bulge

/bəldʒ/

/bəldʒ/

Other forms: bulging; bulged; bulges

To bulge is to stick out, making a bump called a bulge. A leak in the roof might make your ceiling bulge, and a giant feast could make a bulge over your waistband.

The word bulge comes from the Old French word bouge for "wallet.” A full wallet makes a bulge in a guy’s back pocket. Bodybuilders' muscles bulge out of their bodies. A pimple is a tiny bulge on your skin. For the record, Battle of the Bulge isn’t a diet plan. It was a battle in World War II. Americans called it the Battle of the Bulge because of the way the Allied front line bulged inward.

Definitions of bulge

1. verb

   swell or protrude outwards
   “His stomach bulged after the huge meal”

   synonyms: pouch, protrude

   types:

   bulk

   stick out or up

   type of:

   change form, change shape, deform

   assume a different shape or form
2. verb

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

   types:

   protuberate

   form a rounded prominence

   type of:

   jut, jut out, project, protrude, stick out

   extend out or project in space
3. verb

   bulge outward
   synonyms: bug out, bulge out, come out, pop, pop out, protrude, start

   type of:

   change form, change shape, deform

   assume a different shape or form
4. verb

   cause to bulge or swell outwards
   synonyms: bulk

   type of:

   swell

   cause to become swollen
5. noun

   something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings
   synonyms: bump, excrescence, extrusion, gibbosity, gibbousness, hump, jut, prominence, protrusion, protuberance, swelling

   types:

   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)

   type of:

   projection

   any solid convex shape that juts out from something