buller

/ˈbʊlə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Occupational surname for a scribe or copyist, from an agent derivative of Middle English bulle (“letter, document”).

name

  1. A surname from Middle English.
  2. A river and gorge on the West Coast, New Zealand.
  3. A territorial authority of the West Coast, New Zealand; in full, Buller District.
  4. The Bullingdon Club.“Writing in Radio Times, Michael Cockerell, the veteran political film-maker, reveals that the documentary includes a scene in which Johnson examines a famous photograph of himself, Cameron and other members of the “Buller” in their blue tailcoats with white silk facings, mustard waistcoats and gold buttons.”

noun

  1. The bubbling or seething of a torrent.
  2. A member of the Bullingdon Club.“Osborne is said to have been ragged by fellow Bullers over having attended St Paul's, the top London day school, which is, apparently, not posh enough.”
  3. A steer that allows itself to be mounted by bulls when in the crowded conditions of a feedlot.“Male cattle ('riders') in intensive housing are prone to mount herdmates willing to stand to be mounted ('bullers'). The buller-steer syndrome has been estimated to cost $70 per head, which can represent significant losses in large feedlots (Blackshaw et al., 1997). Incidence of bullers in a feedlot was about 2% (409 bullers in 20,428 mixed breed steers, Irwin et al., 1979).”
  4. A homosexual man.“My mother always mentioned these teachings when she saw a buller man or heard about someone thought to be a buller.”

verb

  1. To boil or seethe.“The still liquid element startled uprears, It bubbled and bullered and roared in his ears, Like thunder that gallows on high.”
  2. To make a lot of noise.“"Sae we let go the rape,” said David, “ and he went adown the water screeching and bullering like a Bull of Bashan, as he's ca'd in Scripture.””
  3. To force one's way; to be pushy.“It was not that he bullered and swore like so many of his farmer neighbours. Their men knew what to expect from them, and they swore back, knowing that the next day they could speak to them as if nothing had happened. But Will Murray was different. His word was law.”