contracts. A small quantity of any commodity or merchandise, exhibited as a specimen of a larger quantity called the bulk. 2. When a sale is made by sample, and it afterwards turns out that the bulk does not correspond with it, the purchaser is not, in general, bound to take the property on a compensation being made to him for the difference. 3. A specimen; a small quantity of any commodity, presented for inspection or examination as evidence of the quality of the whole; as a sample of cloth or of whea. Sample, sale by. A sale at which only a sample of the goods sold is exhibited to the buyer.