hulk C2+ Topic:Transportation US /hʊlk/ UK /hʌlk/ See IPA manual Freq #6875 Meanings 1 noun a large abandoned ship, wreck, or shell The old hulk rested half sunk beside the quay. 2 noun a very large, heavy person or thing A dark hulk blocked the doorway. 3 verb to loom large and heavy The warehouse hulked over the narrow street. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a large abandoned ship,... wreckshellderelict 2 noun · a very large, heavy person... giantbulkcolossus 3 verb · to loom large and heavy loomtower Word family Forms hulkerhulkershulks Derived forms hulkinghulkishhulkyhulks Related forms shipbulk Etymology AI details From Middle English hulk, hulke, reinforced by Middle Dutch and Middle Low German hulk ("large ship"), with older Germanic connections to hollow or bulky forms. hulk Middle English hulc Old English *huluk Proto-West Germanic *hulukaz Proto-Germanic View etymology graph -> Topics Transportation External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # hulk **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun, verb **IPA (US):** /hʊlk/ **IPA (UK):** /hʌlk/ **Frequency rank:** 6875 ## Meanings 1. a large abandoned ship, wreck, or shell 2. a very large, heavy person or thing 3. to loom large and heavy ## Examples - The old hulk rested half sunk beside the quay. - A dark hulk blocked the doorway. - The warehouse hulked over the narrow street. ## Synonyms - wreck - shell - derelict - giant - bulk ## Derived Forms - hulking - hulkish - hulky - hulks ## Related Forms - ship - bulk ## Roots and Affixes - Root: hulk - Root: hulc - Root: *huluk - Root: *hulukaz ## Etymology From Middle English hulk, hulke, reinforced by Middle Dutch and Middle Low German hulk ("large ship"), with older Germanic connections to hollow or bulky forms. ## AI Etymology Hulk comes through Middle English hulk or hulke, reinforced by Dutch and Low German forms for a large ship. Earlier senses include a bulky ship, a shell, or a large clumsy form. Modern English keeps both the nautical sense, an abandoned ship or wreck, and the extended sense of a massive person or object. The semantic movement is from a large vessel or hollow shell to any heavy, looming body. Hulks is therefore a plural word form of hulk, not a separate dictionary headword. ## Topics - Transportation markdown