shuck

See also: Shuck

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃʌk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌk

Etymology 1

Origin unknown. Possibly a dialectal survival of unrecorded Middle English *schulk(e), *schullok (“small shell”); either from Old English *sċylluc, *sċylloc, diminutive of Old English sċyll (“shell”), or alternatively created in Middle English from Middle English schulle, schelle (“shell, husk, pod”) + -ok, making it equivalent to shell +‎ -ock (diminutive suffix).

Alternative forms

• shock (dialectal)

Noun

shuck (plural shucks)

1. The shell or husk, especially of grains (e.g. corn/maize) or nuts (e.g. walnuts).
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Library of America, published 1985, page 46:

     There was no linen, no pillow, and when she touched the mattress it gave forth the faint dry whisper of shucks.

2. (slang, African-American Vernacular) A fraud; a scam.
3. (slang) A phony.

Derived terms

• shuck pen

 

Verb

shuck (third-person singular simple present shucks, present participle shucking, simple past and past participle shucked)

1. (transitive) To remove the shuck from (walnuts, oysters, etc.).

   Shall we shuck walnuts?

2. (transitive) To remove (any outer covering).

   I will shuck my clothes and dive naked into the pool.

   • 1941 April, “Notes and News: The Reason Why”, in Railway Magazine, page 182:

     [...] but what had actually happened was that the wheel of one of the coaches became detached from its axle, or, in the more expressive American argot, the train "shucked off a wheel near Everett."

3. (transitive, intransitive, slang) To fool; to hoax.

Derived terms

• shuck and jive
• shuck down
• shucking knife

Translations

to extract shellfish from shells

• Bulgarian: вадя от черупката (vadja ot čerupkata)
• French: décortiquer (fr), écailler (fr), écosser (fr)
• Galician: escochar, esconchar
• Maori: pāoraora, tiora, kōwhā
• Russian: очищать (ru) impf (očiščatʹ)
• Spanish: descascar (es)

to remove

• Bulgarian: обелвам (bg) (obelvam)

to fool; to hoax

• Bulgarian: баламосвам (bg) (balamosvam)

Etymology 2

From a dialectal variant of shock.

Verb

shuck (third-person singular simple present shucks, present participle shucking, simple past and past participle shucked)

1. (dialectal) To shake; shiver.
2. (dialectal) To slither or slip, move about, wriggle.
3. (dialectal) To do hurriedly or in a restless way.
4. (dialectal) To avoid; baffle, outwit, shirk.
5. (dialectal, of a horse) To walk at a slow trot.

Derived terms

• shuckish
• shucky

Etymology 3

Noun

shuck (plural shucks)

1. (European folklore) A supernatural and generally malevolent black dog in English folklore.

   Synonyms: padfoot, shriker

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “shuck”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “shuck”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “shuck off”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Hucks, hucks