cull

cull
{{11}}cull (n.) "dupe, saphead," rogues' slang from late 16c., perhaps a shortening of cullion "base fellow," originally "testicle" (from Fr. couillon, from O.Fr. coillon "testicle; worthless fellow, dolt," from L. coleus, lit. "strainer bag;" see COJONES (Cf. cojones)), though another theory traces it to Gypsy chulai "man." Also sometimes cully, though some authorities assert cully was the canting term for "dupe" and cull was generic "man, fellow," without implication of gullibility. Cf. also GULLIBLE (Cf. gullible).
{{12}}cull (v.) c.1200, originally "put through a strainer," from O.Fr. coillir (12c., Mod.Fr. cueillir) "collect, gather, pluck, select," from L. colligere "gather together, collect," originally "choose, select" (see COLLECT (Cf. collect)). Related: Culled; culling. As a noun, from 1610s.

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • cull — Ⅰ. cull UK US /kʌl/ verb [T] INFORMAL WORKPLACE ► to reduce the number of people that work for a particular company by a large amount: »The programme of redundancies was intended to cull 1000 jobs. »The company has culled 1,900 people from its… …   Financial and business terms

  • Cull — (k?l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Culled} (k?ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Culling}.] [OE.cullen, OF. cuillir, coillir, F.cueillir, to gather, pluck, pick, fr. L. colligere. See {Coil}, v. t., and cf. {Collect}.] To separate, select, or pick out; to choose and …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cull — cull·age; cull; cull·er; …   English syllables

  • cull — [kul] vt. [ME cullen < OFr coillir < L colligere: see COLLECT2] 1. a) to pick out; select [to cull facts from an encyclopedia] b) to pick out in order to discard or destroy [a librarian culled unneeded books] 2 …   English World dictionary

  • Cull — Cull, n. A cully; a dupe; a gull. See {Cully}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cull — [v1] pick out for reason choose, discriminate, elect, extract, glean, mark, optate, opt for, pluck, prefer, select, sift, single out, take, thin, thin out, winnow; concepts 41,142 cull [v2] gather accumulate, amass, collect, extract, garner,… …   New thesaurus

  • cull — cull. См. выбраковка. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • cull — I verb accumulate, amass, carpere, choose, collect, decerpere, gather, glean, legere, make a selection, pick, pick out, pluck, round up, select, separate, sift, single out, sort out, winnow II index choose …   Law dictionary

  • cull — vb pick, single, *choose, select, elect, opt, prefer …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • cull — To remove nonletter mail (such as small parcels, rolls, and odd shaped material) from letter mail (and nonmachinable mailpieces from automation rate pieces) by hand or machine. During culling, specials (such as special delivery and accountable… …   Glossary of postal terms

  • cull — ► VERB 1) reduce the numbers of (animals) by selective slaughter. 2) select or obtain from a large quantity or a variety of sources. ► NOUN ▪ a selective slaughter of animals. ORIGIN Old French coillier, from Latin colligere gather together …   English terms dictionary

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