bulk

Pluralbulks

Formsbulks, bulking, bulked

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The size of something, especially the amount of space its volume occupies.

   The bulk of the old engine made it awkward to fit under the hood.

   Glaciers are remarkable for their sheer bulk and slow, grinding movement.

   Similarsize, volume, mass, magnitude

   Note

   Behind the measuring sense lies a shipping word. Middle English bulk, bolke meant a heap, a cargo, a ship's hold, even a bulge, borrowed from Old Norse búlki, a ship's freight. Newton in 1729 measures quantity of matter by density and bulk together, and Lewis Carroll's A Tangled Tale uses it for the liquid a body displaces. Bulk is volume, not weight, which is why the two are so often paired.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Unpackaged goods such as coal, ore, or grain, carried in large volumes rather than in individual containers.

   Dry bulk such as iron ore is loaded directly into the ship's holds.

   The terminal can store thousands of tons of bulk before transfer.

   Note

   Freight handlers use the word for cargo with no packaging at all: ore, coal or grain loaded loose, straight into the hold. It stays uncountable, so a ship carries bulk, or carries goods in bulk. That keeps it apart from a countable load of cargo. It is also the use nearest the word's beginnings, the Norse term for a ship's freight described under the sense of size.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The major or greatest part of something.

   The bulk of the work was finished before lunch.

   She spent the bulk of her savings on a single trip.

   Similarmajority

4. 4
   adjective

   Large in size, mass, or volume, as goods or materials typically are.

   They placed a bulk order to bring the per-unit price down.

   The bulk delivery required two extra trucks to move it all.

   Similarlarge, wholesale

5. 5
   adjective

   Considered as a whole; total or aggregate.

   The contractor gave one bulk price covering all the materials and labor.

   The bulk figure on the invoice included tax and shipping.

   Similartotal, aggregate, overall, combined

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The majority or the larger remaining share of a group or quantity.

   The bulk of the residents voted to keep the park open.

   By dawn the bulk of the herd had already crossed the river.

   Similarmajority

   Oppositeminority

   Note

   Here bulk counts rather than measures, and the verb follows what is counted: the bulk of my income is, but the bulk of the criticisms were. With a plural noun after of, the verb goes plural, because the reader hears the criticisms rather than the bulk. It stays close to the major part and differs mainly in favoring things that can be tallied or shared out.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Added body mass, especially muscle gained through training and diet.

   Months of heavy lifting added serious bulk to his frame.

   She wanted to build strength without putting on too much bulk.

   Similarmass, muscle, size, weight, brawn

   Note

   Gym talk separates the result from the process. Bulk is what sits on the frame, while the months of eating and lifting that produce it are a bulking phase. Lifters speak of adding or putting on bulk, and often of wanting strength without too much of it. Outside bodybuilding, the same word for a heavy body can sound unflattering, so the setting decides the tone.

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To gain body mass deliberately through diet, exercise, and training.

   Wrestlers often bulk in the months before a tougher weight class.

   If you want to bulk, you need to eat well above your usual intake.

   Oppositecut

9. 9
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A huge body, mass, or structure.

   The whale's enormous bulk briefly blocked the sunlight near the surface.

   The cathedral's gray bulk dominated the city skyline.

   Similarmass, hulk, body

10. 10
    nouncountable or uncountable

    Indigestible plant material in food that adds mass to the diet and aids digestion; dietary fiber.

    Whole grains and vegetables add bulk to your diet.

    Doctors often recommend more bulk to keep digestion regular.

    Similarfiber, roughage

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