Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🐂 A castrated ox 🐮 A young bull
bullock

bullock

7.5
A young male farm animal that is not yet fully grown
  • noun
  • /ˈbʊlək/
  • UK
translation icon : novillo
  • During the ceremony, they sacrificed a young bullock as a symbol of gratitude.

Examples

  • A young bullock is killed, its throat slit, its blood drained.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The farmer raised a young bullock alongside his cattle to sell at the market.

  • In spring, the fields were filled with young bullocks grazing on fresh grass.

Synonyms

calf
vsbullock
30 1.0

A young cow or bull still fed with its mother's milk

is an older immature male bovine rather than a nursing young animal

Compounds

bullock block
  • Archaic
9.9

A small wheel used with a rope to help raise sails at the top of a ship's mast

bullock heart
  • UK
9.9

A small tropical tree that makes a rough, heart-shaped sour fruit

Surface Forms

bullock singular
bullocks plural

Morphology

bullock = bull (semi-transparent) = bull + ock

The sense 'young/small bull' follows the diminutive sense of '-ock', but '-ock' is not a productive or familiar suffix for many learners.

Etymology

Bullock comes from the word bull plus an old small ending -ock, so it literally meant 'little bull'. That is why bullock can mean a young bull that has not yet reached full size.