Hulk
Hulk , noun
[Old English hulke a heavy ship, Anglo-Saxon hulc a light, swift ship; akin to Dutch hulk a ship of burden, German holk, Old High German holcho; perh. from Late Latin holcas, Greek {not transcribed}, prop., a ship which is towed, from {not transcribed} to draw, drag, tow. Compare Wolf, Holcad.]
1.
The body of a ship or decked vessel of any kind; esp., the body of an old vessel laid by as unfit for service.
Some well-timbered hulk.
2.
A heavy ship of clumsy build. — Skeat
3.
Anything bulky or unwieldly. — Shakespeare
Collocations (2)
Shear hulk , an old ship fitted with an apparatus to fix or take out the masts of a ship.
The hulks , old or dismasted ships, formerly used as prisons. [English] — Dickens
Hulk , transitive verb
[Compare MLG. holken to hollow out, Swedish hålka.]
To take out the entrails of; to disembowel; as, to hulk a hare. [Rare] — Beau. & Fl