# throw the bull
## English
### Verb

throw the bull (third-person singular simple present throws the bull, present participle throwing the bull, simple past threw the bull, past participle thrown the bull) (intransitive, idiomatic, somewhat dated)
* To chat idly.
    Synonym: shoot the bull
** 1948, Pierre Sichel, Such as We, New York, N.Y.: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 339:"Hello, Steve. Don't let me interrupt your business conference." ¶ "You're not. We were just throwing the bull. The boys are worrying about what will happen to the book business when we get in the war. Paper restrictions and the usual trade dung."
** 1958, Ed McBain [pseudonym; Evan Hunter], Lady Killer, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Melbourne, Vic.: Compass Press, page 166:"Sam, I'd love to throw the bull with you, but it's getting late. I'd better hit that diner."
** 1985, William N. Yeomans, 1000 Things You Never Learned in Business School: How to Manage Your Fast-Track Career, New York, N.Y.: Mentor Books, →ISBN, page 298:Estimate the percentage of your time you spent goofing off: reading nonwork material, throwing the bull with co-workers, taking long lunch hours, flirting, etc.
** 2005, F. P. Lione [pseudonym; Frank Lione, Pam Lione], The Crossroads: A Novel, Grand Rapids, M.I.: Fleming H. Revell, →ISBN, page 288:I lit a cigarette when we stopped outside the front doors. We threw the bull with the other cops before heading back.
* To make false boastful claims.
** 1923, Roger L. Sergel, Arlie Gelston, New York, N.Y.: B. W. Huebsch, Inc., page 272:"I'm glad you look at it that way. I don't want you to think I'm just throwing the bull."
** 1940 February 25, Sinclair Lewis, “Carry your own Suitcase”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, L.A.: Times-Mirror Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16, column 2:He was urging, "I'm cured. I saw tonight that I can't act at all. I'm just a hick. I want all you guys to forgive me for having thrown the bull about my Hollywood place — I got it, all right, but I don't believe it any more. Eva, dear, will you move over and let me sit down beside you?"
** 1959, Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 118:"You mean in two weeks you're going to kill yourself?" Hayes blurted. ¶ "Yes, Hayes-san." He threw up his arms. "It's crap, it's all crap, you understand?" ¶ "Yes. Crap-crap," Yuriko said. ¶ "You're throwing the bull, Yuriko."
** 1970, Evelyn Piper [pseudonym; Merriam Modell], The Stand-In, New York, N.Y.: David McKay Company, Inc., page 123:You're not throwing pianos, you're throwing the bull, but how far will you throw your wife, that's the point. To the wolves?
* To talk or write in an obscure and pretentious manner.
** 1988, Richard Feynman, Ralph Leighton, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character, New York, N.Y., London: W. W. Norton & Company, →OCLC, page 31:I was about to write a simple theme about this dumb question when I remembered that my literary friends were always "throwing the bull"—building up their sentences to sound complex and sophisticated.
** 1996, Joan MacCracken, The Sun, the Rain, and the Insulin: Growing Up With Diabetes, Orono, M.E.: Tiffin Press of Maine, →ISBN, page 161:Once my college roommate told me I'm a tough friend to have because I'm so frank and open. Too true, I guess. I just say it like it is and don't even know how to throw the bull.
** 2004, George Ehrenhaft, Robert L. Lehrman, Allan Mundsack, Fred Obrecht, Barron's How to Prepare for the ACT Assessment, 13th edition, Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's, →ISBN, page 424:Like other readers, they enjoy good reading and delight in lively, neatly phrased ideas. They abhor empty platitudes and know in an instant when a writer is "throwing the bull." Pretentiousness turns them off completely.
* Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see throw,‎ the,‎ bull.

### See also

* throw the bull around

### Further reading

* “throw the bull v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present