Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person who is easily tricked or cheated; a dupe.
  • transitive verb To deceive or cheat.
  • noun Any of various chiefly coastal seabirds of the family Laridae, having long wings, webbed feet, a thick, slightly hooked beak, and usually gray and white plumage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To deceive; cheat; mislead by deception; trick; defraud.
  • Synonyms To dupe, cozen, beguile, impose upon.
  • noun A long-winged, web-footed bird of the subfamily Larinæ, family Laridæ, and order Longipennes.
  • noun Some sea-bird resembling a gull, as a skua or jäger, a tern or sea-swallow, a booby or gannet, etc.
  • noun The young of the herring-gull, Larus argentatus, and of sundry related species, when the plumage is mostly gray.
  • noun The white-winged gull, Larus leucopterus. Both have been called Larus islandicus.
  • To sweep away by the force of running water: same as gully.
  • noun A channel for water; also, a stream.
  • To swallow.
  • noun An unfledged bird; a nestling.
  • noun A gosling.
  • noun A large trout.
  • noun Compare gullfish.
  • noun The bloom of the willow in the spring.
  • noun A simpleton; a fool; a dupe; one easily cheated.
  • noun A cheating or cheat; a trick; fraud.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A cheating or cheat; trick; fraud.
  • noun One easily cheated; a dupe.
  • noun (Zoöl.) One of many species of long-winged sea birds of the genus Larus and allied genera.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the jager; -- also applied to certain species of terns.
  • transitive verb To deceive; to cheat; to mislead; to trick; to defraud.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A seabird of the genus Larus or of the family Laridae.
  • noun slang A cheating trick; a fraud.
  • noun One easily cheated; a dupe.
  • verb To deceive or cheat
  • verb US, slang To mislead
  • verb US, slang To trick and defraud

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of
  • verb fool or hoax
  • noun mostly white aquatic bird having long pointed wings and short legs
  • verb make a fool or dupe of

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably from gull, to swallow (obsolete), from Middle English golen, to pretend to swallow, from gole, throat, perhaps from Old French goule; see gullet.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English gulle, possibly of Brythonic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from Breton gouelan.

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Examples

  • BESIDES BEING the name of an aquatic bird, the word gull is also a verb that means “to deceive or cheat” according to the American Heritage College Dictionary.

    Puzzlements & Predicaments of the Bible Linda Washington 2007

  • BESIDES BEING the name of an aquatic bird, the word gull is also a verb that means “to deceive or cheat” according to the American Heritage College Dictionary.

    Puzzlements & Predicaments of the Bible Linda Washington 2007

  • Anonymous: Sorry KrautBeckerFan - the Latin for Aussie gull translates as

    BBC News - Home 2010

  • Glaucous gulls L. hyperboreus and Kelp gulls L. dominicanus were also nested within L. argentatus, and the discovery about the Kelp gull is interesting: this species is unique to the Southern Hemisphere, and Liebers et al. (2004) concluded that it must have evolved via long-distance colonisation ‘from the same ancestral population as the Lesser black-backed gull, suggesting that its ancestors were highly migratory, as nominate Lesser black-backed gulls still are today’ (p. 895).

    Archive 2006-02-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • No no no no NO: the Herring gull is NOT a ring species!

    Archive 2006-02-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • It is this habit in the gulls of parting with their property [disgorging the contents of their stomachs to the skuas], which has given rise to the terms gull, guller, and gulling, among men. "

    Cape Cod 1865

  • In the mountains they collect at this season vast numbers of the eggs of a species of sea-gull, which is very common here.

    Travels in Nubia 2004

  • Two or more penguins will combine to push a third in front of them against a skua gull, which is one of their enemies, for he eats their eggs or their young if he gets the chance.

    The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913 Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922

  • The gull was a small white variety about the size of a pigeon, with a black ruff around its neck.

    On the Fringe of the Great Fight 1921

  • He shouted this frantically, but a wild and mournful cry from a gull was the only response, and his voice seemed to be utterly lost in the vast space around.

    Cutlass and Cudgel George Manville Fenn 1870

Comments

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  • "A new purchase at some monster sale for which a gull has been mulcted. Meretricious finery to deceive the eye." Joyce, Ulysses, 15

    January 1, 2008

  • Hang on, is gull wordie talk for girl?

    I think I'm confused. I thought it was just some strange obsession with gulls (birds).

    December 2, 2009

  • Not yet. But it can be if you want.

    December 2, 2009

  • Hmmmm. Gulls and guise. Hmmmm.

    December 2, 2009

  • See gulls and buoys.

    January 18, 2010

  • Scots goo or gow. --Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary and Supplement, 1841.

    May 19, 2011

  • a cant term in online etymology dictionary

    September 19, 2011

  • In addition, gull means 1. throat; 2. gullet (oesophagus, esophagus).

    February 29, 2012