hulk

Meanings

Noun

• A large structure with a dominating presence.
• A big (and possibly clumsy) person.

Verb

• To move (a large, hulking body).
• To be a hulk, that is, a large, hulking, and often imposing presence.
• Of a (large) person: to act or move slowly and clumsily.
• To remove the entrails of; to disembowel.

Origin

• The noun is derived from Middle English hulk (probably reinforced by
• Middle Dutch hulk and Middle Low German hulk), from Old English hulc; further etymology uncertain, but probably related to Ancient Greek ὁλκάς (compare
• Ancient Greek ἕλκω, of Mediterranean origin, or from Proto-Indo-European *selk-).
• The verb is derived from the noun.
• A variant of holk, from Middle English holken (compare holk), from Proto-Germanic *hulaz; further etymology uncertain, perhaps either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-, or *ḱewh₁-.