Roger's two posts probably have more than this already, but for what it's
worth, here are the relevant entries in the OED2[3]. It does give quite a
lot of specific examples.
[Sorry for the length of this -- it's there for anyone who wants it.
Everyone else simply delete it please.]
Robin
bull-dose, -doze, n. and v.
[According to U.S. newspapers, f. bull n.1 + dose.]
A. n. ? A severe dose (of flogging).
1876 American Newspr., If a negro is invited to join it [a society called
'The Stop'], and refuses, he is taken to the woods and whipped. This
whipping is called a 'bull-doze', or doze fit for a bull. 1881 Sat. Rev. 9
July 40/2 A 'bull-dose' means a large efficient dose of any sort of medicine
or punishment.
B. v. (The usual spelling, influenced by bulldozer 2a, is now bulldoze.)
1. a. ? To flog severely. b. To coerce by violence, intimidate.
1880 C. B. Berry Other Side 155 They+pull him out of bed with a revolver
to his head+That's called 'bull-dosing' a man. 1881 Sat. Rev. 9 July 40/2
To 'bull-dose' a negro in the Southern States means to flog him to death, or
nearly to death. 1884 H. George Social Prob. 16 Large Employers regularly
'bulldose' their hands into voting as they wish. 1897 E. A. Bartlett
Battlefields of Thessaly iii. 53 There is a remarkable resemblance+between
the way in which English public opinion has been 'bulldozed' and misled in
both cases. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee! viii. 104 Debenham backed Danvers
up by+pointing out to Hawley the folly of handing a loaded revolver to Boder
to examine. They simply bull-dozed Hawley. 1941 G. G. Scholem Major Trends
in Jewish Mysticism viii. 320 The philosophers who tried to bulldoze us into
accepting the God of Aristotle as the God of Religion. 1954 Encounter July
31/1 The men+were+trying to bulldoze the creative Czech artist+into
conformity with the precepts of Socialist Realism.
2. a. intr. To use a bulldozer (bulldozer 2a); also, to push one's way by
means of a bulldozer. Also trans., to move, clear, or level by means of a
bulldozer.
1942 Interpretation Aerial Photographs (U.S. War Dept., Techn. Man.
TM5-246) 188 The road was constructed by bulldozing the earth and painting
the edges with asphalt paint. 1944 Reader's Digest Aug. 93 Men were coming
out of the sea continually and starting to work-digging, hammering,
bulldozing. 1946 Spectator 12 Apr. 372/1 Americans had to bulldoze their
way through the rubble. 1948 Time 5 July 19/3 Trucks were lumbering+up a
goat path, newly bulldozed.
b. transf. and fig.
1948 Sat. Rev. Lit. 21 Feb. 26 She bulldozed her way through her songs.
1950 G. Barker News of World 37 The juggernauts Go bulldozing through my
thoughts. 1963 Rev. Eng. Studies XIV. 319 The second edition of 1934+has
been bulldozed away and a new edifice constructed.
So "bulldozed ppl. a., "bulldozing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1876 American Newspr., The application of the bull-doze was for the
purpose of making Tilden voters; hence we hear of the 'bull-dozed' parishes.
1937 Geogr. Jrnl. XC. 369 'Bull-dozing', in which the vertical walls at the
head of a gully are destroyed and a sloping surface constructed. 1949 Good
Housekeeping June 76/2 Every panacea-pamphlet that pours from the
bull-dozing pens of doctrinaire Utopians. 1953 Proc. Prehist. Soc. XIX. 232
The destruction of many of the downland earthworks by bulldozing and deep
ploughing.
bulldozer
orig. U.S. Also bull-doser, bull-dozer. [f. bull-dose, -doze v.]
1. a. One who 'bull-dozes'. b. A large pistol.
1876 in Congress. Rec. (1877) 9 Jan. 500/1 A band of bulldozers came into
Saint Francisville. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 426 The great 'Bulldozer' of
Europe. 1881 Sat. Rev. 9 July 40/2 A Californian bull-doser is a pistol
which carries a bullet heavy enough to destroy human life with certainty.
1882 New York Tribune 3 May, The hotel where he was staying was visited+by a
mob of bull-dozers. 1899 M. Kingsley Let. 19 Mar. in S. Gwynn Life of M. K.
(1933) 210 They leave that to the bulldozers, and the present system
mistakes these bulldozers for representative men.
2. A heavy caterpillar tractor fitted with a broad steel blade in front,
used for removing obstacles, levelling uneven surfaces, etc.
1930 Water Works & Sewerage (U.S.) June 262/3 The bulldozer is built for
heavy duty. 1941 N. & Q. CLXXXI. 119/1 If they can bring in American
machinery, why can't they bring in bull-dozers? 1942 Times 9 Oct. 2/2 There
are+machines for levelling-motor-propelled scrapers-tractors, dumpers,
angle-dozers and bull-dozers.
b. fig. (Also attrib.)
1945 R. J. Oakes in Coast to Coast 1944 100 The fourth man was a gunner,
a bulldozer of a man. 1952 Sat. Rev. 9 Aug. 12 The bulldozer determination
with which he plowed through confused happenings. 1955 Times 21 June 9/4
Such spotters can+obtain 'bulldozer' rights for a patrol on a hot scent to
pass through the areas of other units without being shot in error. 1959
Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Feb. 102/1 The bulldozer detective tactics of Inspector
Evans.
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