bull thistle
- noun
- /bʊl ˈθɪsəl/
- UK
:
cardo toro
- Farmers often struggle to control bull thistles that spread quickly across the fields.
Examples
-
"And a bull thistle," said Tom Hardy, who had his doubts about weeds and thistles, but was proud of her for leaving nothing out.
Fiction book (1992) -
While hiking, we noticed a patch of bull thistles, their prickly leaves making it hard to walk through.
-
A bull thistle stood beside her.
Fiction book (1997) -
Roxy carried a bull thistle in a tea infuser chained around her neck.
Fiction book (1994) -
And all plants we have shunned: poison hemlock, pigweed, bindweed, stinging nettle, bull thistle.
Academic text (1994) -
The garden was overrun with bull thistles, their large, spiny flower heads taking over the flower beds.
Synonyms
A prickly plant that has large purple flower heads and grows wild as a weed
A tall thistle with large flower heads and sharp spines that grows wild as a weed
A European thistle with large flower heads and prickly leaves that often grows as a weed
A plant from Europe with large prickly flower heads that grows as a weed
How Spiky
Surface Forms
Morphology
bull + thistle
This is a straightforward noun–noun compound where 'thistle' is the head and 'bull' modifies it; a B1 learner who knows 'bull' (male cattle) and 'thistle' (a spiny plant) can infer it denotes a type of thistle, likely suggesting size or robustness. They may not know the exact species, but the core meaning 'a kind of thistle' is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Bull thistle may get its name from the plant's large size and very sharp spines that remind people of a bull's horns. Because the word bull suggests strength and the word thistle means a prickly plant, the name stuck and today bull thistle means a common purple-flowered 'weed' with tough, pointy leaves.
