[Not recorded before late 16th c. Etymology doubtful: Prof. Skeat suggests ON. bálk-r, bǭlk-r beam (= BALK), which might perhaps give ME. *bolk, and mod. Eng. bulk; there is also an OE. bolca ‘gangway of a ship,’ supposed to be a parallel forn to bealca, BALK. Cf. ‘Bulkar … a Beam or Rafter, Lincolnsh.’ (Bailey.)]
A framework projecting from the front of a shop; a stall.
1586. Praise of Musicke, 44. The tailor on his bulk, the shomaker at his last.
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. i. 226. Stalls, Bulkes, Windowes, Are smother’d vp.
1680. Vind. Conform. Clergy (ed. 2), 50. Leave him under a Bulk whetting his crooked Knife.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 156. During the heats of summer, he commonly took his repose upon a bulk.
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, XI. ii. 406. A cobbler in his bulk was out-and-out his master.
