husk

Meanings

Noun

• The dry, leafy or stringy exterior of certain vegetables or fruits, which must be removed before eating the meat inside
• Any form of useless, dried-up, and subsequently worthless exterior of something
• The supporting frame of a run of millstones.
• An infection in cattle caused by a species of Dictyocaulus or lungworm

Verb

• To remove husks from.
• To cough, clear one's throat.
• To say huskily, to utter in a husky voice.

Origin

• From Middle English huske ("husk"). Perhaps from Old English ("little covering, sheath"), diminutive of hosu, from Proto-West Germanic *hosā, from Proto-Germanic *husǭ, *hausaz, from Proto-Indo-European. If so, equivalent to hose + -ock.
• Alternatively from Middle Low German hūsken, Middle Dutch hūskijn, diminutive of hūs. Compare Dutch huisje, German Häuschen, both also used for “snailshell”.
• Partly imitative, partly from Etymology 1, above, influenced by husky.