bulldoze

Verb

bulldoze (third-person singular simple present bulldozes, present participle bulldozing, simple past and past participle bulldozed)

1. To destroy with a bulldozer.
   • He's certainly very chirpy for a man whose house has just been bulldozed down.
   • Chulalongkorn [University] set to bulldoze historic Chinese-Thai shrine, build condos2020 June 15, Coconuts Bangkok, “Chulalongkorn set to bulldoze historic Chinese-Thai shrine, build condos”, in coconuts.co, Bangkok: coconuts.co, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2021, retrieved...
2. To push someone over by heading straight over them. Often used in conjunction with "over".
   • He just ran across the field bulldozing everyone over.
3. To push through forcefully.
   • For the second time in a week, Wenger's team gave themselves an encouraging platform. In the 11th minute Theo Walcott drilled in a corner, and Olivier Giroud bulldozed through unopposed to thump the ball goalwards.2012 November 10, Amy Lawrence, “Fulham's Mark Schwarzer saves late penalty in dramatic draw at Arsenal”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2021
   • Born in the mid-2010s, the concept of the girlboss promised a utopia where women could bulldoze into workplaces, pull up a seat at male-dominated tables and become a celebrated CEO on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List by the ripe age of 23 (and do it all, of course, wearing a fuchsia blazer and a...2025 November 6, Ellie Muir, “In All's Fair, the girlboss archetype has never been more embarrassing”, in The Independent, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2026
4. To push into a heap, as a bulldozer does.
   • Again the animal had bulldozed all of its bedding into a heap at one end of its cage.
   • There stood a low yellow compact machine which apparently did the digging and bull-dozed back the earth.1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 469
5. To shoot down an idea immediately and forcefully.
   • That was a good suggestion, but you just bulldozed it.
   • After the EAC published its report last summer, and the media finally began to take an interest, it looked as if all this might change. But then the issue, like so many others, was bulldozed by Brexit.2020 February 26, George Monbiot, “Toxic sofas are a secret scandal – and an ‘EU red tape’ bonfire will make it worse”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2020
6. (US, dated, slang) To intimidate; to restrain or coerce by intimidation or violence; used originally of the intimidation of black voters in Louisiana.
   • Whatever may be the long delayed result of the election of 1876, there is one point which has not yet been commented on, and that is, its effect upon our language. There is no surer indication of the mightiness of a national event than this, that a number of new expressions and new words have been...1876 November, A. Straw, The Globe: An Illustrated Magazine, volume 4, page 108
   • The standard of qualifications for teachers has been very greatly advanced, till at the present day not one in ten of the old pedagogues who taught “readin’, ritin’ and ‘rithmetic,” and bulldozed unruly pupils with the birch, the beech or the willow rod, or in their absence the ferrule, would be...1877 January, W.B.Chrisler, Bruce Carr, Sarah E. Turner, editor, The Common School Teacher: Devoted to the Cause of Common Schools, volume 2, page 113