▪ I. † bulch, n.1 Obs.
[prob. a variant of bulge: perh. influenced by bunch, botch.]
A hump or swelling. Cf. bulge n.2
| c 1300 Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Wright) 34 They were ragged, roue, and tayled, with brode bulches [c 1325 bunches] on here bak. 1600 Darrell True Narr. 11 A foul ugly man with a white beard and a great Bulch on his brest. 1634 Brereton Trav. (1844) I, Dromedaries are ugly creatures, bulches behind and before. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. M ij, Ore, growing out on Knobs and Bulches. |
▪ II. † bulch, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
= bulchin. A term of endearment.
| c 1622 Ford Witch Edm. v. i, So that my bulch Shew but his swarth cheek to me, let earth cleave..I care not. |
▪ III. † bulch, v. Obs.
[prob. a variant of bulge v. See bulch n.1, also bouge v., bilge v.]
1. trans. To stave in (a ship); = bulge v. 1.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 21 Wher Ilionus was shipt..And what vessel Abas possest..Were bulcht by billows. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 94/2 He might..bulch the..ships if they durst anerre the coast. |
2. intr. To swell out; bulge v. 3.
| 1611 Cotgr., Piece poictreuse, a peece of coyne that rises, bulches, or beares out in the middle. |