shuck

Meaning

Noun

1. The shell or husk, especially of grains (e.g. corn/maize) or nuts (e.g. walnuts).
2. (slang) A fraud; a scam.
3. (slang) A phony.

Verb

1. To remove the shuck from (walnuts, oysters, etc.).
2. To remove (any outer covering).
3. (slang) To fool; to hoax.

Verb

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

Synonyms

husk

shell

🐚

hull

skin

peel

chaff

stalk

pod

straw

stubble

pare

haulm

leach

nonsense

paring

peel off

pick off

rind

sham

shave

skim

slough

strip

take off

skim off

testa

rice-husk

a fruit skin

chip off

cornhusk

covering

culm

deception

decorticate

exfoliate

flake

fool

gin

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ʃʌk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: *schulk

Inherited from Old English: *sċylluc

In summary

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) or shell + -k (diminutive suffix).