Word.ws English Dictionary

throw the bull

throw the bull verb: to chat idly.

Verb

throw the bull (third-person singular simple present throws the bull, present participle throwing the bull, simple past threw the bull, past participle thrown the bull)

  1. (dated, idiomatic, intransitive) To chat idly.
    • "Hello, Steve. Don't let me interrupt your business conference." ¶ "You're not. We were just throwing the bull. The boys are worrying about what will happen to the book business when we get in the war. Paper restrictions and the usual trade dung."1948, Pierre Sichel, Such as We, New York, N.Y.: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 339
    • "Sam, I'd love to throw the bull with you, but it's getting late. I'd better hit that diner."1958, Ed McBain [pseudonym; Evan Hunter], Lady Killer, Oxford, Oxfordshire; Melbourne, Vic.: Compass Press, page 166
    Synonyms:
    shoot the bull
  2. (dated, idiomatic, intransitive) To make false boastful claims.
    • "I'm glad you look at it that way. I don't want you to think I'm just throwing the bull."1923, Roger L. Sergel, Arlie Gelston, New York, N.Y.: B. W. Huebsch, Inc., page 272
    • He was urging, "I'm cured. I saw tonight that I can't act at all. I'm just a hick. I want all you guys to forgive me for having thrown the bull about my Hollywood place — I got it, all right, but I don't believe it any more. Eva, dear, will you move over and let me sit down beside you?"1940 February 25, Sinclair Lewis, “Carry your own Suitcase”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, L.A.: Times-Mirror Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16, column 2
  3. (dated, idiomatic, intransitive) To talk or write in an obscure and pretentious manner.
    • I was about to write a simple theme about this dumb question when I remembered that my literary friends were always "throwing the bull"—building up their sentences to sound complex and sophisticated.1988, Richard Feynman, Ralph Leighton, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character, New York, N.Y.; London: W. W. Norton & Company, →OCLC, page 31
    • Once my college roommate told me I'm a tough friend to have because I'm so frank and open. Too true, I guess. I just say it like it is and don't even know how to throw the bull.1996, Joan MacCracken, The Sun, the Rain, and the Insulin: Growing Up With Diabetes, Orono, M.E.: Tiffin Press of Maine, →ISBN, page 161
  4. (dated, idiomatic, intransitive) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see throw, the, bull.

Synonyms of throw the bull

Forms of throw the bull

third-person singular presentthrows the bull
present participlethrowing the bull
pastthrew the bull
past participlethrown the bull

Questions about throw the bull

What does throw the bull mean?
Throw the bull means to chat idly.
What part of speech is throw the bull?
Throw the bull is a verb.
What is the past tense of throw the bull?
The past tense of throw the bull is threw the bull.

Words near throw the bull in the dictionary

  1. throw stones in a glass house
  2. throw tantrums
  3. throw the baby out with the bath water
  4. throw the baby out with the bathwater
  5. throw the book at
  6. throw the bull
  7. throw the bull around
  8. throw the handkerchief
  9. throw the hatchet
  10. throw the rulebook at
  11. throw them bows

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw the bull (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.

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