hull
nounverbnounverbcommon in dialogue
- //hʌl//
- //hʊl//
The outer covering of a fruit or seed.
noun
- 1
The outer covering of a fruit or seed.
- 2
Any covering.
Etymology
From Middle English hul, hulle, holle (“seed covering, hull of a ship”), from Old English hulu (“seed covering”), from Proto-Germanic *hul-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, hide”); or possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kal- (“hard”). Compare Dutch hul (“hood”), German Hülle (“cover, wrap”), Hülse (“hull”); also 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 (phásēlos, “bean pod; yacht”).
verb
- 1
To remove the outer covering of a fruit or seed.
She sat on the back porch hulling peanuts.
noun
- 1
The body or frame of a vessel, such as a ship or plane.
VVhen you haue berthed or brought her [the ship] vp to the planks, vvhich are thoſe thicke timbers vvhich goeth fore and aft on each ſide, vvhereon doth lie the beames of the firſt Orlop, vvhich is the firſt floore to ſupport the plankes doth couer the Hovvle, thoſe are great croſſe timbers, that keepes the ſhip ſides aſunder, the maine beame is euer next the maine maſt, […]
Deep in their hulls our deadly bullets light, / And through the yielding planks a passage find.
- 2
The smallest set that possesses a particular property (such as convexity) and contains every point of A; slightly more formally, the intersection of all sets which possess the specified property and of which A is a subset.
The orthogonal convex hull of an orthogonal polygon is the smallest orthogonally convex polygon that encloses the original polygon.
holomorphically convex hull; affine hull; injective hull
Etymology
From Middle English holle, hoole (“hull, hold of a ship, ship”), of uncertain origin. Possibly a variant and special use of Etymology 1 above, conformed to hull. Alternatively, a variant of Middle English hole, hoole, holle (“hiding place, lair, den, shelter, compartment”, literally “hole, hollow”), related to Middle Dutch and Dutch hol (“hole, ship's cargo hold”). More at hole.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo drift; to be carried by the impetus of wind or water on the ship's hull alone, with sails furled.
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.
[…] Thus hulling in The wild sea of my conscience, I did steer Toward this remedy, whereupon we are Now present here together:
In this virtuous voyage of life hull not about like the ark, without the use of rudder, mast, or sail, and bound for no port.
- 2
To hit (a ship) in the hull with cannon fire etc.
During this action, we had not a man killed or wounded, although the enemy often hulled us, and once, in particular, a shot coming into one of our ports, dismounted one of our guns between decks […]
Forms
- plural
- hulls
- past tense
- hulled
- past participle
- hulled
- present participle
- hulling
- third person singular
- hulls