cull

cull Definition

cull (kul)

transitive verb

1. to pick out; select to cull facts from an encyclopedia
2. to pick out in order to discard or destroy a librarian culled unneeded books
1. to select and gather (flowers or fruit); pick
2. ☆ Forestry to select trees to be felled for timber
to examine (a collection or group) in order to select desired parts or, esp., to discard or destroy unwanted parts to cull a herd

Etymology: ME cullen < OFr coillir < L colligere: see collect

noun

something picked out; esp., something rejected as not being up to standard

cull Synonyms

cull Usage Examples

Preposition: of

badger: The culling of diseased badgers was never going to be popular.
hedgehog: It's not just the seal hunt: the culling of hedgehogs in Scotland's Western Isles has also become a source of controversy.
deer: The culling of deer involves the selection of older or unhealthy animals which are shot humanely with a high velocity rifle.
poultry: Workers involved in the culling of poultry flocks must be protected, by proper clothing and equipment, against infection.
livestock: Cull of Livestock in the light of brucellosis cases in Scotland.

Object

badger: DEFRA is culling badgers to deal with TB in cattle.
deer: Samples were taken from all the deer culled within the Forest District.
ewe: The same comments apply to cull ewes not being allowed into the food chain.
fox: Alternative methods for culling foxes can all have problems.
hare: Many areas of Eastern England already have to cull hares by shooting.

Adjective modifier

contiguous: Indeed, whenever animal owners challenged the legality of the contiguous cull, MAFF found some way to back down.
3km: We are not, however, prepared to agree to exempt hefted sheep from the 3km sheep cull.
reactive: With reactive it is very different in that what triggers a reactive cull is a breakdown.
selective: Under the new ruling, the number of executions barely reached four figures - a selective cull of the leading insurgents.

Modifies a noun

Noun used with modifier

badger: This year the government badger cull starts in May.
deer: Allow for the creation of deer control areas at locations where specific problems in attaining deer culls have been identified.
seal: Stop the seal cull In the last issue of The Newspaper we published an article about the annual cull of young seals in Canada.
cohort: BSE compensation - cohort cull or BSE off spring?

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