Found this on the web - no attribution of course:
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Q: What's the origin of the word "bulldozer"?
-anonymous, from the Internet
A: Nobody really knows, which makes "bulldozer" one of those fascinating words whose meaning
shifts depending on what people imagine its origin to be.
"Bulldozer" today most commonly refers to a kind of earthmoving tractor with a blade
attached to the front. It can also mean a kind of bully or steamrolling force-a metaphorical
meaning that, one would guess, came from the earthmover idea. In fact, the exact reverse is
true.
Bulldozer and bulldoze (the verb) are US slang that first turned up in the late
1800s to mean something intimidating or bullying, either literally or metaphorically. In at
least some uses, large-caliber handguns were called "bulldozers."
The word first popped up in print in newspapers, where it was frequently used along
with a self-conscious explanation of its meaning. These etymologies generally claimed it came
from "bull-dose," a supposed slave plantation term for a whipping so severe it was a "dose" of
punishment that would harm even a bull.
This is fairly believable, especially presuming the influence of such terms as
"bullwhip." However, there are reasons to doubt it, especially since no one has found an
independent prior usage of "bull-dose." It is just as likely to be pop etymology that helped
cement the intimidating tone of the word.
It's significant that at the time, "bull" could be used as a prefix in slang to
denote something large. So a "bull-dose" could simply be a large dose of anything. But then, it's
also unclear how "dose" shifted into "doze"-if that's indeed what happened. Early citations
varying in their spellings, making it unclear which came first.
The overall sense of these early newspaper definitions is of someone trying to
definite and phonetically spell a slang term from the street. So I don't put a lot of stock in
either the meaning or the spelling, though they do agree on the word "dose" being the basis.
Still, a corruption of "bulldogs" or even some playful term like "bull does" (as in "how a bull
behaves") seem as likely to me.
It's worth noting that while somewhat synonymous with "bully," "bulldoze" has no
etymological relation to that word. But they certainly came to converge in meaning nonetheless.
In part, that seems to be because people mistakenly assume "bully" stems from the word "bull,"
which it doesn't.
In that vein, it's interesting to note that at the same time "bulldozer" was slang
for a gun, so was "bulldog."
Anyhow, it was about 1930 that the earthmover industry picked up the pushy-sounding
"bulldozer" as a term for its tractor.
The metaphorical meaning of a bully or overwhelming force remains, of course. But
today, virtually everybody presumes it comes from the earthmover term. So there is almost always
now an implication of a pushing, thrusting, flattening force that was not present in earlier
meanings of "bulldoze."
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Roger
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