bulge

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bulge/bʌlʤ/

▶noun

• 1 a rounded swelling distorting a flat surface.

• 2 Military a piece of land projecting outwards from an otherwise regular line.

• 3 informal a temporary increase: a bulge in the birth rate.

▶verb swell or protrude to an unnatural extent.

■ be full of and distended with.

– derivatives
bulging adjective,
bulgingly adverb,
bulgy adjective.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘wallet or bag’): from OFr. boulge, from L. bulga (see budget).