Meaning & use
hull
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Meanings
nouncountable
The main body of a ship or boat, not including masts or cabins.
Grammar: Used in nautical contexts: the ship's hull.
Patterns
- the hull of something
The hull of the ship was painted black.
Workers scraped barnacles off the hull.
A crack in the hull let water in.
nouncountable
The tough outer shell or husk of a seed, grain, or nut.
Grammar: Often in cooking: hull the seeds.
Patterns
- the hull of something
Remove the hull from the sunflower seeds.
The hull of the bean is bitter.
Hulls from the oats are fed to cattle.
nouncountable
The green leafy cap on a strawberry or similar fruit.
Grammar: Usually removed before eating.
Patterns
- the hull of something
Cut the hull off each strawberry.
He tossed the strawberry hulls into the compost.
A bowl of hulls sat next to the cutting board.
verbtransitive
To remove the hull from fruit or seed.
Grammar: Takes an object: hull the strawberries.
Patterns
- hull something
She hulled a pint of strawberries for dessert.
Farmers hull the grain before milling it.
He hulled the beans with a small knife.
Word forms
| plural | hulls |
|---|---|
| third person singular | hulls |
| past tense | hulled |
| past participle | hulled |
| -ing form | hulling |
Common combinations
- steel hull
- The ship had a steel hull.
- damage to the hull
- Inspectors found damage to the hull.
- hull of a boat
- The hull of a boat must be watertight.
- hull a strawberry
- Hull a strawberry with a paring knife.
- rice hull
- A rice hull is the husk around the grain.
Synonyms and how they differ
- body
- Body is general, while hull specifically means the watertight structure of a vessel.
- shell
- Shell is general for outer coverings, while hull is for vessels and some seeds.
- husk
- Husk is the dry covering of grains and corn, a close match for the seed sense.
- frame
- Frame is the skeleton inside, while hull includes the outer skin as well.
Word family
Commonly confused: hull or hole? hull or haul?
hull vs hole
A hole is an opening, though a damaged hull may have one. The words differ in sound and spelling.
hull vs haul
Haul means to pull or carry, and it sounds close to hull in some accents.
Practice
A collision cracked the ship's ____ and water began to pour in.
Choose one answer.
The hull is the body of the ship that keeps water out. Hole, hall and haul sound or look similar but do not fit the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hull”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.