molest), zastrašivati (affright, frighten), siledžija (assailant, bucko, goon, hooligan, plug ugly, punk, rough, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian). (various references)

Spanish

matón (bruiser, goon, gorilla, heavy, hoodlum, plug ugly, rough, roughneck, ruffian, thug). (various references)

Swedish

översittare. (various references)

Turkish

bravo (attaboy, bravo, cheers, well done), belâlı (calamitous, difficult, hard bitten, pesky, plaguy, thorny, troublesome), zulmetmek (dragoon, tyrannize, tyrannize over), zorlamak (be urgent with smb., bludgeon, clamor down, clamour down, coerce, compel, constrain, cow smb. into, cozen, do violence to, drag in, drive, edge on, enforce, exact, force, impel, impose, impress, lean upon, obligate, outrage, press, press-gang smb. into doing smth., pressure, push, push smb. for, railroad, railroad into doing, stampede, strain, stretch, subdue, sweat, twist smb.'s arm, urge, worry, wrest), zorbalık etmek (domineer, overbear), zorba (autocratic, autocratical, despot, extortioner, extortionist, high handed, imperious, overbearing, persecutor, procrustean, rapacious, ravisher, rowdy, ruffian), mükemmel (accomplished, all around, alpha plus, ambrosial, bang up, banner, beyond praise, capital, champion, classic, classical, classy, commanding, complete, consummate, cool, copybook, Dandy, dreamy, elegant, excellent, famous, famously, faultless, fine, finished, first class, great, immense, jolly good, no mean, par excellence, perfect, ripping, scrumptious, slap up, smashing, smooth, solid, sovereign, spiffing, spiffy, splendid, splendiferous, super, superb, superlative, that takes the cake, the dandy, thorough, thoroughgoing, tiptop, to a turn, to the nines, topping, triumphant, unique), kiralık haydut, kabadayı (blusterer, bulldozer, Hector, hoodlum, hooligan, rapscallion, rough, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian, swashbuckler, tough, toughie, villain), harika (beautiful, cool, corking, divine, fabulous, fantastic, fantastical, far out, gorgeous, groovy, immense, in the groove, jolly good, keen, marvel, marvellous, marvelous, miracle, no mean, old, phenomenal, phenomenon, prodigious, prodigy, ripping, scrumptious, splendid, swell, whizz, wicked, wizard, wonder, wonderful, wondrous, yummy, yum-yum), hücum (access, aggression, assault, attack, charge, dash, forage, incursion, offensive, onrush, onset, raid, rush, scrimmage, sortie, storm, thrust), aferin (attaboy, bravo, good for you, righto, rightoh, well done), çok iyi (alpha plus, bang up, banner, celestial, cool, elegant, great, hell of, highly, jolly good, nicely, no mean, roaring, some, that's cool, thumbs up, two thumbs up, very good, very well). (various references)

Ukrainian

сутенер (cadet, gigolo, ponce), хуліган (hellion, hoodlum, hooligan, rowdy, ruffian, vandal), чудовий (a, admirable, adorable, ambrosial, bang up, beautiful, brave, bright, capital, champion, charming, clinking, consummate, crack, Dandy, delectable, delicious, delightful, eminent, excellent, fine, flawless, glorious, goluptious, gorgeous, immense, magnific, magnifical, magnificent, noble, notable, noted, palmary, peachy, posh, prime, princely, proper, providential, ravishing, remarkable, resplendent, ripping, something like, sovereign, spiffing, superb, super-duper, topping, undeniable, way out, wizard, wonderful), чіплятися (accost, arraign, badger, carp, cavil, chicane, clamber, cling, nag, upbraid, worry), громило (hoodlum), мучити (agonize, bedevil, chivvy, crucify, devour, drag, excruciate, martyrize, pain, pinch, plague, torment, torture, tribulate, trouble, victimize, whip), залякувати (ballyrag, bludgeon, bluff off, brag, browbeat, bull-dose, cow, daunt, terrify, terrorize), бандит (apache, bandit, gangster, killer, mobster, mosstrooper, outlaw), причепа (carper, censor, sorehead), першокласний (a, bang up, classy, clinking, crackajack, crackerjack, exclusive, first class, hunky-dory, prime, pukka, superfine, tiptop, top flight), дружок (bobber). (various references)

Vietnamese 

tên ác ôn ma cô, lưu manh ăn bám gái điếm, cừ (classy, elegant, famously, magnificent, posh, pretty, solid, spanking, spile). (various references)

boel. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "bully": bullyboy, bullyboys, bullying, bullyrag, bullyragged, bullyragging, bullyrags. (additional references)

Words ending with "bully": outbully. (additional references)

Words containing "bully": outbullying. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Bully" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: billyo, Boilly, Bolli, bolly, boly, Boulay, boull, buell, bul, buldy, Buley, bulkly, bulle, Bulley, bulli, Bullo, buly, buyldyd, lully, ubely, Ubley. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: bull.

-2 letters: buy.

-3 letters: by.

+1 letter: bluely.

+2 letters: bluffly, bluntly, bulkily, burlily, lullaby, solubly, volubly.

+3 letters: bellyful, blousily, blurrily, brutally, buccally, bullocky, bullyboy, bullying, bullyrag, culpably, gullably, gullibly, laudably, lubberly, outbully, publicly, syllabub, syllabus, valuably.

+4 letters: balefully, banefully, bashfully, bellyfuls, beryllium, biliously, buckyball, bulbously, bullishly, bullyboys, bullyrags, cubically, insolubly, laughably, obliquely, plausibly, sublimely, subtilely, syllabubs, unflyable.

+5 letters: absolutely, berylliums, biannually, bibulously, bimanually, binaurally, bisexually, blamefully, blissfully, blurringly, blushingly, boastfully, buckyballs, bumblingly, bunglingly, bustlingly, doubtfully, ebulliency, fabulously, fumblingly, habitually, humblingly, illaudably, invaluably, jubilantly, lullabying, nebulously, publically, purblindly, rubrically, solubility, subtotally, subvocally, syllabuses, trolleybus, underbelly, unplayable, volubility, vulnerably.