bulk (bŭlk)

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[Middle English, perhaps partly alteration of bouk, belly, trunk of the body (from Old English būc), and partly from Old Norse bulki, cargo, heap.]

noun 

1. Size, mass, or volume, especially when very large.
2. 1. A distinct mass or portion of matter, especially a large one: the dark bulk of buildings against the sky.
   2. The body of a human, especially when large or muscular.
3. The major portion or greater part: “The great bulk of necessary work can never be anything but painful” (Bertrand Russell)
4. See fiber
5. Thickness of paper or cardboard in relation to weight.
6. A ship's cargo.

verb: bulked, bulk·ing, bulks. 

intransitive verb 

1. To be or appear to be massive in terms of size, volume, or importance; loom: Safety considerations bulked large during development of the new spacecraft.
2. To grow or increase in size or importance.
3. To cohere or form a mass: Certain paper bulks well.

transitive verb 

1. To cause to swell or expand.
2. To cause to cohere or form a mass.

adjective 

Being large in mass, quantity, or volume: a bulk buy; a bulk mailing.

phrasal verbs

bulk up

To gain weight by gaining muscle: dietary supplements that helped the weightlifters bulk up.

idioms

in bulk

Unpackaged; loose. In large numbers, amounts, or volume.

fi·ber (fī́bər)

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[French fibre, from Old French, from Latin fibra.]

noun 

1. A slender, elongated, threadlike object or structure.
2. Botany One of the elongated, thick-walled cells that give strength and support to plant tissue.
3. Anatomy
   1. Any of the filaments constituting the extracellular matrix of connective tissue.
   2. Any of various elongated cells or threadlike structures, especially a muscle fiber or a nerve fiber.
4. 1. A natural or synthetic filament, as of cotton or nylon, capable of being spun into yarn.
   2. Material made of such filaments.
5. 1. Something that provides substance or texture.
   2. Essential character: “stirred the deeper fibers of my nature” (Oscar Wilde)
   3. Basic strength or toughness; fortitude: lacking in moral fiber.
6. Coarse, indigestible plant matter, consisting primarily of polysaccharides such as cellulose, that when eaten stimulates intestinal peristalsis. Also called bulk, roughage

derivatives

fíbered

adjective