Word: matador
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...does, they stick their lances in the bull's neck muscles and try to hold him off so that he cannot get at horse or man. (Object: to tire the bull's neck muscles so that he lowers his head in charging, exposing the spot which the matador must hit to kill him.) Next, the peones (or sometimes the matador) place three pairs of beribboned darts in the bull's hump (object: to excite the bull and keep him lively...
...Kill. In the third scene the matador with his sword and muleta (a red cloth draped across a stick) goes forth to the kill. The art of this work consists of the number and variety of the passes which the matador executes, how close he can let the charging bull go past him, how well he can control the bull's charges...
...very end, the matador stands in profile, aiming his sword at the tired but still dangerous bull. As the charge comes, he leans over the horns, slips the sword into the small spot between the bull's shoulder blades. If the bull tosses its head, if the man's aim is not true, if he loses his nerve, he misses. The sword may be tossed in the air, perhaps bent from the force of the bull's charge. Then the matador must take another sword and steel himself to try again. But if his thrust succeeds...
...three scenes take about 20 minutes. Then the next act, with another bull and another matador, begins...
...Mexican bullfighting. One reason is that two of the best espadas (swordsmen) in modern history are now performing in Mexico. One of them is Fermin Espinosa, called Armillita, now 33, who has killed some 2,000 bulls since he was 16. The other is Silverio Perez, 27, a daring matador who deliberately risks death every time he faces a bull and who last year was the idol of aficionados...