Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word John Bull. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word John Bull, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say John Bull in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word John Bull you have here. The definition of the word John Bull will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofJohn Bull, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
How much longer are we English to assist foreign nations in misunderstanding us, by holding up that ridiculous lay-figure of our race known by the style and title of John Bull?
(by extension) Something or someone that is stereotypically English.
1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Foreigner At Home”, in Memories and Portraits, New York: Charles Scribner, page 3:
In spite of these promptings to reflection, ignorance of his neighbours is the character of the typical John Bull. His is a domineering nature, steady in fight, imperious to command, but neither curious nor quick about the life of others.
2005, David W. Moore, The Other British Isles, →ISBN, page 183:
Thatched cottages, manors, old mills, venerable churches and wooded lanes personify a John Bull fancy, neatly tucked into gentle hill folds.
2015, Fiona Farrell, The Villa at the Edge of the Empire, →ISBN, page 52:
Next door to all that noble intention stood a bluff old John Bull of a hotel, Warners, now a pub and backpackers, and next to that, until 1993, a cinema, the last of several that had sprung up around the Square as temples of modernity.
