hulk
UK/hʌlk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/hʊlk/
hulk noun: a large ship used for transportation; (more generally) a large ship that is difficult to manoeuvre.
Noun (1)
hulk (plural hulks)
- A large ship used for transportation; (more generally) a large ship that is difficult to manoeuvre.
- Light boates ſaile ſwift, though greater hulkes draw deepe.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
- Their ſhips thus ſet on ſhore (to fruſtrate their deſire) / Thoſe Daniſh Hulkes became the food of Engliſh fire.1612, Michael Drayton, “The Twelfth Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of...
- A non-functional but floating ship, usually stripped of equipment and rigging, and often put to other uses such as accommodation or storage.
- They could see the lighthouse shining on Quarantine Island, and the green lights on the old coal hulks.1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, chapter 3, page 8
- A sister ship, originally the Patriotic, and later renamed Lady Leinster and finally the Lady Connaught, was badly damaged by a mine between Liverpool and Belfast; the British & Irish Steam Packet Company next brought [sic] the hulk back from the Belfast Steamship Company and converted her into a...1946 March and April, “Notes and News: Anglo-Irish Steamship Fleets”, in Railway Magazine, page 118
- A large structure with a dominating presence.
- The sturdy trunk of Central Park Tower is rising nearby – a great glass hulk that will soon steal the crown for the most vertiginous residences on the planet.2019 June 1, Oliver Wainwright, “Super-tall, super-skinny, super-expensive: the ‘pencil towers’ of New York’s super-rich”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media...
- Among its findings, the report says: "In recent years we have seen more stations transformed from run-down Victorian hulks, or spartan bus-sheltered platforms, into places that people can take pride in, feel comfortable in using, and which are fulfilling more of their wider potential.2020 August 26, “Network News: Stations Investment Boosts Regeneration, Says Report”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17
- A big (and possibly clumsy) person.
- An excessively muscled person.
Verb (1)
hulk (third-person singular simple present hulks, present participle hulking, simple past and past participle hulked)
- To reduce (a ship) to a non-functional hulk.
- In Fremantle very few vessels appear to have been reduced to hulks, and only one figure head Samuel Plimsoll, [Fig. 62] survives from a sailing ship hulked in 1904. [...] The Sarah Burnyeat was hulked in Albany in 1886, [...]2003, Gordon de L. Marshall, Ships' Figure Heads in Australia, Tangee Publishing, →ISBN, page 52
- No further additions were made to this group, and by 1729 the Rank was extinct (the last to be struck was the Ludlow, which had been hulked in 1719).2017, Rif Winfield, Stephen S Roberts, French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626–1786, Seaforth Publsihing, →ISBN, page 203
- To temporarily house (goods, people, etc.) in such a hulk.
- To move (a large, hulking body).
- This hearty, willing man had hulked his 354 pounds about the world, faithfully and deftly running presidential errands in Cuba, Panama, the Philippines, Rome, Russia, and Japan and China.1968, Francis Russell, The Shadow of Blooming Grove - Warren G. Harding in His Times, →ISBN
- A man with four children crowding like saplings around him whistles to wake up the elephant seal who has hulked his impossible body onto the beach.1994, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Science and Other Poems, LSU Press, →ISBN, page 16
- To be a hulk, that is, a large, hulking, and often imposing presence.
- After one trip with them, he decided he couldn't stand to have bodyguards hulking around him wherever he went. He felt like an idiot walking along the aisles of the supermarket with eight lumpy men standing around [...]1992, Richard Condon, The Venerable Bead, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 163
- As the occupants stepped out, he hulked at them menacingly and asked them the traditional question. 'Can Ah help youse?'2006, Angus Dunn, Writing in the Sand, Luath Press Ltd, →ISBN
- Of a (large) person: to act or move slowly and clumsily.
- After a while he hulked up to where Erland sat, putting his hairy fist on the table and watching the boy work.1934, Gösta Larsson, Our Daily Bread: A Novel
- Instead he hulked his way towards Kruger again as the crowd ooohd and aaahd at the prowess. The two men were about equal in height, but Matusak outweighed Kruger by about fifty pounds.2008, Craig Conte, Millennial Reign, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 301
Verb (2)
hulk (third-person singular simple present hulks, present participle hulking, simple past and past participle hulked)
- To remove the entrails of; to disembowel.
- And with this ſwaſhing blow, do you ſwear Prince; / I could hulk your Grace, and hang you up croſs-legg'd, / Like a Hare at a Poulters, and do this with this wiper.c. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Philaster: Or, Love Lies a Bleeding”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry...
