hull

USHUL/hʌl/

Pluralhulls

Verbhulls, hulling, hulled

7 meanings of hull

1
nouncountable
The main body of a ship or boat, or of a plane.
The boat's hull was painted bright blue.
Workers scraped barnacles off the hulls of the old fishing boats.
Note
2
nouncountable
The outside cover of a seed or fruit.
The bird pecked away the hull to get at the seed inside.
Please throw the peanut hulls in the trash.
Similarhusk, shell, peel
Note
3
verbtransitive
To take the outside cover off seeds or fruit.
Can you help me hull these peanuts?
Grandpa hulls sunflower seeds with his teeth.
Similarhusk, shell, shuck, peel
4
nouncountable
In math, the smallest shape or set with a certain property that holds all the points of another set.
Like a rubber band stretched tight around a group of nails on a board.
Our teacher asked us to find the convex hull of five dots on the grid.
The hull of the points looked like a lopsided pentagon.
Note
5
verbtransitive
To hit the main body of a ship with cannon balls or other shots.
The captain ordered his gunners to hull the enemy ship.
The pirates hulled the merchant ship with their first shot.
Note

Less common meanings

6
verbobsoleteintransitive
To drift with the sails rolled up, pushed only by wind and water.
They tied up the sails and let the boat hull with the waves.
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.
1716, Thomas Browne, Christian MoralsHere, hull means to drift along with no sails up and no steering.
Note
7
noun
Any kind of cover.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 2–3

It comes from an Old English word meaning "seed covering". In Middle English it could also mean the body of a ship.

Meanings 1, 4–6

Its origin is uncertain. It may come from the other hull, or from an old word meaning "hole" or "hollow".