▪ I. † ˈbulker1 Obs. slang.
[Perh. f. bulk n.2 + -er1, with the meaning ‘one who sleeps on a bulk’, ‘one who steals from a bulk’; cf. Johnson Savage Wks. (1787) III. 325 ‘On a bulk, in a cellar, or in a glass-house, among thieves and beggars, was to be found the Author of The Wanderer’.]
A low-lived person; a petty thief; a street-walker, prostitute. Also = bulk n.3
| 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 99 The Bulker jostles them up, and the File doth the work. 1678 Four for Penny in Harl. Misc. IV. 147 (D.) He is..the common fender of all bulkers and shop lifts in the town. 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Bulker, one that lodges all Night on Shop-windows and Bulkheads. 1690 Shadwell Am. Bigot iii. 265 Her mother sells fish, and she is little better than a bulker. a 1705 T. Brown in J. Ashton Soc. Life in Q. Anne's Reign 83 In comparison of whom the common Bulkers, and Pickpockets, are a very honest Society. 1790 Bailey, Bulker, one that would lie down on a Bulk to any one; a common Jilt; a whore. |
▪ II. bulker2
(ˈbʌlkə(r))
[f. bulk v. (sense 6) + -er1.]
1. (See quot.)
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bulker, a person employed to measure goods, and ascertain the amount of freight with which they are chargeable. |
2. One who makes up tobacco into piles for curing. U.S.
| 1863 Ret. Agric. Soc. Maine 163 This [bulking] is done by lapping the bundles over each course..the bulker having his knees upon the bulk. Ibid., Under the pressure of the bulker's knee. |
▪ III. bulker3
(ˈbʌlkə(r))
[f. bulk n.1 + -er1.]
= bulk carrier s.v. bulk n.1 7 b.
| 1975 Marine Week 27 June 15 (heading) Icebreaker bulker. 1979 Cape Times 11 July 13 The world's increasing need for additional grain shipments to stave off hunger in Asia inevitably represents immediate business for bulkers. 1983 Financial Times 14 Nov. 4/4 The volume of purchase interests.., shown for second-hand bulkers of all sizes, was another pointer to next year's possible level of activity. |