BULK
bulk
(noun) the property possessed by a large mass
bulk, mass, volume
(noun) the property of something that is great in magnitude; “it is cheaper to buy it in bulk”; “he received a mass of correspondence”; “the volume of exports”
majority, bulk
(noun) the property resulting from being or relating to the greater in number of two parts; the main part; “the majority of his customers prefer it”; “the bulk of the work is finished”
bulge, bulk
(verb) cause to bulge or swell outwards
bulk
(verb) stick out or up; “The parcel bulked in the sack”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
bulk (countable and uncountable, plural bulks)
Size, specifically, volume.
Any huge body or structure.
The major part of something.
Dietary fibre.
(uncountable, transport) Unpackaged goods when transported in large volumes, e.g. coal, ore or grain.
(countable) a cargo or any items moved or communicated in the manner of cargo.
(bodybuilding) Excess body mass, especially muscle.
(bodybuilding) A period where one tries to gain muscle.
(brane cosmology) A hypothetical higher-dimensional space within which our own four-dimensional universe may exist.
(obsolete) The body.
Adjective
bulk (not comparable)
being large in size, mass or volume (of goods, etc.)
total
Verb
bulk (third-person singular simple present bulks, present participle bulking, simple past and past participle bulked)
(intransitive) To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent.
(intransitive) To grow in size; to swell or expand.
(intransitive) To gain body mass by means of diet, exercise, etc.
(transitive) To put or hold in bulk.
(transitive, obsolete) To add bulk to, to bulk out.
Source: Wiktionary
Bulk, n. Etym: [OE. bulke, bolke, heap; cf. Dan. bulk lump, clod,
OSw. bolk crowd, mass, Icel. b to be bulky. Cf. Boll, n., Bile a
boil, Bulge, n.]
1. Magnitude of material substance; dimensions; mass; size; as, an ox
or ship of great bulk.
Against these forces there were prepared near one hundred ships; not
so great of bulk indeed, but of a more nimble motion, and more
serviceable. Bacon.
2. The main mass or body; the largest or principal portion; the
majority; as, the bulk of a debt.
The bulk of the people must labor, Burke told them, "to obtain what
by labor can be obtained." J. Morley.
3. (Naut.)
Definition: The cargo of a vessel when stowed.
4. The body. [Obs.] Shak.
My liver leaped within my bulk. Turbervile.
Barrel bulk. See under Barrel.
– To break bulk (Naut.), to begin to unload or more the cargo.
– In bulk, in a mass; loose; not inclosed in separate packages or
divided into separate parts; in such shape that any desired quantity
may be taken or sold.
– Laden in bulk, Stowed in bulk, having the cargo loose in the hold
or not inclosed in boxes, bales, or casks.
– Sale by bulk, a sale of goods as they are, without weight or
measure.
Syn.
– Size; magnitude; dimension; volume; bigness; largeness;
massiveness.
Bulk, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bulked; p. pr. & vb. n. Bulking.]
Definition: To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent; to swell.
The fame of Warburton possibly bulked larger for the moment. Leslie
Stephen.
Bulk, n. Etym: [Icel. balkr a beam, partition. Cf. Balk, n. & v.]
Definition: A projecting part of a building. [Obs.]
Here, stand behind this bulk. Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition