bulk

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

bulk, n. [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.  [1913 Webster]

  "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."  [1913 Webster]
•  The main mass or body; the largest or principal portion; the majority; as, the bulk of a debt.  [1913 Webster]

  "The bulk of the people must labor, Burke told them, “to obtain what by labor can be obtained.”"  [1913 Webster]
•  The cargo of a vessel when stowed.  [1913 Webster]
•  The body.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "My liver leaped within my bulk."  [1913 Webster]

Barrel bulk. See under Barrel. -- To break bulk (Naut.), to begin to unload or more the cargo. -- In bulk, in a mass; loose; not inclosed in separate packages or divided into separate parts; in such shape that any desired quantity may be taken or sold. -- Laden in bulk, Stowed in bulk, having the cargo loose in the hold or not inclosed in boxes, bales, or casks. -- Sale by bulk, a sale of goods as they are, without weight or measure.

Syn. -- Size; magnitude; dimension; volume; bigness; largeness; massiveness.

bulk, v. i. 

 To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent; to swell.  [1913 Webster]
"The fame of Warburton possibly bulked larger for the moment."  [1913 Webster]

bulk, n. [Icel. bālkr a beam, partition. Cf. Balk, n. & v.].

 A projecting part of a building.  [1913 Webster]
"Here, stand behind this bulk."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

bulk, n. & v.
--n.
1 a size; magnitude (esp. large). b a large mass, body, or person. c a large quantity.
2 a large shape, body, or person (jacket barely covered his bulk).
3 (usu. prec. by the; treated as pl.) the greater part or number (the bulk of the applicants are women).
4 roughage.
5 Naut. cargo, esp. unpackaged.
--v.
1 intr. seem in respect of size or importance (bulks large in his reckoning).
2 tr. make (a book, a textile yarn, etc.) seem thicker by suitable treatment (bulked it with irrelevant stories).
3 tr. combine (consignments etc.).

Idiom

break bulk begin unloading (cargo). bulk-buying
1 buying in large amounts at a discount.
2 the purchase by one buyer of all or most of a producer's output.
in bulk
1 in large quantities.
2 (of a cargo) loose, not packaged.

Etymology

sense 'cargo' f. OIcel. b{uacute}lki; sense 'mass' etc. perh. alt. f. obs. bouk (cf. BUCK(3))

THESAURUS

bulk

accumulate, add to, agglomerate, aggrandize, aggregate, aggroup, amass, amount, ampleness, amplify, amplitude, area, assemble, augment, balloon, batch, best part, better part, bigness, bloat, block, blow up, bodily size, body, boundlessness, breadth, bring together, broaden, budget, build, build up, bulk large, bulk out, bunch, bunch together, bunch up, caliber, chunk, clod, clump, cluster, coarseness, collect, colligate, collocate, combine, compare, compile, conglomerate, core, corpulence, corpus, corral, coverage, crescendo, cumulate, depth, develop, diameter, dig up, dilate, dimension, dimensions, distance through, distend, draw together, dredge up, drive together, enlarge, enlargement, enormity, enormousness, essence, exceed, expand, expanse, expansion, extend, extension, extent, fatness, fill out, force, formidableness, fullness, gather, gather in, gather together, gauge, generality, get in, get together, gigantism, girth, gist, gob, grandeur, grandness, gravamen, great scope, greaten, greatness, grossness, group, height, hike, hike up, huff, hugeness, hunk, immensity, increase, infinity, inflate, intensity, join, juxtapose, largeness, length, loaf, loom, loom large, lump, lump together, magnify, magnitude, main body, major part, majority, make up, mass, match, matter, measure, measurement, meat, might, mightiness, mobilize, more than half, most, muchness, muster, nugget, numbers, object, outsoar, outstrip, overtop, pair, partner, pat, plenitude, plurality, power, preponderance, preponderancy, prodigiousness, proportion, proportions, puff, puff up, pump, pump up, put together, quantity, quantum, radius, raise, rake up, rally, range, rarefy, reach, rear, rise above, round up, scale, scope, scrape together, size, snowball, soar, spread, stand out, staple, strength, stretch, stupendousness, substance, sufflate, sum, swell, take up, the greatest number, the third dimension, thickness, thrust, total, totality, tower, tower above, transcend, tremendousness, tumefy, up, vastness, volume, wad, whip in, whole, widen, width