Proper noun capitalized: Hulk
the Hulk
- A fictional Marvel Comics character who gains superhuman strength when he becomes angry.
- Fry: How can you say Lars is more mature than me?
Leela: Well, for one thing, his checkbook doesn't have the Hulk on it.2007 November 27, Ken Keeler and David X. Cohen, “Bender’s Big Score”, Futurama, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
- Fry: How can you say Lars is more mature than me?
Noun (2) capitalized: Hulk
Hulk (plural Hulks)
- A person resembling, especially physically, the Hulk from the Marvel Comics universe.
- A strongman.
hulk meaning in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Nepali
hulk in Telugu
- హల్క్ చేయడానికి
hulk in Malayalam
- ജീർണ്ണനൗക, ഒതുക്കമില്ലാത്ത കപ്പൽ, പൊളിച്ച കപ്പൽ
hulk in Kannada
- ಬಿಚ್ಚಿಟ್ಟ ಹಡಗು, ಒಡೆದ ಹಡಗು, ಧಾಂಡಿಗ, ಧಡಿಯ, ಠೊಣಪ, ಭಾರಿ ಆಳು
hulk in Nepali
- हुल्क गर्न
Examples of hulk in a sentence
- Hadrian hulked his mass over the spot where the children had disappeared.2017, N.D.Rabin, Hidden Magic: Fear of the Smallest Wizard, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:
- The remains of an old bar hulked in the center of the room.2008, J. D. Robb, Three in Death, Penguin, →ISBN:
- The whoosh pushed John down, and as he fell, he turned to see the machine hulking over him, just meters away.2012, Paul Melko, The Broken Universe, Tor Books, →ISBN, page 314:
Forms of hulk
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hulks |
| plural | Hulks |
| alternative form (obsolete) | hulke |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hulks |
| present participle | hulking |
| past participle | hulked |
| past | hulked |
Origin of hulk
From Middle English hulk, hulke, holke (“hut; shed for hogs; type of ship; husk, pod, shell; large, clumsy person; a giant”) (probably reinforced by Middle Dutch hulk, huelc, and Middle Low German hulk, holk, hollek (“freighter, cargo ship, barge”)), from Old English hulc (“light ship; heavy, clumsy ship; cabin, hovel, hut”), from Proto-West Germanic *huluk, *hulik, from Proto-Germanic *hulukaz, *hulikaz (“something hollowed or dug out, cavity”), equivalent to hole/hollow + -ock. Cognate with Old High German holcho (“cargo or transport ship, barge”) (whence Middle High German holche, modern German Holk), Old Norse hólkr (“metal tube, ring”), dialectal Norwegian holk, hylke (“wooden barrel”), Middle English holken (“to dig out, gouge”). Relation to Medieval Latin hulcus (“ship”) is uncertain, as Old English may have borrowed from Latin or vice versa, but the form holcas rather points to borrowing from Ancient Greek ὁλκάς (holkás, “ship being towed; cargo ship, ship used for trading, holcad”) (compare Ancient Greek ἕλκω (hélkō, “to drag”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *selk- (“to draw, pull”)). See more at the Old English entry hulc. The verb is derived from the noun.
A variant of holk (“to dig out, hollow out, make hollow; to dig up, excavate; to dig into, investigate”), from Middle English holken (“to dig out, hollow out; to dig up, excavate”) (compare holk (“a hollow; body cavity”)), perhaps from Middle Low German hȫlken (“to hollow out, gouge”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”, adjective); further etymology uncertain, perhaps either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”), or *ḱewh₁- (“to swell; to be strong”). Compare also Old English āhlocian (“to dig out”).
The name of a character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for the Marvel Comics universe, it has since entered the everyday English lexicon. The name itself is most likely derived from the word hulk (“large person or thing”), which predates the character. See the Wikipedia link at the bottom.
Words formed from hulk
Words that rhyme with hulk
Questions about hulk
- What does hulk mean?
- Hulk means a large ship used for transportation; (more generally) a large ship that is difficult to manoeuvre.
- What is hulk in Telugu?
- Hulk in Telugu is హల్క్ చేయడానికి. See Hulk meaning in Telugu.
- How do you use hulk in a sentence?
- Hadrian hulked his mass over the spot where the children had disappeared.
- What part of speech is hulk?
- Hulk can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce hulk?
- Hulk is pronounced /hʌlk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hulk?
- The plural of hulk is hulks.
Words near hulk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hulk (page history and authors); Hulk (page history and authors); hulk (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hulk (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hulk (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hulk (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-hulk.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hulk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hulk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.