Cerviguillo: the high part of the bull’s neck where the hump of muscle forms the so-called morillo or erective muscular crest of the neck.
Chato: snub nosed.
Chico: small; also means youngster. The younger brothers of bullfighters are usually referred to by the family name or professional name with Chico appended as: Armillita Chico, Amoros Chico, etc.
Chicuelinas: a pass with the cape invented by Manuel Jiminez “Chicuelo.” The man offers the cape to the bull and when the bull has charged and is past, the man, while the bull turns, makes a pirouette in which the cape wraps itself around him. At the conclusion of the pirouette he is facing the bull ready to make another pass.
Chiquero: the closed stalls in which the bulls await their entrance into the ring.
Choto: a calf which is still nursing; term of contempt to describe under-aged and undersized bulls.
Citar: challenging the bull’s attention to provoke a charge.
Clarines: the trumpets that give the signals at the president’s orders to announce the different changes in the fight.
Claro: a bull that is simple and easy to work with.
Cobarde: a cowardly bull or bullfighter.
Cobrar: to collect; el mano de cobrar is the right hand.
Cogida: the tossing of a man by the bull; means literally the catching; if the bull catches he tosses.
Cojo: lame; a bull which comes into the ring lame may be retired. The spectators will commence to shout “Cojo” as soon as they perceive the lameness.
Cojones: testicles; a valorous bullfighter is said to be plentifully equipped with these. In a cowardly bullfighter they are said to be absent. Those of the bull are called criadillas and prepared in any of the ways sweetbreads are usually cooked they are a great delicacy. During the killing of the fifth bull the criadillas of the first bull were sometimes served in the royal box. Primo de Rivera was so fond of interlarding his discourse with reference to manly virtues that he was said to have eaten so many criadillas that they had gone to his brain.
Cola: the bull’s tail; usually called rabo. Cola may also mean the line in front of a ticket window.
Colada: the instant in which the bullfighter finds his position untenable when through mismanagement of the cloth or through the bull paying no attention to it or abandoning it to seek the man, the man must save himself from the charge as best he can.
Coleando: hanging onto the bull’s tail, twisting it toward his head. This gives great pain to the bull and often damages his spinal column. It is only permissible when the bull is goring, or trying to gore a man on the ground.
Coleta: the short, tightly braided, curved pigtail worn at the back of the head by the bullfighter to attach the mona, a black sort of hollow, dull, silk-covered button about twice the size of a silver dollar which supports the hat. Bullfighters formerly all wore this tress of hair pinned forward on their head out of sight when not fighting. Now they have found that they can attach both mona and a made-up coleta at the same time by a clasp to the hair at the back of their heads when dressing for the ring. You only see the pigtail now, once the caste mark of all bullfighters, on the heads of young aspirant fighters in the provinces.
Colocar: to place; a man is bien colocado when he places himself correctly in the ring for all the different acts of the bullfight. It is also used when speaking of the placing of the sword, the pic and the banderillas in the bull. A bullfighter is also said to be bien colocado when he has finally arrived at a recognized position in his profession.
Compuesto: composed; holding his figure straight while the bull charges.
Confianza: self-confidence; peón de confianza — confidential banderillero who represents and may even advise the matador.
Confiar: to become confident and sure of himself with a bull.
Conocedor: a professional overseer of the fighting bulls on a breeder’s estates.
Consentirse: to get very close to the bull with the body or lure in order to force a charge and then keep close and keep the bull charging.
Contrabarrera: second row of seats at the bull ring.
Contratas: contracts signed by bullfighters.
Contratista de Caballos: horse contractor; furnishes horses for a fight for a fixed sum.
Cornada: a horn wound; a real wound as distinct from a varetazo or bruising scratch. A cornada de caballo is a huge cornada, the same sort of wound in a man that the bull usually makes in the chest of a horse.
Cornalón: bull with exceptionally large horns.
Corniabierto: exceptionally wide horned.
Corniavacado: cowhorned. Bull in which the horns turn up and back.
Cornicorto: shorthorned.
Cornigacho: bull with low horns coming quite straight forward.
Corniveleto: high straight horns.
Corral: enclosure adjoining the ring in which the bulls are kept immediately before they are to be fought. Provided with feed-boxes, salt and fresh water.
Correr: to run; used to denote the running of the bull by the banderillero when the animal first enters the ring.
Corrida or Corrida de Toros: the Spanish bullfight.
Corrida de Novillos Toros: fight in which young or big but defective bulls are used.
Corta: short, an estocada in which the sword goes in a little more than half way.
Cortar: to cut; bullfighters often sustain slight cuts on the hands with the sword when managing sword and muleta. Cortar la oreja — to cut the bull’s ear. Cortar la coleta — to cut the pigtail or retire.
Cortar terreno: the bull is said to cut in on the terrain of the bullfighter when after the man has provoked a charge ana is running toward and across the line of the bull’s charge to place the banderillas, say, at the point where their two courses will meet, the bull changes his direction while charging in order to cut in toward the man; gaining ground by running sideways.
Corto (torero corto): matador with a limited repertoire.
Corto — vestido de corto: wearing the short jacket of the Andalucian bull herders. Bullfighters formerly dressed in their costume when not in the ring.
Crecer: to increase; a bull that increases in bravery under punishment.
Cruz: the cross. Where the line of the top of the bull’s shoulder blades would cross the spine. The place the sword should go in if the matador kills perfectly. The cruz is also the crossing of the sword arm over the arm that holds the lowered muleta as the matador goes in to kill. He is said to cross well when his left hand manages the cloth so that it moves low and well out accentuating the cross made with the other arm thus getting well rid of the bull as the man follows the sword in. Fernando Gomez, father of the Gallos, is supposed first to have remarked that the bullfighter who does not cross in this way belongs to the devil at once. Another saying is that the first time you do not cross is your first trip to the hospital.
Cuadrar: squaring the bull for killing; both front and hind feet together and the head neither too high nor too low. In banderillas: the moment when the bull lowers his head to hook and the man puts his feet together, his hands together and sinks the shafts into the bull.
Cuadrilla: the troupe of bullfighters under the orders of a matador including picadors and banderilleros one of whom acts as puntillero.
Cuarteo: the most common form of placing banderillas, described in the text; a feint with the body or dodging motion used to avoid going in straight toward the bull when killing.
Cuidado: watch out! when it is an ejaculation. When applied to the bull as a descriptive term means one who has learned in the course of the fight and become dangerous.
Cuidando la línea: looking after the line; taking care that his movements shall be aesthetically graceful while working with the bull.
Cumbre: summit; torero cumbre: the very best possible; faena cumbre: the absolute top in work with the muleta.
Cuna: the cradle formed on the bull’s head between the bull’s horns. The one temporary refuge of a man whose position has become hopelessly compromised.
D
Defenderse: to defend; a bull is said to defend himself when he refuses to charge but pays close attention to everything and gores at anything that comes close to him.
Dehesa: pasture land.
Déjalo: leave him alone! Let him be! Shouted by the bullfighter to his peones when they have the bull correctly placed or when the matador wishes the bull left alone and not tired any more by the capes.
Delantal: a pass with the cape invented
