Hulk (?), n. [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. , prop., a ship which is towed, fr. 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 1913.


Hulk (?), v. t. [Cf. MLG. holken to hollow out, Sw. h�x86;lka.]

To take out the entrails of; to disembowel; as, to hulk a hare.

[R.]

Beau. & Fl.

 

© Webster 1913.

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