to shoot the bull
2
8.1
- idiom
- /ʃut ðə bʊl/
- US
:
charlar
Examples
-
This is the place to shoot the bull with other members, but keep it clean.
Blog text (6) -
I would love to stay and shoot the bull, but then I'd be a widow.
-
Other times... you know, shooting the bull with Ferrie, whatever, but he was there, all right.
-
Other times he'd be shooting the bull with Ferrie.
Fiction book (1991) -
If you came to the gym to shoot the bull, all you'd end up exercising was your mouth.
Fiction book (1991) -
I like to shoot the bull with friends at the coffee shop.
-
Every Saturday, they gather to shoot the bull and catch up on life.
-
After the meeting, we stayed to shoot the bull about our weekend plans.
Synonyms
269
1.0
To talk in a friendly, informal way about small everyday things
40
1.6
To talk in a friendly, casual way about a subject
29
3.3
To talk with someone in a friendly way
9
6.8
To chat in a relaxed informal way about unimportant things
7
3.0
To talk in a friendly, light way about unimportant things
5
4.1
To talk in a friendly, light way about unimportant things
3
7.9
Talk in a friendly, relaxed way for a long time
To talk in a relaxed, friendly way
To talk in a relaxed way about nothing important
To talk briefly in an informal way
Take part in friendly playful talk that makes jokes and teases
Talk in a relaxed, joking way and make stories bigger to be funny
To talk in a lively, informal way about things like music
Antonyms
How Casual
- Informal
48
5.3
- US
2
8.1
- Informal
9
6.8
- Informal
269
1.0
248
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
shoot + the + bull
The meaning 'to engage in casual conversation' is not directly derivable from the literal senses of 'shoot' (fire a weapon) and 'bull' (an animal) and so would be opaque to learners who only know those literal senses. There is a partial cue if a learner knows the slang sense of 'bull' = 'nonsense' (suggesting 'talk nonsense' or idle talk), but that slang knowledge and the idiomatic use of 'shoot' are culture-specific and not predictable for a B1 learner, so the item is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Shoot the bull may come from the American West, where men in old bars would sit and shoot words at each other while telling tall, silly stories about a bull or big hunts. That's why the phrase means 'to chat idly' or 'to talk casually'.