GULL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gull mean? 

• GULL (noun)
  The noun GULL has 2 senses:

1. a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of

2. mostly white aquatic bird having long pointed wings and short legs

  Familiarity information: GULL used as a noun is rare.

• GULL (verb)
  The verb GULL has 2 senses:

1. make a fool or dupe of

2. fool or hoax

  Familiarity information: GULL used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GULL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

chump; fall guy; fool; gull; mark; mug; patsy; soft touch; sucker

Hypernyms ("gull" is a kind of...):

dupe; victim (a person who is tricked or swindled)

Derivation:

gull (fool or hoax)

gull (make a fool or dupe of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Mostly white aquatic bird having long pointed wings and short legs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

gull; sea gull; seagull

Hypernyms ("gull" is a kind of...):

larid (long-winged web-footed aquatic bird of the gull family)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gull"):

Larus canus; mew; mew gull; sea mew (the common gull of Eurasia and northeastern North America)

black-backed gull; cob; great black-backed gull; Larus marinus (white gull having a black back and wings)

herring gull; Larus argentatus (large gull of the northern hemisphere)

blackcap; Larus ridibundus; laughing gull; pewit; pewit gull (small black-headed European gull)

ivory gull; Pagophila eburnea (white Arctic gull; migrates as far south as England and New Brunswick)

kittiwake (small pearl-grey gull of northern regions; nests on cliffs and has a rudimentary hind toe)

• GULL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gull    ... he / she / it gulls   
Past simple: gulled   
Past participle: gulled   
-ing form: gulling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a fool or dupe of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

befool; fool; gull

Hypernyms (to "gull" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

gull (a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fool or hoax

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

befool; cod; dupe; fool; gull; put on; put one across; put one over; slang; take in

Context example:

You can't fool me!

Hypernyms (to "gull" is one way to...):

betray; deceive; lead astray (cause someone to believe an untruth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "gull"):

kid; pull the leg of (tell false information to for fun)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

gull (a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of)

 Context examples 

My fancy was soaring out to my father upon the waters, when a word from Jim brought it back on to the grass like a broken-winged gull.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A white-winged gull flew by, with the flash of sunshine on its silvery breast.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Amid the dark streets and brick houses there was something out of place in their appearance, as when the sea-gulls, driven by stress of weather, are seen in the Midland shires.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I like peeps better than the gulls.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There never was one of our breed who did not take to salt water like a young gull.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They had been floating about all the morning, from gloomy St. Gingolf to sunny Montreux, with the Alps of Savoy on one side, Mont St. Bernard and the Dent du Midi on the other, pretty Vevay in the valley, and Lausanne upon the hill beyond, a cloudless blue sky overhead, and the bluer lake below, dotted with the picturesque boats that look like white-winged gulls.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They are not perfect ovals—like the egg in the Columbus story they are both crushed flat at the contact end—but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)