Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Bulk

Bulk (bulk) , noun

[Old English bulke, bolke, heap; compare Danish bulk lump, clod, OSw. bolk crowd, mass, Icelandic b{not transcribed}lkast to be bulky. Compare Boll, n., Bile a boil, Bulge, n.]

1.
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
2.
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
3.
(Nautical) The cargo of a vessel when stowed.
4.
The body. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
My liver leaped within my bulk. — Turbervile
Collocations (5)
Barrel bulk , See under Barrel.
To break bulk (Nautical) , 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 or 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.

Bulk ({not transcribed}) , intransitive verb

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

Bulk , noun

[Icelandic bālkr a beam, partition. Compare Balk, n. & v.]

A projecting part of a building. [Obsolete]
Here, stand behind this bulk. — Shakespeare