Bulldog
nounA short, stocky breed of dog with a broad head, heavy jaws, and a wrinkled face.
How to spell bulldog
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce bulldog
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does bulldog mean?
- nounA short, stocky breed of dog with a broad head, heavy jaws, and a wrinkled face.
- verbTo force one's way through something with stubborn, aggressive determination.
Bulldog in a sentence
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noun
The breeder showed us a wrinkled bulldog puppy at the kennel.
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verb
She managed to bulldog the proposal through a sceptical committee.
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noun
Their pet bulldog snored loudly on the sofa all afternoon.
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verb
The lawyer tried to bulldog the witness into changing his story.
Where does bulldog come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word is a straightforward English compound, joining 'bull' with 'dog', both of which are old native words of Germanic origin. 'Bull' traces back to Old English and the wider Germanic family, naming the male of cattle, while 'dog' comes from Old English 'docga', a word whose deeper origins are surprisingly murky. The compound first appears in the early 1500s, and it almost certainly refers to the dog's former role in the brutal sport of bull-baiting, in which the broad-jawed, muscular animal was set to grip a tethered bull. Over time the name stuck even after the sport was banned, and the bulldog came to symbolise stubborn tenacity, which is why 'bulldog spirit' now describes dogged determination. The spelling stays simple because both halves are common everyday words, with the only mild trap being whether to double the inner letters when the two parts meet.
How the word is built
- bull (the male bovine)
- dog (the animal); a compound name once linked to the breed's use in bull-baiting
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