Dictionary

bull-in-a-china-shop en · ADJ

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, informal) Clumsy, aggressive, without care, concern or self-control.
   • With Jane, Allen came on in his usual bull-in-a-china-shop way. 1988, Ted Morgan, Literary Outlaw, The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs, page 285:
   • The bull-in-a-china-shop behavior is tolerated because many administrators think ambitious people should behave this way. However, an exterior of turbulence is often used to mask feelings of insecurity. 1999, Tom Edel, Wake Me When It's Time to Work, page 119:
   • The NRA did not back the full auto amendment to the FOPA. It was proposed on the floor just before the full vote and immediaely put to a voice vote by Tip O'Neill. Most of the people within ear-shot of the vote thought the vote went nay, but Tip in his usual bull-in-a-china-shop manner, rammed it on through declaring it passed. At that point it became fiat accompli, and if the NRA wanted anything, it became take it or leave it. 1993 January 29, Lee Mellinger, “MP5 10mm”, in rec.guns (Usenet):
   • Europe, more so than America, depends heavily on the extraction of Africa's rich natural resources, essential for its prosperity and it will not allow Reagan's bull-in-a-china-shop diplomacy in Africa to rock the boat. 1981, Pan-African Publishers (publisher), Africa Now, numbers 1-9, page 81:

Forms

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bull in a china shop