bulk Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the property resulting from being or relating to the greater in number of two parts; the main part
majority.
- the majority of his customers prefer it
- the bulk of the work is finished
noun the property of something that is great in magnitude
volume; mass.
- it is cheaper to buy it in bulk
- he received a mass of correspondence
- the volume of exports
noun the property possessed by a large mass
verb stick out or up
- The parcel bulked in the sack
verb cause to bulge or swell outwards
bulge.

OE. bulke, bolke, heap; cf. Dan. bulk lump, clod, OSw. bolk crowd, mass, Icel. blkast to be bulky. Cf. Boll, n., Bile a boil, Bulge, n.

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.
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.
(Naut.) The cargo of a vessel when stowed.
The body. Obs. Shak.
My liver leaped within my bulk. Turbervile.
Syn. -- Size; magnitude; dimension; volume; bigness; largeness; massiveness.

imperfect & past participle Bulked present participle & verbal noun Bulking

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.

Icel. balkr a beam, partition. Cf. Balk, n. & v.