bull 1

Bullshit is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism "bull", meaning nonsense, dates from the 17th century,^[1] while the term "bullshit" has been used as early as 1915 in American slang, and came into popular usage only during World War II.

The word "bull" itself may have derived from the Old French boul meaning "fraud, deceit" (Oxford English Dictionary)

The term "horseshit" is a near synonym. Worthy of note is the South African English equivalent "bull dust". Few corresponding terms exist in other languages, with the significant exception of German Bockmist, literally "billy-goat shit".

The earliest attestation mentioned by the Concise Oxford English Dictionary is in fact T. S. Eliot, who between 1910 and 1916 wrote an early poem to which he gave the title "The Triumph of Bullshit", written in the form of a ballade. The first stanza goes:

 

Ladies, on whom my attentions have waited
If you consider my merits are small
Etiolated, alembicated,
Orotund, tasteless, fantastical,
Monotonous, crotchety, constipated,
Impotent galamatias
Affected, possibly imitated,
For Christ's sake stick it up your ass.