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

Example Sentences

The company, based outside Toronto, needs to find a second life for the factory and the hulking rows of assembly-line robots it spent roughly $575 million setting up.

From The Wall Street Journal

Looming over the colorless town is its hulking circa-1385 monastery, extended in convent courtyards and stately chapels with lofty naves, offering dazzling displays of stained glass.

From The Wall Street Journal

After hundreds of generations of human breeding, the dogs that emerged had shorter muzzles, smaller teeth and an enormous range of sizes, from lapdogs to hulking guardians.

From BBC

But Mr. Lithgow’s performance is infused with a sneaky playfulness evoking the “broken boy,” as Jessie puts it, still cavorting in the hulk of an elderly man.

From The Wall Street Journal

Not far from the gate are the hulks of two burned-out cars.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• blob
• hull
• hunk
• skeleton
• wreck