hulk

Meaning

Noun

1. (archaic) A large ship used for transportation; (more generally) a large ship that is difficult to manoeuvre.
2. (broadly) A non-functional but floating ship, usually stripped of equipment and rigging, and often put to other uses such as accommodation or storage.
3. (figuratively) A large structure with a dominating presence.
4. (figuratively) A big (and possibly clumsy) person.
5. (figuratively) A big (and possibly clumsy) person.

Verb

1. (transitive) To reduce (a ship) to a non-functional hulk.
2. (transitive) To temporarily house (goods, people, etc.) in such a hulk.
3. (transitive) To move (a large, hulking body).
4. (intransitive) To be a hulk, that is, a large, hulking, and often imposing presence.
5. (intransitive) Of a (large) person: to act or move slowly and clumsily.

Verb

To remove the entrails of; to disembowel.

Synonyms

loom

predominate

giant

tower

heavyweight

whale

🐳

hull

ruin

shipwreck

skiff

vessel

boat

⛵

wreck

craft

derelict

gorilla

🦍

prevail

reject

remains

Translations

épave

Koloss

hantal

ponton

omaccione

casco

Hulk

Holk

carcassa

Bulle

mastodonte

Klotz

gigante

Muskelmann

Pronounced as (IPA)

/hʌlk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: hulk

Inherited from Old English: hulc

Cognate with Old High German: holcho

Cognate with Middle High German: holche

Cognate with German: Holk

Cognate with Old Norse: hólkr

Cognate with Norwegian: holk

Cognate with Middle English: holken

Cognate with Ancient Greek: ἕλκω

Inherited from Middle English: holken

Cognate with Old English: āhlocian

In summary

From Middle English hulk, hulke, holke (“hut; shed for hogs; type of ship; husk, pod, shell; large, clumsy person; a giant”) (probably reinforced by
From Middle Dutch hulk, huelc, and Middle Low German hulk, holk, hollek (“freighter, cargo ship, barge”)), from Old English hulc (“light ship; heavy, clumsy ship; cabin, hovel, hut”), from Proto-West Germanic *huluk, *hulik, from Proto-Germanic *hulukaz, *hulikaz (“something hollowed or dug out, cavity”), equivalent to hole/hollow + -ock. Cognate with Old High German holcho (“cargo or transport ship, barge”) (whence Middle High German holche, modern German Holk), Old Norse hólkr (“metal tube, ring”), dialectal Norwegian holk, hylke (“wooden barrel”), Middle English holken (“to dig out, gouge”).
Relation to Medieval Latin hulcus (“ship”) is uncertain, as Old English may have borrowed from Latin or vice versa, but the form holcas rather points to borrowing from Ancient Greek ὁλκάς (holkás, “ship being towed; cargo ship, ship used for trading, holcad”) (compare
Ancient Greek ἕλκω (hélkō, “to drag”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *selk- (“to draw, pull”)). See more at the Old English entry hulc.
The verb is derived from the noun.