bulk

词源同ball, 膨胀，鼓起，球。

bulk

bulk: [14] Formally, bulk comes from Old Norse búlki, which meant ‘cargo’ or ‘heap’: the original connotation of the English word in this sense was thus of goods loaded loose, in heaps, rather than neatly packed up. That is the source of the phrase in bulk. However, a certain similarity in form and meaning to the English word bouk ‘belly’ (from Old English būc, and ultimately a descendant of West and North Germanic *būkaz) led to the two being confused, so that bulk was used for ‘belly’, or more generally ‘body’.

Modern connotations of ‘great size’ seem to be a blend of these two. The bulk of bulkhead [15] is a different word; it may come from Old Norse bálkr ‘partition’.

bulk (n.)

mid-15c., "a heap," earlier "ship's cargo" (mid-14c.), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse bulki "a heap; ship's cargo," thus "goods loaded loose" (perhaps literally "rolled-up load"), from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE root *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole).

Meaning extended by confusion with obsolete bouk "belly" (from Old English buc "body, belly," from Proto-Germanic *bukaz; see bucket), which led to sense of "size," first attested mid-15c.

bulk (v.)

"swell, become more massive," 1550s (usually with up), from bulk (n.). Related: Bulked; bulking.

1. Sloping walls on the bulk of the building create an optical illusion.

大楼主体的斜墙给人造成一种视错觉。

来自柯林斯例句

2. Despite his bulk he moved lightly on his feet.

尽管他身形庞大，移动起来还是很灵巧。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Shopkeepers buy them in bulk and resell them for £150 each.

店主们先大量购进，然后再以150英镑的单价将它们转卖出去。

来自柯林斯例句

4. His legs were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk.

他的双腿和他庞大身躯的其他部分相比瘦得可怜。

来自柯林斯例句

5. The bulk of the book concerns Sandy's two middle-aged children.

书中主要描写桑迪的两个已到中年的孩子。

来自柯林斯例句