Chapter Huke to Humbug of H by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Huke to Humbug

Huke
(Huke) n. [OF. huque, LL. huca; cf. D. huik.] An outer garment worn in Europe in the Middle Ages. [Written also heuk and hyke.] [Obs.] Bacon.

Hulan
(Hu"lan) n. See Uhlan.

Hulch
(Hulch) n. [Cf. Hunch.] A hunch. [Obs.]

Hulchy
(Hulch"y) a. Swollen; gibbous. [Obs.]

Hulk
(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.

Hulk
(Hulk) v. t. [Cf. MLG. holken to hollow out, Sw. hålka.] To take out the entrails of; to disembowel; as, to hulk a hare. [R.] Beau. & Fl.

Hulking
(Hulk"ing, Hulk"y) a. Bulky; unwiedly. [R.] "A huge hulking fellow." H. Brooke.

Hull
(Hull) n. [OE. hul, hol, shell, husk, AS. hulu; akin to G. hülle covering, husk, case, hüllen to cover, Goth. huljan to cover, AS. helan to hele, conceal. &radic17. See Hele, v. t., Hell.]

1. The outer covering of anything, particularly of a nut or of grain; the outer skin of a kernel; the husk.

2. [In this sense perh. influenced by D. hol hold of a ship, E. hold.] (Naut.) The frame or body of a vessel, exclusive of her masts, yards, sails, and rigging.

Deep in their hulls our deadly bullets light.

Dryden.

Hull down, said of a ship so distant that her hull is concealed by the convexity of the sea.

Hull
(Hull), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hulled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Hulling.]

1. To strip off or separate the hull or hulls of; to free from integument; as, to hull corn.

2. To pierce the hull of, as a ship, with a cannon ball.

Hull
(Hull), v. i. To toss or drive on the water, like the hull of a ship without sails. [Obs.] Shak. Milton.

Hullabaloo
(Hul`la*ba*loo") n. [Perh. a corruption of hurly-burly.] A confused noise; uproar; tumult. [Colloq.] Thackeray.

Hulled
(Hulled) a. Deprived of the hulls.

Hulled corn, kernels of maize prepared for food by removing the hulls.

Huller
(Hull"er) n. One who, or that which, hulls; especially, an agricultural machine for removing the hulls from grain; a hulling machine.