ROGET THESAURUS

bulk

Greatness

N greatness, magnitude, size, multitude, immensity, enormity, infinity, might, strength, intensity, fullness, importance, great quantity, quantity, deal, power, sight, pot, volume, world, mass, heap, stock, peck, bushel, load, cargo, cartload, wagonload, shipload, flood, spring tide, abundance, principal part, chief part, main part, greater part, major part, best part, essential part, bulk, mass, great, greater, large, considerable, fair, above par, big, huge, Herculean, cyclopean, ample, abundant, full, intense, strong, sound, passing, heavy, plenary, deep, high, signal, at its height, in the zenith, world-wide, widespread, far-famed, extensive, wholesale, many, goodly, noble, precious, mighty, sad, grave, heavy, serious, far gone, arrant, downright, utter, uttermost, crass, gross, arch, profound, intense, consummate, rank, uninitiated, red-hot, desperate, glaring, flagrant, stark staring, thorough-paced, thoroughgoing, roaring, thumping, extraordinary, important, unsurpassed, complete, august, grand, dignified, sublime, majestic, vast, immense, enormous, extreme, inordinate, excessive, extravagant, exorbitant, outrageous, preposterous, unconscionable, swinging, monstrous, overgrown, towering, stupendous, prodigious, astonishing, incredible, marvelous, unlimited, unapproachable, unutterable, indescribable, ineffable, unspeakable, inexpressible, beyond expression, fabulous, undiminished, unabated, unreduced, unrestricted, absolute, positive, stark, decided, unequivocal, essential, perfect, finished, remarkable, of mark, marked, pointed, veriest, noteworthy, renowned, truly, decidedly, unequivocally, purely, absolutely, seriously, essentially, fundamentally, radically, downright, in all conscience, for the most part, in the main, entirely, abundantly, widely, far and wide, greatly, much, muckle, well, indeed, very, very much, a deal, no end of, most, not a little, pretty, pretty well, enough, in a great measure, richly, to a large extent, to a great extent, to a gigantic extent, on a large scale, so, never so, ever so, ever so dole, scrap, shred, tag, splinter, rag, much, by wholesale, mighty, powerfully, with a witness, ultra, in the extreme, extremely, exceedingly, intensely, exquisitely, acutely, indefinitely, immeasurably, beyond compare, beyond comparison, beyond measure, beyond all bounds, incalculably, infinitely, preeminently, superlatively, immoderately, monstrously, preposterously, inordinately, exorbitantly, excessively, enormously, out of all proportion, with a vengeance, particularly, remarkably, singularly, curiously, uncommonly, unusually, peculiarly, notably, signally, strikingly, pointedly, mainly, chiefly, famously, egregiously, prominently, glaringly, emphatically, kat exochin, strangely, wonderfully, amazingly, surprisingly, astonishingly, incredibly, marvelously, awfully, stupendously, peculiarly, furiously, severely, desperately, tremendously, extravagantly, confoundedly, deucedly, devilishly, with a vengeance, a outrance, a toute outrance, painfully, sadly, grossly, sorely, bitterly, piteously, grievously, miserably, cruelly, woefully, lamentably, shockingly, frightfully, dreadfully, fearfully, terribly, horribly, a maximis ad minima, greatness knows itself, mightiest powers by deepest calms are fed, minimum decet libere cui multum licet, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Whole

N whole, totality, integrity, totalness, entirety, ensemble, collectiveness, unity, completeness, indivisibility, indiscerptibility, integration, embodiment, integer, all, the whole, total, aggregate, one and all, gross amount, sum, sum total, tout ensemble, length and breadth of, Alpha and Omega, be all and end all, complex, complexus, lock stock and barrel, bulk, mass, lump, tissue, staple, body, compages, trunk, torso, bole, hull, hulk, skeleton greater part, major part, best part, principal part, main part, essential part, lion's share, Benjamin's mess, the long and the short, nearly, all, almost all, whole, total, integral, entire, complete, one, individual, unbroken, intact, uncut, undivided, unsevered, unclipped, uncropped, unshorn, seamless, undiminished, undemolished, undissolved, undestroyed, unbruised, indivisible, indissoluble, indissolvable, indiscerptible, wholesale, sweeping, comprehensive, wholly, altogether, totally, entirely, all, all in all, as a whole, wholesale, in a body, collectively, all put together, in the aggregate, in the lump, in the mass, in the gross, in the main, in the long run, en masse, as a body, on the whole, bodily, en bloc, in extenso, throughout, every inch, substantially, tout bien ou rien.

