bullhorn

See also: bull-horn, and bull horn

English

A bullhorn

Alternative forms

• bull horn, bull-horn

Etymology

From bull +‎ horn, attested since the 1950s.

Noun

bullhorn (plural bullhorns)

1. (chiefly US) A megaphone which electronically amplifies a person’s natural voice.

   Synonyms: blowhorn, (Britain) loudhailer, megaphone

   • 2015, Paul Beatty, The Sellout, Oneworld Publications (2016), page 59:

     Iʼll press the trigger, and with a loud squeal of ear-piercing feedback, the bullhorn buzzes to staticky life.

   • 2018 July 1, Katrina Brooker, ““I Was Devastated”: The Man Who Created the World Wide Web Has Some Regrets”, in Vanity Fair‎:

     [Mark Zuckerberg] didn’t found Facebook to manipulate elections; Jack Dorsey and the other Twitter founders didn’t intend to give Donald Trump a digital bullhorn.

   • 2021 September 14, Norimitsu Onishi, “A Fox-Style News Network Rides a Wave of Discontent in France”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     CNews, the news network created by the billionaire Vincent Bolloré, topped the ratings in May by giving a new bullhorn for right-wing views on crime, immigration, climate and Covid.

Translations

megaphone — see megaphone

See also

• amplifier

References

• “bull, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.