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Bulk vs Balk - What's the difference?

bulk | balk |

In obsolete terms the difference between bulk and balk

is that bulk is the body while balk is to miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.

As nouns the difference between bulk and balk

is that bulk is size, mass or volume while balk is ridge, an unplowed strip of land.

As verbs the difference between bulk and balk

is that bulk is to appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent while balk is to pass over or by.

As an adjective bulk

is being large in size, mass or volume (of goods, etc..

bulk

English

(wikipedia bulk)

Noun

  • Size, mass or volume.
  • * 1729 .
  • The Quantity of Matter is the mea?ure of the ?ame, arising from its den?ity and bulk conjunctly.
  • *
  • The cliff-dwellers had chipped and chipped away at this boulder till it rested its tremendous bulk upon a mere pin-point of its surface.
  • The major part of something.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 15, author=Felicity Cloake, work=Guardian
  • , title= How to cook the perfect nut roast , passage=I'm convinced that the nut's very nutritiousness is to blame for the dish's poor reputation. They're so dense that a loaf made primarily from nuts would be more suitable for slicing into energy bars and selling to mountaineering supply shops - hence the main bulk of a nut roast is generally some form of carbohydrate, intended to lighten the load. }}
  • The result of water retained by fibre.
  • (uncountable, transport) Unpackaged goods when transported in large volumes, e.g. coal, ore or grain.
  • (countable) a cargo or any items moved or communicated in the manner of cargo.
  • (bodybuilding) Excess body mass, especially muscle.
  • (brane cosmology) A hypothetical higher-dimensional space within which our own four-dimensional universe may exist.
  • (obsolete) The body.
  • * Shakespeare
  • My liver leaped within my bulk .
    (George Turberville)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • being large in size, mass or volume (of goods, etc.)
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent.
  • * Leslie Stephen
  • The fame of Warburton possibly bulked larger for the moment.
  • To grow in size; to swell or expand.
  • balk

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) balke, (etyl) balca, either from or influenced by (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * baulk

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • ridge, an unplowed strip of land
  • * Fuller
  • Bad ploughmen made balks of such ground.
  • beam, crossbeam
  • A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
  • * South
  • a balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker
  • A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
  • (sports) deceptive motion; feint
  • # (baseball) an illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner
  • # (badminton) motion used to deceive an opponent during a serve
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To pass over or by.
  • To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
  • (obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.
  • * Evelyn
  • By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.
  • * Bishop Hall
  • Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
  • * Drayton
  • Nor doth he any creature balk , / But lays on all he meeteth.
  • To stop, check, block.
  • To stop short and refuse to go on.
  • The horse balked .
  • To refuse suddenly.
  • To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart.
  • to balk expectation
  • * Byron
  • They shall not balk my entrance.
  • To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
  • * Spenser
  • In strifeful terms with him to balk .
  • To leave or make balks in.
  • (Gower)
  • To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.

    Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.
  • (Webster 1913)

    References

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