Baiting bulls with what Hogan called the sultan’s ‘English dogs’
"Over the next month al-Malik and the English merchant turned ambassador [Edmund Hogan] developed a brief but intense friendship. They dined together, watched plays, listened to music until midnight, messed about on al- Malik’s boat, baited bulls with what Hogan called the sultan’s ‘English dogs’, and even watched what the bemused Englishman described as ‘a Morris dance’." (Jerry Brotton, This Orient Isle- Elizabethan England and the Islamic World)
Is the emphasized clause some kind of idiom? Bulls don't eat dogs, do they?
Top answer
They . . baited bulls with what Hogan called the sultan’s ‘English dogs’ , This is an almost archaic meaning of the word 'bait'.
- They .
- .
- baited bulls with what Hogan called the sultan’s ‘English dogs’ , This is an almost archaic meaning of the word 'bait'.
- It means torment or torture.
- They tied a bull (or sometimes a bear) to a stake, so that it could hardly move, and then got their fierce dogs to attack it.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
They . . . baited bulls with what Hogan called the sultan’s ‘English dogs’,
This is an almost archaic meaning of the word 'bait'. It means torment or torture.
They tied a bull (or sometimes a bear) to a stake, so that it could hardly move, and then got their fierce dogs to attack it.
It ws a very cruel thing to do. If you did t
0
Related Questions