Also 6 bullye. [Etymology obscure: possibly ad. Du. boel ‘lover (of either sex),’ also ‘brother’ (Verwijs & Verdam); cf. MHG. buole, mod.Ger. buhle ‘lover,’ earlier also ‘friend, kinsman.’ Bailey, 1721, has boolie ‘beloved’ as an ‘old word.’ Bully can hardly be identical with Sc. BILLIE, brother, but the dial. sense 2 seems to have been influenced by that word. There does not appear to be sufficient reason for supposing that the senses under branch II are of distinct etymology: the sense of ‘hired ruffian’ may be a development of that of ‘fine fellow, gallant’ (cf. bravo); or the notion of ‘lover’ may have given rise to that of ‘protector of a prostitute,’ and this to the more general sense. In the popular etymological consciousness the word is perhaps now associated with BULL sb.1; cf. BULLOCK v.]
I. † 1. A term of endearment and familiarity, orig. applied to either sex: sweetheart, darling. Later applied to men only, implying friendly admiration: good friend, fine fellow, ‘gallant.’ Often prefixed as a sort of title to the name or designation of the person addressed, as in Shaks., ‘bully Bottom,’ ‘bully doctor.’ Obs. exc. arch.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 475. Though she be sumwhat olde It is myne owne swete bullye My muskyne and my mullye.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. i. 8. What saist thou, bully Bottome? Ibid. (1598), Merry W., II. iii. 18. ’Blesse thee, bully-Doctor. Ibid. (1599), Hen. V., IV. i. 48. From heartstring I loue the louely Bully. Ibid. (1610), Temp., V. i. 258. Coragio Bully-Monster Corasio.
1688. A. Pulton, Ref. Missioner’s Arts, 8. A Band of Bully Scholars, marching under ground with their Black-Bills.
1754. Richardson, Grandison, IV. xv. 115. I haue promised to be with the sweet Bully early in the morning of her important day.
b. attrib., as in bully-boy.
1609. T. Ravenscroft, Deuterom. He that is a bully boy, Come pledge me on the ground.
a. 1687. Cotton, Æn. Burlesqued (1692), 53. From each part runs yon bully rustick, To take advantage of the first kick.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 143. The bully-boys of the Helderberg.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, viii. You are not the first bully-boy that has said stand to a true man.
1880. Webb, Goethe’s Faust, I. ii. 53. My over jolly bully-boy, let be.
2. dial. Brother, companion, ‘mate.’
1825. Brockett, North Country Gloss., 32. Now generally used among keelmen and pitmen to designate their brothers, as bully Jack, bully Bob, &c. Probably derived from the obsolete word boulie, beloved.
1860. Fordyce, Hist. Coal, &c. 60. They [the keelmen] are remarkably friendly to each other, being all ‘keel bullies,’ or keel brothers.
1862. Smiles, Engineers, III. 12. ‘Bully’ … an appellation still in familiar use amongst brother workers in the coal districts.
1863. Tyneside Songs, 61. Marrows, cries a bully, aw’ve an idea … We’ll find Sir John Franklin.
II. 3. A blustering ‘gallant’; a bravo, hector or ‘swash-buckler’; now, esp. a tyrannical coward who makes himself a terror to the weak.
1688. Shadwell, Bury F., IV. Wks. (1720), 193. A lady is no more to be accounted a Beauty, till she has killed her man, than the bullies think one a fine gentleman, till he has kill’d his.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., Pref. (1851), 10. Those furious Hectors we value not of a rush. We have been accustomed to rout such Bullies [L. istos minaces] in the Field.
1732. Pope, Ep. Bathurst, 340. Where London’s column, pointing at the skies Like a tall bully, lifts the head, and lyes.
1780. Duncan, Mariner’s Chron. (1804), II. 296. The most swaggering, swearing bullies in fine weather, were the most pitiful wretches on earth, when death appeared before them.
1863. Dicey, Federal St., II. 245. A low-minded, unscrupulous bully, notorious for his pro-Slavery sympathies.
b. A ruffian hired for purposes of violence or intimidation. arch.
1730. Fielding, Tom Thumb, II. i. Were he … a bully, a highway-man, or prize-fighter, I’d nab him.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IX. 179. These are the hired bravos who defend The tyrant’s throne—the bullies of his fear.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 204. A gang of bullies was secretly sent to slit the nose of the offender.
4. spec. a. The ‘gallant’ or protector of a prostitute; one who lives by protecting prostitutes.
1706. De Foe, Jure Div., I. 8. Mars the Celestial Bully they adore, And Venus for an Everlasting Whore.
1707. Farquhar, Beaux’ Strat., III. iii. 37. Sull. What! Murther your Husband to defend your Bully. Mrs. Sull. Bully! for shame … Bullies wear long Swords.
1711. Swift, Lett. (1767), III. 249. A bully that will fight for a whore, and run away in an army.
1749. Chesterf., Lett. (1792), II. ccxii. 312. Shew yourself … the advocate, the friend, but not the bully of Virtue.
1750. Johnson, Rambl., No. 107, ¶ 12. The bully and the bawd, who fatten on their misery.
1817. M. Bennet, in Parl. Deb., 861. Would he be less the bully of a brothel?
5. attrib. and comb., as bully-critic, -fop, -killer, -rake, -royster, -ruffian, -swordsman; also † bully-back, a bully who supports another person; hence † bully-back v.; † bully-cock sb., † bully-cocked a., (a hat) worn as a bully wears it (cf. BILLY-COCK): † bully-huff, a boaster who is also a bully; † bully-scribbler, a writer who bullies.
1726. Amherst, Terræ Filius, xxxiii. 179. They have spiritual bravoes on their side, and old lecherous *bully-backs to revenge their cause.
1759. Dilworth, Pope, 43. Supported and *bully-backed by that blind hector impudence.
1726. Amherst, Terræ Filius, xlvi. 255. A broad *bully-cock’d hat, or a square cap of above twice the usual size.
1882. Daily News (Leader), 3 Feb., 5/1. Every one knows how much further and with how much greater ease and comfort he can walk in a ‘bowler’ hat, or in the form which our ancestors [printed ancestor’s] called a ‘bully-cock,’… than in a tall hat.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Bully-fop, a Maggot-pated, huffing, silly ratling Fellow.
1680. Cotton, in Singer, Hist. Cards, 334. They will rarely adventure on the attempt, unless they are backed with some *bully-huffs.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Bully-huff, a poor sorry Rogue that haunts Bawdy-houses, and pretends to get Money out of Gentlemen.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxviii. ‘Here mother,… never mind that bully-huff.’
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. iii. 145. M. Boyer… is at the head of Fifty Spadassinicides, or *Bully-killers.
1711. E. Ward, Quix., I. 33. He combats like that *Bully-Rake That only fights for Fighting’s sake.
1687. T. Brown, Saints in Uproar, Wks. 1730, I. 74. Why, how now, *bully Royster! what’s the meaning of this outrage in the face of Justice?
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xi. Pick-lock, Pioneer, *Bully-ruffin, Smell-smock.
1671. Dryden, Mock Astrol., III. i. Snatch the Money like a Bully-Ruffin.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 233. Peter … strode up to the brawling bully-ruffian.
a. 1715. Wycherley, Posth. Wks., 5 (Jod.). The *Bully-Scribbler, like the Bully in Company, is beat out of his Bravadoes only for assuming them.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. iii. 142. *Bully-swordsmen, ‘Spadassins’ of that party, go swaggering.
