bulldozer
UK /ˈbʊlˌdəʊzə/ · US /ˈbʊlˌdoʊzɚ/ noun, verb
Forms bulldozers bulldozering bulldozered
- 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 One who bulldozes.
- noun (historical, chiefly in the plural) 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.
- noun (by extension) A bully; an overbearing individual.
- verb To bulldoze (demolish with a bulldozer).
- verb To bulldoze (push through forcefully). “They bulldozered through the crowd.”
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bulldozer”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details