hulk

American  

[huhlk] / hʌlk /

noun

1. the body of an old or dismantled ship.

2. a ship specially built to serve as a storehouse, prison, etc., and not for sea service.

3. a clumsy-looking or unwieldy ship or boat.

4. a bulky or unwieldy person, object, or mass.

5. the shell of a wrecked, burned-out, or abandoned vehicle, building, or the like.

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verb (used without object)

1. to loom in bulky form; appear as a large, massive bulk (often followed byup ).

   The bus hulked up suddenly over the crest of the hill.

2. British Dialect. to lounge, slouch, or move in a heavy, loutish manner.

hulk British  

/ hʌlk /

noun

1. the body of an abandoned vessel

2. derogatory a large or unwieldy vessel

3. derogatory a large ungainly person or thing

4. (often plural) the frame or hull of a ship, used as a storehouse, etc, or (esp in 19th-century Britain) as a prison

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verb

1. informal (intr) to move clumsily

2. to rise massively

Etymology

Origin of hulk

before 1000; Middle English hulke, Old English hulc; perhaps < Medieval Latin hulcus < Greek holkás trading vessel, originally, towed ship

Explanation

A hulk is just the shell of a ship — it can stay afloat on the water, but it's not capable of sailing on the sea. Another kind of hulk is a big person, like the Incredible Hulk who could single-handedly sink the hulk of any ship. Hulks were once commonly used as prisons — floating jails where convicted criminals were kept. Ships become hulks when they're retired due to age, or damaged in a storm. Another meaning of hulk, "enormous person," is rooted in this ship meaning, coming from the sense of either type of hulk as big, awkward, and clumsy. The Middle English source is hulc, "heavy, unwieldy ship," from the Greek holkas, "merchant ship."

Example Sentences

At an estimated cost of $3.8 billion, it will replace the rusting, abandoned hulk that sits at the east end of East Capitol Street, fronting the Anacostia River.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026

It is shrouded in scaffolding while the neglected, rusting hulk is gradually restored.

From BBC • Jan. 31, 2025

The makeshift Philippine naval base there is built up around the grounded, rusting hulk of the World War II-era ship, the Sierra Madre.

From Washington Times • Dec. 5, 2023

But today, the experience of the diminutive women who likely died at the hands of Heuermann, a towering hulk of a man, is central in the minds of many who are reporting on his case.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 21, 2023

He glared up at the steel hulk, rubbing his bruised shoulder.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Related Words

• blob
• hull
• hunk
• skeleton
• wreck