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hulk

[huhlk]
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.
verb (used without object)
6.
to loom in bulky form; appear as a large, massive bulk (often followed by up ): The bus hulked up suddenly over the crest of the hill.
7.
British Dialect. to lounge, slouch, or move in a heavy, loutish manner.

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To hulking
00:10
Hulking is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Collins
World English Dictionary
hulk (hʌlk) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
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
 
vb (often foll by up)
5.  informal (Brit) (intr) to move clumsily
6.  to rise massively
 
[Old English hulc, from Medieval Latin hulca, from Greek holkas barge, from helkein to tow]

hulking (ˈhʌlkɪŋ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
Also: hulky big and ungainly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

hulk
O.E. hulc "light, fast ship" (but in M.E. a heavy, unwieldy one), probably from O.Du. hulke and M.L. hulcus, from Gk. holkas "merchant ship," lit. "ship that is towed." Meaning "body of an old, worn-out ship" is first recorded 1671. The Hulks ("Great Expectations") were old ships used as prisons. Sense
of "big, clumsy person" is first recorded 1597. The verb meaning "to go about in a hulking manner" is from 1793.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
The same dozen years also brought the hulking church to the brink.
He spent his early years captaining hulking vessels that lifted other ships on
  board and hauled them across oceans.
But then the sight of a hulking sea lion floating by pulls me back out onto the
  deck.
They load the hulking cargo aircraft to ensure not a single inch of space is
  wasted.
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