Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The practice of baiting or attacking bulls with dogs, a sport formerly very popular in England, but made illegal in 1835.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bull-baiting.

Examples

  • They will know of the saloon only in the pages of history, and they will think of the saloon as a quaint old custom similar to bull-baiting and the burning of witches.

    Chapter 38 2010

  • Near the top, the bear- and bull-baiting rings lie shrouded in darkness.

    Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer Lucy Weston 2011

  • The novel has it all: an ingenious plot, ceaseless suspense, villains galore, tipsy priests, a bull-baiting, a stag hunt, several murders, the horrors of war, a brooding sense of evil and a glittering portrait of a fascinating age.

    Chasing justice in Henry VIII's England Patrick Anderson 2011

  • Near the top, the bear- and bull-baiting rings lie shrouded in darkness.

    Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer Lucy Weston 2011

  • The novel has it all: an ingenious plot, ceaseless suspense, villains galore, tipsy priests, a bull-baiting, a stag hunt, several murders, the horrors of war, a brooding sense of evil and a glittering portrait of a fascinating age.

    Chasing justice in Henry VIII's England Patrick Anderson 2011

  • Who would have thought, for example, that dogs could be bred for sheep-herding skills, or ‘pointing’, or bull-baiting?

    THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009

  • Who would have thought, for example, that dogs could be bred for sheep-herding skills, or ‘pointing’, or bull-baiting?

    THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009

  • “Long life to the noble Captain!” cried the soldiers, as impatient to see the duel, as if it had been a bull-baiting.

    The Monastery 2008

  • Many improvements and luxuries were introduced in the course of these five-and-forty years in the general manner of living; but cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and bear-baiting, were still the national amusements; and a coach was so rarely seen, and was such an ugly and cumbersome affair when it was seen, that even the Queen herself, on many high occasions, rode on horseback on a pillion behind the Lord Chancellor.

    A Child's History of England 2007

  • In the early seventeenth century staves were used in the ‘sport’ of bull-baiting, where dogs were set against bulls.

    Origin of Familiar Phrases William Harryman 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.