Hulk (?), n. [OE. hulke a heavy ship, AS. hulc a light, swift ship; akin to D. hulk a ship of burden, G. holk, OHG. holcho; perh. fr. LL. holcas, Gr. , prop., a ship which is towed, fr. to draw, drag, tow. Cf. 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."
Spenser.
2.
A heavy ship of clumsy build.
Skeat.
3.
Anything bulky or unwieldly.
Shak.
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. [Eng.] Dickens.
© Webster 1913.
Hulk (?), v. t. [Cf. MLG. holken to hollow out, Sw. h�x86;lka.]
To take out the entrails of; to disembowel; as, to hulk a hare.
[R.]
Beau. & Fl.
© Webster 1913.