A.Word.A.Day --Barney's bull

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Today's Word

Barney’s bull

PRONUNCIATION:

(bar-neez-BUL)

MEANING:

noun: Someone or something in a very bad condition or situation.

ETYMOLOGY:

Apparently from a popular 19th-century pantomime in which an escaped bull is chased by various characters until the exhausted animal is captured by a farmhand. Earliest documented use: 1834.

USAGE:

“Barney’s bull of a pain in my innards.”
Charles Boardman Hawes; The Mutineers; Atlantic Monthly Press; 1920.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor. -Cory Doctorow, author and journalist (b. 17 Jul 1971)

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