Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—B

Bully

To overbear with words. A bully is a blustering menacer. (Anglo-Saxon, bulgian, to bellow like a bull.) It is often used, without any mixture of reproof, as a term of endearment, as:-

“O sweet bully Bottom.” —Midsummer Night's Dream, iv. 4.

“Bless thee, bully doctor.” —Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 3.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Bully-boy
Bullion
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