different between bulge vs weal

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b?ld?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /b?ld?/, /b?ld?/

Etymology

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. See also budget.

Noun

bulge (plural bulges)

1. Something sticking out from a surface; a swelling, protuberant part; a bending outward, especially when caused by pressure.
2. The bilge or protuberant part of a cask.
3. (nautical) The bilge of a vessel.
4. (colloquial) The outline of male genitals visible through clothing.
5. (figuratively) A sudden rise in value or quantity.
   • 1930, Stanford University, Wheat Studies of the Food Research Institute (volume 7, page 204)

     A second bulge in prices occurred during September 30 — October 9. The rise of prices up to October 3 was in part apparently a technical adjustment of the markets, a reaction to the preceding decline.

Derived terms

• cockbulge
• manbulge

Translations

See also

• bulge bracket

Verb

bulge (third-person singular simple present bulges, present participle bulging, simple past and past participle bulged)

1. (intransitive) To stick out from (a surface).

   The submarine bulged because of the enormous air pressure inside.

   He stood six feet tall, with muscular arms bulging out of his black T-shirt.
2. (intransitive) To bilge, as a ship; to founder.
   • 1739, William Broome, “The Battle of the Gods and Titans” in Poems on Several Occasions, London: Henry Lintot, p. 253,^[2]

     Fatal to Man! at once all Ocean roars,

     And scattered navies bulge on distant shores.

Derived terms

• abulge

Translations

References

Anagrams

• bugle

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?l, IPA^(key): /wi?l/
• Rhymes: -i?l
• Homophone: we'll; wheal, wheel (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wele, from Old English wela (“wellness, welfare, prosperity, riches, well-being, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, wellness, weal”). Cognate with German Wohl, Danish vel, Swedish väl.

Noun

weal (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Wealth, riches. [10th-19th c.]
2. (literary) Welfare, prosperity. [from 10th c.]
3. (by extension) Boon, benefit.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 557:

     And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself, "I wrought him a weal and he requited me with my ill; by Allah, never more will I do any man a service so long as I live!"

4. Specifically, the general happiness of a community, country etc. (often with qualifying word). [from 15th c.]
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, page 372:

     Louis could aim to restyle himself the first among citizens, viewing virtuous attachment to the public weal as his most important kingly duty.

Derived terms

• commonweal
• wealful
• wealsman
• wealth

Related terms

• in weal or woe

Translations

Etymology 2

See wale.

Noun

weal (plural weals)

1. A raised, longitudinal wound, usually purple, on the surface of flesh caused by a stroke of a rod or whip; a welt.

   Synonym: wheal

   • 1958, T. H. White, The Once and Future King, London: Collins, 1959, Chapter 16,^[1]

     He had been slashed sixteen times by mighty boars, and his legs had white weals of shiny flesh that stretched right up to his ribs.

   • 2007, Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain, New York: Weinstein Books, Book Two, Chapter Twenty-One, p. 422,^[2]

     And I saw the green island in the immense sea, the borders of the sea curling with a lining of light, like a vast piece of rice paper, its edges alive with weals of red embers, ready to burst into flame.

Translations

Verb

weal (third-person singular simple present weals, present participle wealing, simple past and past participle wealed)

1. To mark with stripes; to wale.

Anagrams

• alew, e-law, lawe, wale