Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BULL'-FIGHT, n. [bull and fight.]

A combat with a bull; an amusement among the Spaniards and Portuguese. A horseman, called a toreador or picador, attacks a bull in a circus or inclosed arena, in presence of multitudes of spectators, irritating him with a spear, till the bull rushes upon the horseman, and perhaps dismounts the rider. After the bull has been tormented a long time, the horseman leaves him, and some persons on foot attack him aud plunge darts into his neck; and at a signal given by the president, the barbarous sport is ended by the dagger of a matador. – Encyc.