hull

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The main body or frame of a ship or boat.

   The ship's hull was damaged when it struck the rocks.

2. 2
   verb

   To remove the outer covering or leaves from a fruit or seed.

   She sat on the porch hulling strawberries for the pie.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Hull is recorded from Middle English. It may be related to the separate Middle English noun hold for a large compartment in the lower part of a ship or aircraft.

From Middle English hul, hulle, holle (“seed covering, hull of a ship”), from Old English hulu (“seed covering”), from Proto-Germanic *hul-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, hide”); or possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kal- (“hard”). Compare Dutch hul (“hood”), German Hülle (“cover, wrap”), Hülse (“hull”); also Old Irish calad, calath (“hard”), Latin callus, callum (“rough skin”), Old Church Slavonic калити (kaliti, “to cool, harden”). For the sense development, compare French coque (“nutshell; ship's hull”), Ancient Greek φάσηλος (phásēlos, “bean pod; yacht”).

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External links

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