What is "john bull"

John \John\ (j[o^]n), n. [See Johannes.] A proper name of a man.

John-apple, a sort of apple ripe about St. John's Day. Same as Apple-john.

John Bull, an ideal personification of the typical characteristics of an Englishman, or of the English people.

John Bullism, English character.
--W. Irving.

John Doe (Law), the name formerly given to the fictitious plaintiff in an action of ejectment.
--Mozley & W.

John Doree, John Dory. [John (or F. jaune yellow) + Doree, Dory.] (Zo["o]l.) An oval, compressed, European food fish ( Zeus faber). Its color is yellow and olive, with golden, silvery, and blue reflections. It has a round dark spot on each side. Called also dory, doree, and St. Peter's fish.

Bull \Bull\, n. [OE. bule, bul, bole; akin to D. bul, G. bulle, Icel. boli, Lith. bullus, Lett. bollis, Russ. vol'; prob. fr. the root of AS. bellan, E. bellow.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) The male of any species of cattle ( Bovid[ae]); hence, the male of any large quadruped, as the elephant; also, the male of the whale.

   Note: The wild bull of the Old Testament is thought to be the oryx, a large species of antelope.

2. One who, or that which, resembles a bull in character or action.
   --Ps. xxii. 12.

3. (Astron.)

   1. Taurus, the second of the twelve signs of the zodiac.

   2. A constellation of the zodiac between Aries and Gemini. It contains the Pleiades.

      At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun, And the bright Bull receives him.
      --Thomson.

4. (Stock Exchange) One who operates in expectation of a rise in the price of stocks, or in order to effect such a rise. See 4th Bear, n.,

5. 5. a ludicrously false statement; nonsense. Also used as an expletive. [vulgar]

   Syn: bullshit, Irish bull, horseshit, shit, crap, crapola, bunk, bunkum, buncombe, guff, nonsense, rot, tommyrot, balderdash, hogwash, dogshit.

   Bull baiting, the practice of baiting bulls, or rendering them furious, as by setting dogs to attack them.

   John Bull, a humorous name for the English, collectively; also, an Englishman. ``Good-looking young John Bull.''
   --W. D.Howells.

   To take the bull by the horns, to grapple with a difficulty instead of avoiding it.

"Englishman who exemplifies the national character," 1772, from name of a character representing the English nation in Arbuthnot's satire "History of John Bull" (1712).

John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country dwelling, jolly, matter-of-fact man.

John Bull (c. 1740 – 1802) was an American statesman and revolutionary who served as a delegate from South Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1784 to 1787.

John Bull (1803–1863) was an American clergyman and physician who represented Missouri in the U.S. Congress between 1833 and 1835.

John Bull (1562 or 1563 – 15 March 1628) was an English composer, musician and organ builder. He was a renowned keyboard performer of the virginalist school and most of his compositions were written for this medium.

John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom.

John Bull may also refer to:

John Bull is a British-built railroad steam locomotive that operated in the United States. It was operated for the first time on September 15, 1831, and it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operated it in 1981. Built by Robert Stephenson and Company, the John Bull was initially purchased by and operated for the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad in New Jersey, which gave John Bull the number 1 and its first name, "Stevens". ( Robert L. Stevens was president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad at the time.). The C&A used the locomotive heavily from 1833 until 1866, when it was removed from active service and placed in storage.

After the C&A's assets were acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1871, the PRR refurbished and operated the locomotive a few times for public displays: it was fired up for the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and again for the National Railway Appliance Exhibition in 1883. In 1884 the locomotive was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution as the museum's first major industrial exhibit.

In 1939 the employees at the PRR's Altoona, Pennsylvania, workshops built an operable replica of the locomotive for further exhibition duties, as the Smithsonian desired to keep the original locomotive in a more controlled environment. After being on static display for the next 42 years, the Smithsonian commemorated the locomotive's 150th birthday in 1981 by firing it up, making it the world's oldest surviving operable steam locomotive. Today, the original John Bull is on static display once more in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The replica John Bull is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

The original John Bull was a Sunday newspaper established in the City, London EC4, by Theodore Hook in 1820.

John Bull (1836 – 1929) was a little-known yet nonetheless deadly gunman of the American Old West. He is featured in the book "Deadly Dozen", written by author Robert K. DeArment as one of the twelve most underrated gunmen of the 19th century west.

John Bull (1789–1812) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1792 to April 1793, he ran three times and won two races. In 1792, he won the Great Produce Stakes on his racecourse debut and then took the Epsom Derby on his only other start of the year. He finished unplaced in his only subsequent race.

John Bull was Archdeacon of Barnstaple from 1826 to 1830.