bulldozer

Definition

A tractor with caterpillar tracks and an attached blade for pushing earth and building debris for coarse preliminary surface grading, demolishing building structures, etc.

Etymology

Originally bull-dozer (1875, Louisiana, US), in the bullier and terrorizer sense; bulldoze + -er. The name for the earthmoving machine came later, figuratively, from that sense.

Example Sentences

• "The bulldozer is a caterpillar tractor on the front of which is mounted a heavy steel blade which can be moved up and down by hydraulic gear. By sheer brute force it can push down trees and hedges, remove obstructions (including light brickwork) and level and consolidate newly-tipped banks."
• "More than 100 provincial and municipal firefighters were brought in, with helicopters and aircraft used to drop water and fire retardant, while bulldozers were digging firebreaks."
• "Typically for the 'get-on-with-it' era, the railway and military worked like demons to restore the vital rail link. The crater was rapidly filled in and the earth tamped solid, the wreckage was removed by breakdown trains, new rails and sleepers were rushed forward by willing hands, and US Army bulldozers piled in. By 2020 on the same day, both tracks were open for traffic again where there had been a gaping pit just hours before."