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bullspink. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
bullspink, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
bullspink in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
bullspink you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From bull + spink.
Pronunciation
Noun
bullspink (plural bullspinks)
- (dialectal, obsolete) A chaffinch or a bullfinch.
1794, James Bolton, “Nest and Eggs of the Chaffinch”, in Harmonia Ruralis; or, An Essay towards a Natural History of British Song Birds, volume 1, page 24:Their haunts are stubble fields, and in very severe weather, farm-yards, where they feed among the chaff and refuse of the corn; hence they get the name of Chaffinch. In Yorkshire this bird is known by the name Bullspink.
1886 July, W. Eagle Clarke, W. Denison Roebuck, William Storey, “Upper Nidderdale and Its Fauna”, in Wm. Denison Roebuck, editor, The Naturalist, number 132, London, page 200:Chaffinch. Fringilla celebs. A common resident. Locally known as the ‘bullspink.’ Observed above Angram, at 1,050 feet.
1895, John Trafford Clegg, “Calder Valley”, in The Works of John Trafford Clegg Stories, Sketches, and Rhymes, Chiefly in the Rochdale Dialect, Rochdale: The Aldine Press, page 397, column 2:Eh ! what a grand shop this is ! It's makin me feel as pyert as a bullspink, an' as leet i' th' anclif as a gruand !