bull pen

or bullpen


noun
  1. Baseball.

    • a place where relief pitchers warm up during a game.

    • the relief pitchers on a team.

  2. Informal.

    • a large cell or room, usually next to the courtroom, where prisoners are temporarily held.

    • a large room in an office occupied by many employees.

  1. any temporary or crowded quarters, as sleeping quarters in a lumber camp.

  2. a pen for a bull or bulls.

Origin of bull pen

1
1800–10, Americanismfor def. 4; 1920–25 for def. 1

Words Nearby bull pen

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bull pen in a sentence

  • The company had gathered about the bull-pen, pressing closely against the barrier, that they might lose no part of the show.

    The Doomsman | Van Tassel Sutphen
  • Unlock him at seven in the morning, and let him come to the bull-pen.

    Roads of Destiny | O. Henry
  • His imagination travelled on beyond the bull-pen, to the shabby dance-halls along the river.

  • Wesley Everest was taken to the city jail and thrown without ceremony upon the cement floor of the "bull pen."

    The Centralia Conspiracy | Ralph Chaplin
  • "We can't stand another campaign," said a rebel deserter at the bull pen.

    A Boy Trooper With Sheridan | Stanton P. Allen

British Dictionary definitions for bullpen

bullpen

/ (ˈbʊlˌpɛn) /


noun
  1. US informal a large cell where prisoners are confined together temporarily

  2. baseball a part of a baseball field where relief pitchers warm up

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012