BULGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bulge mean? 

• BULGE (noun)
  The noun BULGE has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: BULGE used as a noun is very rare.

• BULGE (verb)
  The verb BULGE has 4 senses:

1. swell or protrude outwards

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

3. bulge outward

4. cause to bulge or swell outwards

  Familiarity information: BULGE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BULGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

bulge; bump; excrescence; extrusion; gibbosity; gibbousness; hump; jut; prominence; protrusion; protuberance; swelling

Context example:

the bony excrescence between its horns

Hypernyms ("bulge" is a kind of...):

projection (any solid convex shape that juts out from something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bulge"):

frontal eminence (either prominence of the frontal bone above each orbit)

occipital protuberance (prominence on the outer surface of the occipital bone)

belly (a part that bulges deeply)

caput (a headlike protuberance on an organ or structure)

mogul (a bump on a ski slope)

nub; nubble (a small lump or protuberance)

snag (a sharp protuberance)

wart (any small rounded protuberance (as on certain plants or animals))

Derivation:

bulge (cause to bulge or swell outwards)

bulge (swell or protrude outwards)

bulge (bulge outward)

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

bulgy (curving outward)

• BULGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bulge    ... he / she / it bulges   
Past simple: bulged   
Past participle: bulged   
-ing form: bulging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Swell or protrude outwards

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bulge; pouch; protrude

Context example:

His stomach bulged after the huge meal

Hypernyms (to "bulge" is one way to...):

change form; change shape; deform (assume a different shape or form)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bulge"):

bulk (stick out or up)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

bulge (something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

bag; bulge

Hypernyms (to "bulge" is one way to...):

jut; jut out; project; protrude; stick out (extend out or project in space)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bulge"):

protuberate (form a rounded prominence)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The streets bulge with crowds

Derivation:

bulge (something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bulge outward

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

bug out; bulge; bulge out; come out; pop; pop out; protrude; start

Context example:

His eyes popped

Hypernyms (to "bulge" is one way to...):

change form; change shape; deform (assume a different shape or form)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

bulge (something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to bulge or swell outwards

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bulge; bulk

Hypernyms (to "bulge" is one way to...):

swell (cause to become swollen)

Cause:

bulge; pouch; protrude (swell or protrude outwards)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

bulge (something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings)

 Context examples 

Issue associated with an undesired bulge, bend, bow, kink, or wavy condition observed in the device material resulting from compressive stresses.

(Buckled Medical Device Material, Food and Drug Administration)

A balloon type pouch or bulge in the wall of a cerebral blood vessel.

(Cerebral Aneurysm, NCI Thesaurus)

A balloon type pouch or bulge in the wall of a cerebral artery.

(Cerebral Arterial Aneurysm, NCI Thesaurus)

A balloon type pouch or bulge in the wall of a cerebral vein.

(Cerebral Venous Aneurysm, NCI Thesaurus)

A bulging cylindrical shape with flat ends.

(Barrel, NCI Thesaurus)

Then, at last, our pockets bulging with cartridges and a rifle in each hand, we started off upon our mission of rescue.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At the same time, the Sausage debris was scattered all around the inner parts of the Milky Way, creating the ‘bulge’ at the galaxy’s centre and the surrounding ‘stellar halo’.

(The Gaia Sausage: the major collision that changed the Milky Way, University of Cambridge)

The buoyancy of the material, some of it molten, causes the crust to bulge upward.

(Hot News from the Antarctic Underground, NASA)

Initially, there would have been strong tides on both worlds as gravity between Pluto and Charon caused their surfaces to bulge toward each other, generating friction in their interiors.

(Cracks in Pluto's moon could indicate it once had an underground ocean, NASA)

An open question is whether there is a difference in the frequency of planets in the Milky Way's central bulge compared to its disk, the pancake-like region surrounding the bulge.

('Iceball' Planet Discovered Through Microlensing, NASA)