whelk
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of whelk1
before 900; late Middle English, aspirated variant of Middle English welk, Old English weoloc
Origin of whelk2
before 1000; Middle English whelke, Old English hwylca, hwelca; akin to wheal
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the whelk is a cold-water species, and a marine heatwave in 2022 triggered a mass die-off of these snails in the Thames Estuary.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2025
Tiny baby oysters, called spat, are attached to whelk shells and placed in the bay near the existing cages to further stabilize the shoreline.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2022
In the 1990s, the population of horseshoe crabs along the East Coast was decimated by fishermen who used them as bait to catch eel and corner the lucrative market for whelk or conch.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2021
What did we expect from a man with the self-awareness of a whelk?
From The Guardian ● Nov. 17, 2019
He rins about in a wee motor-cawr, and wad speir the inside oot o' a whelk.'
From The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
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