Meaning

A ritual musical instrument and means of communicating over extended distances, consisting of a slat of wood tied to the end of a thong or string, with which the slat is whirled so as to cause an intermittent roaring noise..

Example Sentences

So far he was on the track of elementary Science. And so he made "bull-roarers" to imitate the sound of wind and the blessed rain-bringing thunder, or clashed great bronze cymbals together with the same object.

The men and boys practiced not only the technique of twirling the bullroarer, but also the mock attack staged upon the person twirling it.

Frazer's ingenious theorizing is plausible as far as it goes, but it does not really explain why the bullroarer must be kept from women, the feature of the bullroarer complex that most troubled Lowie. Women are allowed to hear the sound of the bullroarer—indeed, the bullroarer is often used to warn women to keep away.

Intrinsic to the propulsion of the bullroarer is the string and the hole the string is attached to. The average distance from the base to the center of the hole on the bullroarers under study is 0.9 cm. The placement of the hole is exceedingly important.

Word Forms

• bullroarers
• bull roarer
• bull-roarer

Synonyms for bull roarer

Related Words

When Should You Use Bull roarer?

Use bull roarer when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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