# bulge

Pronunciation: say "BULJ" /ˈbʌldʒ/

## Noun

1. Something that sticks out from a surface, such as a swelling or an outward bend, especially one caused by pressure.
   - Simple: A part that sticks out from a surface, often because something is pushing it out.
   - _Engineers closed the road after spotting a widening bulge in the old retaining wall._
   - _The mechanic replaced the tire after finding a bulge in its sidewall._
4. A sudden rise in a value or a quantity, such as prices or numbers.
   - Simple: A sudden jump in an amount, a number, or a price.
   - _Analysts traced the bulge in housing prices to a shortage of new homes._
   - _A postwar bulge in births crowded the schools a few years later._
5. The outline of the penis as it shows through clothing. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The shape of the penis that can be seen through tight clothes.
6. The rounded, outward-curving middle part of a cask, also called its bilge.
   - Simple: The wide, rounded middle part of a barrel.
   - _The cooper drove the iron hoops down until they gripped the cask firmly around its bulge._
   - _Laid on its side, the cask rested on its bulge and could be turned with one hand._
7. The lowest part of the hull of a ship or boat, also called the bilge.
   - Simple: The lowest part of the body of a ship or boat.

## Verb

2. To project outward from a surface without breaking through it.
   - Simple: To push out from a surface without breaking through it.
   - _Thick veins bulge along the climber's forearms as she hangs from the ledge._
   - _The old plaster bulged out between the wooden beams of the ceiling._
3. Of a container or similar thing, to swell outward because something inside is pushing against its surface.
   - Simple: Of a bag or other container, to swell out because something inside is pushing on it.
   - _Throw away any can of food that has started to bulge at the ends._
   - _By the end of the trip, our suitcases bulged with souvenirs._
8. Of a ship, to have its hull broken open at the bottom so that it fills with water and sinks.
   - Simple: Of a ship, to break open at the bottom, fill with water, and sink.

## Origin

From Middle English bulge ("leather bag; hump"), from Old Northern French boulge ("leather bag"), from Late Latin bulga ("leather sack"), from Gaulish *bulga, from Proto-Celtic *bolgos ("sack, bag, stomach"). It is a doublet of budge, comes from the same root as belly and bellows, and is related to bilge and budget.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bulge (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).