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.
例文
1. Sloping walls on the bulk of the building create an optical illusion.
ビル本体の斜壁は錯視を与える。
2.Despite his bulk he moved lightly on his feet.
彼は体が大きいにもかかわらず、移動するのは器用だ。
3. Shopkeepers buy them in bulk and resell them for ￡150 each.
店主たちはまず大量に購入し、150ポンドの単価で転売した。
4.His legs were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk .
彼の足は彼の巨体の他の部分に比べてかわいそうにやせている。
5.The bulk of the book concerns Sandy 's two midddle-aged children.