|
bull n DC ~ 2 n Nfld (1774-) for sense 1; DC ~ bird
Nfld (1861-) for comb in sense 2.
1 Common dovekie
(Plautus alle alle); ICE-BIRD. See also bull-bird below.
[1774] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 37 I went to one of the Duck Islands in
St Lewis's Bay, and killed three ducks and a bull. 1959 MCATEE 39 ~ Dovekie (Said to
refer to its thick neck, but may have ironical reference also to its small size. 'Labr'.)
2 Comb bull-bird: see sense 1 above.
1861 DE BOILIEU 191 This year, with the mild weather, there came
upon us innumerable quantities of small wild-fowl, called by the settlers 'bull-birds.'
1870 Can Naturalist v, 415 [It is] a very common periodical migrant arriving in
October and remaining until driven farther south by ice. Provincial name 'bull-bird.'
1887 Telegram Christmas No 9 An appetizing odor came from the oven, where a couple
of fine fat bull-birds, part proceeds of a successful day's gunning in punt, a day or two
before, were yielding up their juices. 1908 TOWNSEND 18 Just as we were finishing supper,
the mate put in his head and said, 'There is a bull-bird, sir, swimming close to the
ship.' I rushed out, and sure enough a dovekie or little auk was swimming ... close to
the vessel. 1964 Evening Telegram 22 Jan, p. 5 The dovekie--called variously an
ice bird and a bull bird—is the smallest of our auk-like birds, barely filling the
palm of the hand as it lies dead but still feathered in the clutch of the triumphant
gunner. T 143/4-651 Bullbirds. They'd come out o' the cliffs—you wouldn't
see the sky through 'em, they was that numerous. 1977 Evening Telegram 17 June, p.
6 [I saw no one] except for some ... boy with a few rabbit snares set with no licence and
a 16-year-old boy with five bull birds.
bull dog: cod-fish
with a blunt head; SEAL-HEAD COD (P 148-63).
bull's tongue, ~
eye: a shrub, rhodora (Rhododendron canadense) (1956 ROULEAU 27).
Go Back
|
