cull: [15] Ultimately, cull is the same word as collect. It comes via Old French cuillir from Latin colligere ‘gather together’, whose past participial stem collēct- formed the original basis of English collect. The Latin verb was a compound formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and legere ‘gather’ (source also of English elect, neglect, select, etc). => collect, elect, lecture, legend, neglect, select
early 14c., "choose, select, pick; collect and gather the best things from a number or quantity," especially with reference to literary selections, from Old French cuiler "collect, gather, pluck, select" (12c., Modern French cueillir), from Latin colligere "gather together, collect," originally "choose, select" (see collect). Meaning "select livestock according to quality" is from 1889; notion of "select and kill (animals)," usually in the name of reducing overpopulation or improving the stock, is from 1934. Related: Culled; culling.
"dupe, saphead," rogues' slang from late 16c., perhaps a shortening of cullion "base fellow," originally "testicle" (from French couillon, from Old French coillon "testicle; worthless fellow, dolt," from Latin coleus, literally "strainer bag;" see cojones), though another theory traces it to Romany (Gypsy) chulai "man." Also sometimes in the form cully, however some authorities assert cully was the canting term for "dupe" and cull was generic "man, fellow," without implication of gullibility. Compare also gullible.
