Bully
Noun
Plural: bullies
Pronunciation and accent: bUlI
Etymology: of uncertain origin.
First definition: a. A word of endearment, equivalent to “darling”, referred to either sex. b. A word of endearment, equivalent to “dear friend”, referred to men.
Postdefinition: it is an obsolete acceptation.
Second definition: a person who bullies another; someone who intimidates someone else by blustering or by violence; one habitually threatening, aggressive, or cruel to another weaker or smaller than himself (herself)
It may be approximately translated by persona que acostumbra hostilizar a otra, in Spanish; personne qui rudoie une autre, in French; persona che intimidisce un’altra con minaccie o violenza, in Italian.
[My foster-mother was] a bully and she could always detect other people’s vulnerability. She bullied all of us at home.
Celine Roberts (No One Wants You)
Bedford talked of wrath, but not like an angry man; he threatened, but not like a bully; he swore, but not like a blasphemer; he uttered words of unusual force, but they did not seem as if strained up to answer a purpose.
Thomas Grattan (Jacqueline of Holland)
George, who used to be as bland as Zephyr, and obedient as a gentle child, either sits morose, or blusters, as you saw him last night, like a bully.
William Clarke (Three Courses and a Dessert)
A blusterer is a bully, who is more formidable for his noise than his courage.
The London Encyclopaedia
[…] bullies pushed Andy Williams' head into a toilet
Margaret R. Kohut (… Bullies and bullying)
***Particularly: the protector of a prostitute; a man who earns his livings by acting the bully in defense of a prostitute:
[…] suppose that the number of prostitutes be 80,000, […] and that each has a bully.
Michael Ryan (Prostitution in London…)
There is often a man in these brothels, a paramour of the old bawd, who is a loafer about the house, and is occasionally employed to act as a bully.
Henry Mayhew (London labour…)
***Particularly: a ruffian hired for bullying. Archaic acceptation.
"Sir," said I, "permit me to point out to you that this is not a case merely of a sister or a wife, but that I am the friend of the lady in question, and that I have the privilege which every gentleman possesses of protecting a woman against brutality. It is only by a gesture that I can show you what I think of you." I had my riding glove in my hand, and I flicked him across the face with it. He drew back with a bitter smile and his eyes were as
hard as flint.
"So you've brought your bully with you, Ned?" said he. "You might at least have done your fighting yourself, if it must come to a fight."
Arthur Doyle (The Adventures Of Gerard)
[…] you hired this bully to do what you dared not do yourself!
Owen Davis (At Yale)
