Hull

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hÊŒl/
• also US IPA: /hlÌ©/
• Homophones: hole, whole
• Rhymes: -ÊŒl

Middle English hul ("seed covering"), from Old English hulu ("seed covering"), from Proto-Germanic *hulus (compare German Hülle, Hülse ("cover, veil")), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kal- ("hard") (compare 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 (phasēlos, "bean pod; yacht").

Full definition of hull

Noun

1. The outer covering of a fruit or seed

Synonyms

• (outer covering of fruit or seed): husk, shell

Derived terms

• ahull
• monohull
• multihull
• twinhull
• tank hull
• hull-down

Verb

1. To remove the outer covering of a fruit or seed.She sat on the back porch hulling peanuts.

Synonyms

• (to remove hull of a fruit or seed): peel, husk, shell, shuck

Origin uncertain; perhaps the same word as Etymology 1, above.

Noun

1. The body or frame of a vessel such as a ship or plane
• DrydenDeep in their hulls our deadly bullets light.

Verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive, nautical) to drift; to be carried by the impetus of wind or water on the ship's hull alone, with sails furled
• 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.1:We goe not, but we are carried: as things that flote, now gliding gently, now hulling violently, according as the water is, either stormy or calme.
2. (transitive) to hit (a ship) in the hull with cannon fire etc----