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Hulk

//hʌlk// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
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."

Noun

1
A large ship used for transportation; (more generally) a large ship that is difficult to manoeuvre. archaic
"Light boates ſaile ſwift, though greater hulkes draw deepe."
2
A person resembling, especially physically, the Hulk in the Marvel Comics Universe.
3
a ship that has been wrecked and abandoned wordnet
4
A non-functional but floating ship, usually stripped of equipment and rigging, and often put to other uses such as accommodation or storage. broadly
"They could see the lighthouse shining on Quarantine Island, and the green lights on the old coal hulks."
5
A strongman. broadly

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6
a very large person; impressive in size or qualities wordnet
7
A large structure with a dominating presence. figuratively
"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."
8
A big (and possibly clumsy) person. figuratively
9
A big (and possibly clumsy) person.; An excessively muscled person. figuratively

Verb

1
To reduce (a ship) to a non-functional hulk. transitive
"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, [...]"
2
To remove the entrails of; to disembowel. dialectal, transitive
"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."
3
appear very large or occupy a commanding position wordnet
4
To temporarily house (goods, people, etc.) in such a hulk. transitive
5
To move (a large, hulking body). transitive
"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."

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6
To be a hulk, that is, a large, hulking, and often imposing presence. intransitive
"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 [...]"
7
Of a (large) person: to act or move slowly and clumsily. intransitive
"After a while he hulked up to where Erland sat, putting his hairy fist on the table and watching the boy work."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

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”).

Etymology 4

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.

Etymology 5

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