Английский Этимологический словарь - bull (1)

- O.E. bula "a steer," from P.Gmc. *bulon. Extended after 1615 to males of other large animals (elephant, alligator, whale, etc.). An uncastrated male, reared for breeding, as opposed to a bullock or steer. Stock market sense is from 1714. Bulldog is from 1500; bullfrog is from 1738, on resemblance of voice. Bulldyke is from 1920s. Bull's eye "center of a target" is from 1533. Bullpen in the baseball sense is first recorded 1915, perhaps from earlier slang meaning "temporary holding cell for prisoners" (1880). Bullshit "eloquent and insincere rhetoric" is from 1915.