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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bulge.

An object which is sticking out from a surface; a swelling, protuberant part; a bending outward, especially when caused by pressure.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbʌldʒ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbʌldʒ/General-American/ˈbʊldʒ/General-American
  1. An object which is sticking out from a surface; a swelling, protuberant part; a bending outward, especially when caused by pressure.

    a bulge in a wall
    There was a bulge in my pocket where I kept my wallet.
  2. The bilge or protuberant part of a cask.

  3. A rounded fleshy mass, such as on a camel or zebu.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK
  4. The bilge of a vessel.

  5. The outline of a (usually erect) penis visible through one's clothing.

    colloquial
  6. A sudden rise in value or quantity.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *bʰólǵʰ-o-s Proto-Celtic *bolgos Gaulish bolgābor. Latin bulgabor. Old Northern French boulgebor. Middle English bulge English bulge 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.

verb/ˈbʌldʒ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbʌldʒ/General-American/ˈbʊldʒ/General-American
  1. To stick out from a surface without breaking it.

    intransitive
    He stood six feet tall, with muscular arms bulging out of his black T-shirt.
  2. (of a container, etc.) To have the surface stretched by something pushing out; to swell; to belly.

    intransitive
    The submarine bulged because of the enormous air pressure inside.
  3. To bilge, as a ship; to founder.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *bʰólǵʰ-o-s Proto-Celtic *bolgos Gaulish bolgābor. Latin bulgabor. Old Northern French boulgebor. Middle English bulge English bulge 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.