gull

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: gŭl, IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌl

Etymology 1

From Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language, from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *wēlannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Welsh gwylan, Cornish goolan, Breton gouelan, Old Irish faílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoileag. Compare French goéland, a borrowing from Breton.

Noun

gull (plural gulls)

1. A seabird of the genus Larus or of the family Laridae.
   • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 8:

     The tide was out, and we drew up amid the strong bracing smell of seaweed, with gulls screeching, wheeling around, and gliding on the wind.

2. Any of various pierid butterflies of the genus Cepora.

Synonyms

• (seabird): mew, seamew, seagull

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Perhaps from an obsolete term gull (“to swallow, guzzle”), from Middle English golen (“to make swallowing motions, gape”).

Noun

gull (plural gulls)

1. (slang) A cheating trick; a fraud.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     BENEDICK. [Aside] I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence.

2. One easily cheated; a dupe.
3. (obsolete, Oxford University slang) A swindler or trickster.
   • 1825, Bernard Blackmantle, The English Spy:

     You'll excuse me, sir, but as you are fresh, take care to avoid the gulls; they fly about here in large flocks, I assure you, and do no little mischief at times." "I never understood that gulls were birds of prey," said I.—"Only in Oxford, sir; and here, I assure you, they bite like hawks, and pick many a poor young gentleman as bare before his three years are expired, as the crows would a dead sheep upon a common. […] "

Synonyms

• (dupe): See also Thesaurus:dupe
• (swindler): See also Thesaurus:fraudster

Verb

gull (third-person singular simple present gulls, present participle gulling, simple past and past participle gulled)

2. To deceive or cheat.
   • 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, , published 1612, →OCLC; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, →OCLC, (please specify the GB page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     O, but to ha' gulled him / Had been a mastery.

   • 1660, [John] Dryden, Astraea Redux:

     The vulgar, gulled into rebellion, armed.

   • 1697 May 5 (date written; Gregorian calendar), E. W. [i.e., Edward Stillingfleet], “Postscript”, in The Bishop of Worcester’s Answer to Mr. Locke’s Letter, Concerning Some Passages Relating to His Essay of Humane Understanding, , London: J. H. for Henry Mortlock , published 1697, →OCLC, page 143:

     And is all this Cabala too, and only to be uſed vvhen People are to be gulled vvith noiſy Nothings? i.e. vvith empty Pleroma's, and ſilent Thunderclaps.

   • c. 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wallenstein:

     I'm not gulling him for the emperor's service.

   • a. 1822 (date written), John Keats, “Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts.”, in [Horace Elisha Scudder], editor, The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats, Cambridge edition, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company , published 1899, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:

     [S]peak your curses out / Against me, who would sooner crush and grind / A brace of toads, than league with them to oppress / An innocent lady, gull an Emperor […]

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     She has done these things before and remembers now that she is good at them, often steadier than the men. In Berlin when Jack needed a spare girl Mary had kept watch, gulled room keys out of concierges, replaced stolen documents in dangerous desks, driven scared Joes to safe flats.

3. (US, slang) To mislead.
4. (US, slang) To trick and defraud.

Synonyms

• (to deceive): See also Thesaurus:deceive

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English gole (“a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream”), from Middle Low German goel, gȫl, gȫle (“swamp, marshy lowland”), related to Old Dutch gulla (“pool, puddle”), Old French goille (“pool, puddle, pond”), all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *goli, *golljā (“puddle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *guljaz, *guljǭ.

Alternative forms

• gool (dialectal)

Noun

gull (plural gulls)

1. (dialectal) A breach or hole made by the force of a torrent; fissure, chasm.
2. (dialectal) A channel made by a stream; a natural watercourse; running water.

Derived terms

• gullick

Verb

gull (third-person singular simple present gulls, present participle gulling, simple past and past participle gulled)

1. (dialectal) To sweep away by the force of running water; to carve or wear into a gully.

References

Further reading

• gull on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Larus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse gull, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʊtl/

Noun

gull n (genitive singular guls, uncountable)

1. gold
2. (in proverbs) richness, money, livestock
3. gold medal, first place (sports, etc.)

Declension

Icelandic

Icelandic Wikipedia has an article on:

gull

Wikipedia ^is

Etymology

From Old Norse gull (“gold”), from Proto-Germanic *gulþą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʏtl/
• Rhymes: -ʏtl

Noun

gull n (genitive singular gulls, nominative plural gull)

1. (uncountable) gold (chemical element)
2. (countable) a cherished thing
3. (countable) a gold medal or prize

Declension

Derived terms

• ekki er allt gull sem glóir
• glópagull
• gull af manni
• morgunstund gefur gull í mund

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:

gull

Wikipedia ^nb

Etymology

From Danish guld (pre-1907 Riksmål spelling), from Old Norse gull, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʉlː/

Noun

gull n (definite singular gullet, uncountable)

1. gold

Derived terms

Related terms

• forgylle, forgylt

References

• “gull” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

gull

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Alternative forms

• goillj, goill (eye dialect, Trøndelag)

Etymology

From Old Norse gull and goll, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą. Akin to English gold.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʉlː/

Noun

gull n (definite singular gullet, uncountable)

1. gold

Derived terms

References

• “gull” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• goll

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gulþą (“gold”). Cognate with Old English gold, Old Frisian gold, Old Saxon gold, Old Dutch golt, Old High German gold, Gothic 𐌲𐌿𐌻𐌸 (gulþ). See also Finnish kulta. Ultimately from Pre-Germanic *ǵʰl̥tóm (“gold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“yellow; gleam; to shine”).

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈɡulː/

Noun

gull n (genitive gulls, plural gull)

1. (uncountable, singular only) gold
   • Laurentius saga 65, in 1858, Jón_Sigurðsson, Guðbrandur_Vigfússon, Biskupa sögur, Volume I. Copenhagen, page 877:

     Vér viljum ok gefa þér gull vort,

     We also want to give you our gold,

2. (countable) a jewel, thing of value, especially a finger-ring
   • Stjórn 78, in 1862, C. R. Unger, Stjórn: gammelnorsk Bibelhistorie: fra Verdens Skabelse til det babyloniske Fangenskab. Christiania, page 254:

     Enn þegar sem hon bar þetta gull,

     But when she wore that ring,

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

References

• “gull”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• gull in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• gull in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.

Swedish

Alternative forms

• guld (modern form)

Etymology

From Old Norse gull, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą.

Noun

gull n

1. (poetic, archaic) gold

   Har du silver har du gull, / har du kistorna full?

   Do you have silver and gold, / are your treasure chests full? (song lyrics)

   Wilt thw wara tik sielffuir hull, / tw älska friiheet meer än gull (Old Swedish, poem by bishop Tomas, 1439)

   Vill du vara dig själver huld, / du älska frihet mer än guld (translated to standard Swedish)

   If you want to help yourself, you should love freedom more than gold

2. (colloquial) baby, darling, someone dear and cute (gullig), someone to cuddle (gulla med)

   mina små gull

   my little darlings

   Kom nu gullet, det är finfint väder ute

   Come on baby, it's a perfect sunny day

Usage notes

• The form gull is archaic or poetic outside compound words and fixed expressions, where it has taken the sense of beloved or favorable as in gullgosse (“golden boy”), gullegris (“darling, pet”), gullunge (“beloved child”), etc.

Declension