Someone who intimidates or mistreats people who are vulnerable.
When a bully was someone dear
Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.
English
bully
‘A sweetheart’
an affectionate label also becomes a term of admiration.
English
bully
‘An admired good fellow’
approval gives way to a picture of blustering self-importance.
English
bully
‘A swaggering person’
swagger and intimidation become associated, without every older sense disappearing.
English
bully
‘Someone who intimidates others’
The earliest English bully meant a sweetheart. Later uses included a person admired as a good fellow and a swaggering figure, before the familiar intimidation sense.
The Middle Dutch connection is probable, not certain. The separate canned-beef noun has another history, and these senses need not have replaced one another abruptly.
Did you know? and the first-use record identify sweetheart as the earliest sense; Word History qualifies the Dutch origin.
A word can move from affection through admiration into criticism.