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Webster 1913 Edition


Hulk

Hulk

,
Noun.
[OE.
hulke
a heavy ship, AS.
hulc
a light, swift ship; akin to D.
hulk
a ship of burden, G.
holk
, OHG.
holcho
; perh. fr. LL.
holcas
, Gr. [GREEK], prop., a ship which is towed, fr. [GREEK] to draw, drag, tow. Cf.
Wolf
,
Holcad
.]
1.
The body of a ship or decked vessel of any kind; esp., the body of an old vessel laid by as unfit for service.
“Some well-timbered hulk.”
Spenser.
2.
A heavy ship of clumsy build.
Skeat.
3.
Anything bulky or unwieldly.
Shak.
Shear hulk
,
an old ship fitted with an apparatus to fix or take out the masts of a ship.
The hulks
,
old or dismasted ships, formerly used as prisons.
[Eng.]
Dickens.

Webster 1828 Edition


Hulk

HULK

,
Noun.
1.
The body of a ship, or decked vessel of any kind; but the word is applied only to the body of an old ship or vessel which is laid by as unfit for service. A sheer-hulk is an old ship fitted with an apparatus to fix or take out the masts of a ship.
2.
Any thing bulky or unwieldy. [Not used.]

HULK

,
Verb.
T.
To take out the entrails; as, to hulk a hare. [Little used.]

Definition 2024


Hulk

Hulk

See also: hulk

English

Proper noun

Hulk

  1. (comics) A fictional comic-book character who gains superhuman strength when he becomes angry.
    • 2007 November 27, Ken Keeler and David X. Cohen, “Bender’s Big Score”, Futurama, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
      Fry: How can you say Lars is more mature than me?
      Leela: Well, for one thing, his checkbook doesn't have the Hulk on it.

Noun

Hulk (plural Hulks)

  1. A person resembling, especially physically, the Hulk in the Marvel Comics Universe.
  2. (by extension) A strongman.

Derived terms

See also

References

hulk

hulk

See also: Hulk

English

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
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

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 Fletcher to this entry?)

External links


Lower Sorbian

Noun

hulk m

  1. Obsolete spelling of wulk

Declension