hulk
- the body of an old or dismantled ship.
- a ship specially built to serve as a storehouse, prison, etc., and not for sea service.
- a clumsy-looking or unwieldy ship or boat.
- a bulky or unwieldy person, object, or mass.
- the shell of a wrecked, burned-out, or abandoned vehicle, building, or the like.
- to loom in bulky form; appear as a large, massive bulk (often followed by up): The bus hulked up suddenly over the crest of the hill.
- British Dialect. to lounge, slouch, or move in a heavy, loutish manner.
Origin of hulk
Related Words
hull, blob, hunk, skeleton, wreck, body, clod, shell, clump, frame, bulk, mass, shambles, ruins, chunk, shipwreckExamples from the Web for hulk
Contemporary Examples
Hulk has a more prominent role, and I have a more prominent role.
Jeremy Renner Opens Up About Marriage, His Problems with the Media, and the Future of Hawk-EyeMarlow Stern
September 29, 2014
I just have this personal mental obsession with the Hulk being an Asian-American male icon.
Whenever I take a clickbait quiz to determine which of The Avengers I would be, I always game the questions to aim for the Hulk.
He disallowed a goal scored by Hulk that would have given Brazil a 2-1 lead.
World Cup 2014 Nail-Biter: Host Country Brazil Defeats Chile on Penalty KicksTunku Varadarajan
June 28, 2014
A long, diagonal cross from Marcelo saw the ball reach Hulk, who brought it down to his feet from the top of his monumental chest.
World Cup 2014 Nail-Biter: Host Country Brazil Defeats Chile on Penalty KicksTunku Varadarajan
June 28, 2014
Historical Examples
He seemed huger than ever with his hulk sinking into the gray darkness behind him.
DustMr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
“Now the next thing is to get aboard the hulk,” was Dick's thought.
The Dare Boys of 1776Stephen Angus Cox
Bought her for eight dollars of the feller that owned her, and she was a hulk for sartin then.
The Woman-HatersJoseph C. Lincoln
He's been aboard this hulk afore, and we made him swim for it that time.
Captain BloodRafael Sabatini
Near at hand was the hulk of the second ship, now a blazing furnace.
Sir Henry Morgan, BuccaneerCyrus Townsend Brady
hulk
- the body of an abandoned vessel
- derogatory a large or unwieldy vessel
- derogatory a large ungainly person or thing
- (often plural) the frame or hull of a ship, used as a storehouse, etc, or (esp in 19th-century Britain) as a prison
- (intr) British informal to move clumsily
- (intr often foll by up) to rise massively
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for hulk
n.
Old English hulc "light, fast ship" (but in Middle English a heavy, unwieldy one), probably from Old Dutch hulke and Medieval Latin hulcus, perhaps ultimately from Greek holkas "merchant ship," literally "ship that is towed," from helkein "to pull" (from PIE root *selk- "to pull, draw"). Meaning "body of an old, worn-out ship" is first recorded 1670s. The Hulks ("Great Expectations") were old ships used as prisons. Sense of "big, clumsy person" is first recorded c.1400 (early 14c. as a surname: Stephen le Hulke).
v.
"to be clumsy, unwieldy, lazy," 1789, from hulk (n.). Related: Hulked; hulking.