Link Centre Dictionary

bulge

UK/ˈbʌldʒ/ US/ˈbʌldʒ/ uncommon uk
noun (1) verb (4)

noun

1.

something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings

  • “the gun in his pocket made an obvious bulge”
  • “the hump of a camel”
  • “he stood on the rocky prominence”
  • “the occipital protuberance was well developed”
  • “the bony excrescence between its horns”
Synonyms

verb

1.

swell or protrude outwards

  • “His eyes bulged with surprise”
Synonyms
2.

bulge out; form a bulge outward, or be so full as to appear to bulge

Synonyms
3.
4.

cause to bulge or swell outwards

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English bulge (“leather bag; hump”), from Old Northern French boulge (“leather bag”), from Late Latin bulga (“leather sack”), from Gaulish *bulga, *bulgos, from Proto-Celtic *bolgos (“sack, bag, stomach”). Cognate with bilge, belly, bellows, budget, French bouge, German Balg, etc. Doublet of budge, and from the same root as belly and bellows. See also budget.

Phrases

  • battle of the bulge
  • bulge bracket
  • bulge in the onion bag
  • bulge the onion bag
  • galactic bulge
  • get the bulge on
  • youth bulge

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.