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shoot the bull

shoot the bull
S s

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [shoot stressed th ee boo l]
    • /ʃut stressed ði bʊl/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [shoot stressed th ee boo l]
    • /ʃut stressed ði bʊl/

Definitions of shoot the bull words

  • noun shoot the bull exaggerations; lies; nonsense. 1
  • idioms shoot the bull shoot the bull, to talk aimlessly: We just sat around shooting the bull. 1
  • noun shoot the bull to pass time talking lightly 0
  • noun shoot the bull to boast or exaggerate 0
  • noun shoot the bull to talk idly 0
See all 5 definitions of shoot the bull

Information block about the term

Origin of shoot the bull

First appearance:

before 1620
One of the 42% oldest English words
1620-30; < Medieval Latin bulla play, game, jest, perhaps special use of Latin bulla bubble; now generally taken as a euphemistic shortening of bullshit

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Shoot the bull

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Shoot the bull

shoot the bull popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 65% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

shoot the bull usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for shoot the bull

verb shoot the bull

  • bs — BS is an abbreviation for 'British Standard', which is a standard that something sold in Britain must reach in a test to prove that it is satisfactory or safe. Each standard has a number for reference.
  • chew the fat — If people chew the fat, they talk in a relaxed, informal way.
  • yack — to talk, especially uninterruptedly and idly; gab; chatter: They've been yakking on the phone for over an hour.
  • yacking — to talk, especially uninterruptedly and idly; gab; chatter: They've been yakking on the phone for over an hour.
All 4 Synonyms of shoot the bull

See also

Matching words

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