hulk

See also Hulk

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hʌlk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology 1

Noun

hulk (plural hulks)

1. a non-functional, but floating ship, usually stripped of rigging and equipment, and often put to other uses such as storage or accommodation.
2. (archaic) any large ship that is difficult to maneuver
3. A big, (and possibly clumsy) person
4. (bodybuilding): An excessively muscled person

Quotations

large ship, difficult to maneuver

• 1602, Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act ii, scene 3

  Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.

non-functioning, floating ship

• 1918, Katherine Mansfield, Prelude, as printed in Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics (2002), paperback, page 83

  They could see the lighthouse shining on Quarantine Island, and the green lights on the old coal hulks.

Translations

non-functional, floating ship

• French: épave (fr) f

• German: Hulk (de) f, Holk (de) f

any large ship that is difficult to maneuver

• German: Hulk (de) f, Holk (de) f

a big, (and possibly clumsy) person

• Basque: gizonkote (eu)

• German: Bulle (de) m, Riese (de) m, Hüne (de)

an excessively muscled person

• German: Kraftmensch (de) m, Kraftpaket (de) n, Kraftprotz (de) m, Muskelmann (de) m, Muskelpaket (de) n, Muskelprotz (de) m

Etymology 2

Compare Middle Low German holken to hollow out, and similar Swedish word.

Verb

hulk (third-person singular simple present hulks, present participle hulking, simple past and past participle hulked)

1. To remove the entrails of; to disembowel.

   to hulk a hare

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Flanders to this entry?)

External links

• hulk on Wikipedia.Wikipedia