sb. and v. U.S. colloq. [According to U.S. newspapers, f. BULL sb.4 + DOSE.]
A. sb. ? A severe dose (of flogging).
B. vb. a. ? To flog severely. b. To coerce by violence, intimidate. Hence Bull-dozer, a. one who ‘bull-dozes’; b. a large pistol. Also Bull-dozing vbl. sb., bullying, intimidation.
1876. Rutland (VT) Daily Herald, 20 Nov., 2/1. If a negro is invited to join it [a society called ‘The Stop’] and refuses, he is taken to the woods and whipped. This whipping is called a ‘bull-doze,’ or doze fit for a bull. The application of the bull-doze was for the purpose of making Tilden voters; hence we hear of the ‘bull-dozed’ parishes.
1878. N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 426. The great ‘Bulldozer’ of Europe.
1880. C. B. Berry, Other Side, 155. They … pull him out of bed with a revolver to his head…. That’s called ‘bull-dosing’ a man.
1881. Sat. Rev., 9 July, 40/2. A ‘bull-dose’ means a large efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment. Ibid. To ‘bull-dose’ a negro in the Southern States means to flog him to death, or nearly to death. Ibid. A Californian bull-doser is a pistol which carries a bullet heavy enough to destroy human life with certainty.
1882. New York Tribune, 3 May. The hotel where he was staying was visited … by a mob of bull-dozers.
1884. H. George, Social Prob., 16. Large Employers regularly ‘bulldose’ their hands into voting as they wish.
