An example of bulk is the overall size of a large football player.
bulk
- size, mass, or volume, esp. if great
- the main mass or body of something; largest part or portion: the bulk of one's fortune
- soft, bulky matter of a kind that passes through the intestines without being absorbed and aids in elimination
Origin of bulk
ME, heap, cargo from Old Norse bulki, a heap, ship's cargo; probably from Indo-European base an unverified form bhel-: see ball- to form into a mass
- to increase in size, importance, etc.
- to have size or importance: to bulk large in the mind
- to make (something) form into a mass
- to make bulge; stuff
- to give greater bulk, or size, to
- total; aggregate
- not put up in individual packages
- designating or of mail comprising presorted, identical items mailed in quantity, as catalogs
in bulk
- not put up in individual packages
- in large amounts; in great volume
Origin of bulk
Middle English balk from Old Norse balkr, partition, wall; akin to balkbulk
noun
- Size, mass, or volume, especially when very large.
- a. 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.
- The major portion or greater part: “The great bulk of necessary work can never be anything but painful” ( Bertrand Russell )
- See fiber.
- Thickness of paper or cardboard in relation to weight.
- A ship's cargo.
verb
bulked, bulk·ing, bulksverb
intransitive- 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.
- To grow or increase in size or importance.
- To cohere or form a mass: Certain paper bulks well.
verb
transitive- To cause to swell or expand.
- To cause to cohere or form a mass.
adjective
Origin of bulk
Middle English perhaps partly alteration of bouk belly, trunk of the body ( from Old English būc ) and partly from Old Norse bulki cargo, heap ; see bhel-2 in Indo-European roots.bulk
(countable and uncountable, plural bulks)
- Size, mass or volume.
- The major part of something.
- The result of water retained by 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.
- (brane cosmology) A hypothetical higher-dimensional space within which our own four-dimensional universe may exist.
(third-person singular simple present bulks, present participle bulking, simple past and past participle bulked)
From Middle English bolke (“a heap, cargo, hold”), from Old Norse búlki (“the freight or the cargo of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *bulkô (“beam, pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”), related to Icelandic búlkast (“to be bulky”), Swedish dialectal bulk (“a bunch”), Danish bulk (“bump, knob”). Conflated with Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk”), from Old English būc (“belly, stomach, pitcher”), from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, body”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhōw- (“to blow, swell”), related to Dutch buik (“belly”), German Bauch (“belly, stomach”), Swedish buk (“belly, abdomen”). More at bouk, bucket.
