Dictionary

bullace en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English bolas, bolace, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beloce, buloce (“sloe”), from Vulgar Latin *bullucea, from Late Latin bulluca (“kind of small fruit”); of Celtic/Gaulish origin, akin to Celtiberian *bullācā, from Proto-Celtic *bullākā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeHw- (“to swell, puff”), itself imitative. Possibly influenced by Latin galla (“oak apple”) with metathesis of the consonants. See also Spanish bugalla (“oak apple”), Portuguese bugalho, and (the distantly related) Latin bucca.

Meanings

1. A small European plum (Prunus interstitia, syn. Prunus domestica subsp. insititia).
   • If he ate bullace tart and bullace pie for a week, he would hardly empty the smallest of the baskets; and then they would begin to go bad. Nothing remained but to give them away, but to whom? 1930, Harold Webber Freeman, Down in the Valley, page 48:
2. The bully tree.

Forms

Deriveds

Jamaica bullace plum

Synonyms

damson · bullace plum