1. Size, mass, or volume, especially when very large. 2a. A distinct mass or portion of matter, especially a large one: the dark bulk of buildings against the sky.b. The body of a human, especially when large or muscular. 3. The major portion or greater part: “The great bulk of necessary work can never be anything but painful” (Bertrand Russell). 4. See fiber (sense 6). 5. Thickness of paper or cardboard in relation to weight. 6. A ship's cargo.
VERB:
Inflected forms: bulked, bulk·ing, bulks
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To be or appear to be massive in terms of size, volume, or importance; loom: Safety considerations bulked large during development of the new spacecraft.2. To grow or increase in size or importance. 3. To cohere or form a mass: Certain paper bulks well.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To cause to swell or expand. 2. To cause to cohere or form a mass.
ADJECTIVE:
Being large in mass, quantity, or volume: a bulk buy; a bulk mailing.
PHRASAL VERB:
bulk up To gain weight by gaining muscle: dietary supplements that helped the weightlifters bulk up.
IDIOM:
in bulk1. Unpackaged; loose. 2. In large numbers, amounts, or volume.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, perhaps partly alteration of bouk, belly, trunk of the body (from Old English bc) and partly from Old Norse bulki, cargo, heap; see bhel-2 in Appendix I.
b
lk
c) and partly from Old Norse bulki, cargo, heap; see bhel-2 in Appendix I.
