Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A bully.
  • intransitive verb To intimidate or dominate in a blustering way.
  • intransitive verb To behave like a bully; swagger.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To treat with insolence; threaten; bully.
  • To find fault with; fret at; chide; scold.
  • Synonyms To fret, worry, annoy, beset, provoke, irritate.
  • To play the bully; bluster; be turbulent or insolent.
  • noun A bully; a blustering, turbulent, noisy fellow.
  • noun One who teases or vexes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A bully; a blustering, turbulent, insolent, fellow; one who vexes or provokes.
  • intransitive verb To play the bully; to bluster; to be turbulent or insolent.
  • transitive verb To treat with insolence; to threaten; to bully; hence, to torment by words; to tease; to taunt; to worry or irritate by bullying.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A bully; a blustering, turbulent, noisy fellow.
  • verb transitive To intimidate or dominate in a blustering way.
  • verb intransitive To behave like a bully; swagger.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Greek mythology) a mythical Trojan who was killed by Achilles during the Trojan War
  • verb be bossy towards

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From earlier Hector, valiant warrior, swaggerer, after Hector.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hector, character in the Iliad.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Also, a noun... "a bully"

    or a verb... "to bully"

    November 16, 2007

  • "Hector the Hero" is an old and very nice fiddle tune.

    February 9, 2008

  • Used recently by George Bush, CBS news

    March 29, 2008