Dosing The Bull

It is not certain who invented the first bulldozer, however, the bulldozer blade was in use before the invention of any tractor. It consisted of a frame with a blade at the front into which were harnessed two mules. The mules would push the blade into a heap of dirt dumped by a cart and spread the dirt or push it over a bank to fill a hole or gully. The fun part came when you wanted the mules to back up for the next push."
The term 'bulldozer' technically refers only to a shovel-like blade, over the years people have come to associate the term 'bulldozer' to the entire vehicle both blade and crawler tractor combined. "
Around 1880, the common usage of 'bull-dose' in the United States meant administering a large and efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment. If you 'bull-dosed' someone, you gave him a severe whipping or coerced or intimidated him in some other way, such as by holding a gun to his head... In 1886, with a slight variation in spelling, a 'bulldozer' had come to mean both a large-caliber pistol and the person who wielded it... By the late 1800s, 'bulldozing' came to mean using brawny force to push over, or through, any obstacle."
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