Size

N size, magnitude, dimension, bulk, volume, largeness, greatness, expanse, amplitude, mass, proportions, capacity, tonnage, tunnage, cordage, caliber, scantling, turgidity, corpulence, obesity, plumpness, embonpoint, corporation, flesh and blood, lustihood, hugeness, enormity, immensity, monstrosity, giant, Brobdingnagian, Antaeus, Goliath, Gog and Magog, Gargantua, monster, mammoth, Cyclops, cachalot, whale, porpoise, behemoth, leviathan, elephant, hippopotamus, colossus, tun, cord, lump, bulk, block, loaf, mass, swad, clod, nugget, bushel, thumper, whooper, spanker, strapper, Triton among the minnows, mountain, mound, heap, largest portion, full size, life size, large, big, great, considerable, bulky, voluminous, ample, massive, massy, capacious, comprehensive, spacious, mighty, towering, fine, magnificent, corpulent, stout, fat, obese, plump, squab, full, lusty, strapping, bouncing, portly, burly, well-fed, full-grown, corn fed, gram fed, stalwart, brawny, fleshy, goodly, in good case, in good condition, in condition, chopping, jolly, chub faced, chubby faced, lubberly, hulky, unwieldy, lumpish, gaunt, spanking, whacking, whopping, walloping, thumping, thundering, hulking, overgrown, puffy, huge, immense, enormous, mighty, vast, vasty, amplitudinous, stupendous, monster, monstrous, humongous, monumental, elephantine, jumbo, mammoth, gigantic, gigantean, giant, giant like, titanic, prodigious, colossal, Cyclopean, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, Herculean, Gargantuan, infinite, large as life, plump as a dumpling, plump as a partridge, fat as a pig, fat as a quail, fat as butter, fat as brawn, fat as bacon, immeasurable, unfathomable, unplumbed, inconceivable, unimaginable, unheard-of, of cosmic proportions, of epic proportions, the mother of all, teh granddaddy of all, size, magnitude, dimension, bulk, volume, largeness, greatness, expanse, amplitude, mass, proportions, capacity, tonnage, tunnage, cordage, caliber, scantling, turgidity, corpulence, obesity, plumpness, embonpoint, corporation, flesh and blood, lustihood, hugeness, enormity, immensity, monstrosity, giant, Brobdingnagian, Antaeus, Goliath, Gog and Magog, Gargantua, monster, mammoth, Cyclops, cachalot, whale, porpoise, behemoth, leviathan, elephant, hippopotamus, colossus, tun, cord, lump, bulk, block, loaf, mass, swad, clod, nugget, bushel, thumper, whooper, spanker, strapper, Triton among the minnows, mountain, mound, heap, largest portion, full size, life size, large, big, great, considerable, bulky, voluminous, ample, massive, massy, capacious, comprehensive, spacious, mighty, towering, fine, magnificent, corpulent, stout, fat, obese, plump, squab, full, lusty, strapping, bouncing, portly, burly, well-fed, full-grown, corn fed, gram fed, stalwart, brawny, fleshy, goodly, in good case, in good condition, in condition, chopping, jolly, chub faced, chubby faced, lubberly, hulky, unwieldy, lumpish, gaunt, spanking, whacking, whopping, walloping, thumping, thundering, hulking, overgrown, puffy, huge, immense, enormous, mighty, vast, vasty, amplitudinous, stupendous, monster, monstrous, humongous, monumental, elephantine, jumbo, mammoth, gigantic, gigantean, giant, giant like, titanic, prodigious, colossal, Cyclopean, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, Herculean, Gargantuan, infinite, large as life, plump as a dumpling, plump as a partridge, fat as a pig, fat as a quail, fat as butter, fat as brawn, fat as bacon, immeasurable, unfathomable, unplumbed, inconceivable, unimaginable, unheard-of, of cosmic proportions, of epic proportions, the mother of all, teh granddaddy of all.