cull / kəl/ • v. [tr.] (usu. be culled) select from a large quantity; obtain from a variety of sources: anecdotes culled from Greek and Roman history. ∎  reduce the population of (a wild animal) by selective slaughter. ∎  send (an inferior or surplus animal on a farm) to be slaughtered. ∎ poetic/lit. pick (flowers or fruit): [as adj.] (culled) fresh culled daffodils. • n. a selective slaughter of wild animals. ∎  [usu. as adj.] an inferior or surplus livestock animal selected for killing: a cull cow.DERIVATIVES: cull·er n.

cull To remove objects from a complex computer-graphics computation on the basis of a quicker test. For example, if the front faces of a cube are hidden by another object, all the geometry of the cube can be omitted from the calculation. See also back-face detection.

cull select, pick XV; gather XVII. Earlier co(i)le and (rare) cuyl (XIV). — OF. coilli(e)r, cuiller, (also mod.) cueillir, repr. L. colligere (see COLLECT 2), Rom. *colgere.

Cull

a selection; those beasts taken out of a herd for a special purpose.

Examples: cull of fat cows, 1858; of sheep, 1880.