bulldozer
/ˈbʊlˌdəʊzə/US/ˈbʊlˌdoʊzɚ/
bulldozer noun: a tractor with caterpillar tracks and an attached blade for pushing earth and building debris for coarse preliminary surface grading, demolishing building structures, etc.
Noun
bulldozer (plural bulldozers)
- A tractor with caterpillar tracks and an attached blade for pushing earth and building debris for coarse preliminary surface grading, demolishing building structures, etc.
- The bulldozer is a caterpillar tractor on the front of which is mounted a heavy steel blade which can be moved up and down by hydraulic gear. By sheer brute force it can push down trees and hedges, remove obstructions (including light brickwork) and level and consolidate newly-tipped banks.1943 September and October, “Railway Construction and Operation at War Department Depots”, in Railway Magazine, page 262
- More than 100 provincial and municipal firefighters were brought in, with helicopters and aircraft used to drop water and fire retardant, while bulldozers were digging firebreaks.2016 May 4, Nicky Woolf, “Fort McMurray: Canada wildfires force evacuation of oil sands city”, in The Guardian
- Synonyms:
- dozer
- One who bulldozes.
- A member of a self-identified group of white US Southerners who colluded to influence outcomes of post-Reconstruction elections by intimidating, coercing and bullying black voters and legislators, including burning down houses and churches, flogging and murdering opponents.
- Synonyms:
- regulator
- A bully; an overbearing individual.
Verb
bulldozer (third-person singular simple present bulldozers, present participle bulldozering, simple past and past participle bulldozered)
bulldozer meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Tagalog
bulldozer in Tamil
- நிலச்சமனி, நிலச் சமனி, நிலச் சமன் எந்திரம், நிலச்சமன் பொறி, நிலச்சமன் செய் பொறி, மண் தள்ளும் பொறி
bulldozer in Malayalam
- ബുൾഡോസർ
bulldozer in Kannada
- ಬುಲ್ಡೋಜರ್
bulldozer in Tagalog
- tractor
- pamungkal-sudsod, buldoser
More languagesFewer languages
- bulldozer in Arabic
- جَرَّارَة jarrāra, جَرَّافَة jarrāfa, بُولْدُوزَر buldūzar
- bulldozer in Malay
- jentolak, buldozer
- bulldozer in Indonesian
- buldoser
- bulldozer in Persian
- بولدوزر buldôzer
- bulldozer in Vietnamese
- xe ủi đất, xe ủi, máy ủi
Examples of bulldozer in a sentence
- The firefighters used a bulldozer to clear a firebreak in the forest to try to contain the forest fire.
- He watches a small bulldozer build uniform piles of dust and sand.
- Feared by the workers, the capangas intimidate laborers and driver off small farmers with bulldozers.
Synonyms of bulldozer
Forms of bulldozer
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bulldozers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bulldozers |
| present participle | bulldozering |
| past participle | bulldozered |
| past | bulldozered |
Origin of bulldozer
Originally bull-dozer (1875, Louisiana, US), in the bullier and terrorizer sense; bulldoze + -er. The name for the earthmoving machine came later, figuratively, from that sense.
Words formed from bulldozer
Questions about bulldozer
- What does bulldozer mean?
- Bulldozer means a tractor with caterpillar tracks and an attached blade for pushing earth and building debris for coarse preliminary surface grading, demolishing building structures, etc.
- What is bulldozer in Tamil?
- Bulldozer in Tamil is நிலச்சமனி, நிலச் சமனி, நிலச் சமன் எந்திரம். See Bulldozer meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is bulldozer?
- Bulldozer can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce bulldozer?
- Bulldozer is pronounced /ˈbʊlˌdoʊzɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of bulldozer?
- The plural of bulldozer is bulldozers.
Words near bulldozer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bulldozer (page history and authors); bulldozer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bulldozer (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bulldozer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bulldozer.wav.
Cite this entry: “bulldozer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bulldozer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.