bullginen.
/ˈbʊldʒʌɪn/ colloquial (originally U.S.).
A locomotive or steam-engine.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > locomotive
locomotive engine1814
iron horse1825
locomotive1829
loco1833
railway engine1833
bullgine1848
bull1889
pig1931
locie1934
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun]
fire engine1700
steam-engine1753
engine1814
vapour-engine1839
bullgine1848
1848 F. A. Durivage Stray Subj. 38 [He made] himself agreeable to his officers by..imitating the ‘bullgine’.
1848 in Amer. Speech (1946) 21 116/1 Going ober to Hobuc, in de steamboat, De bulgine busted and we all got afloat!
1848 in Amer. Speech (1946) 21 116/1 Clar de track, de bullgine's coming.
1889 J. S. Farmer Americanisms Bull (Cant), a locomotive; the word is sometimes lengthened into Bullgine.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiv. [Oxen of the Sun] 382 The men of the island..let the bullgine run..and put to sea.
1927 in J. Sampson Seven Seas Shanty Book 32 So clear the track let the Bullgine run.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1848