husk
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hʌsk/
Audio (US) (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English huske (“husk”), from Old English *husuc, *hosuc (“little covering, sheath”), diminutive of hosu (“pod, shell, husk”), from Proto-Germanic *husōn, *hausaz (“covering, shell, leggings”), from Proto-Indo-European *kawəs- / kawes- (“cover”). More at hose, -ock.
Alternate etymology derives husk from Low German hūske (“little house, sheath”) (cognate with Middle Dutch huskjin > Dutch huisken, diminutive of hūs (“house”).)
Noun
husk (plural husks)
- The dry, leafy or stringy exterior of certain vegetables or fruits, which must be removed before eating the meat inside
- A coconut has a very thick husk.
- Any form of useless, dried-up, and subsequently worthless exterior of something
- His attorney was a dried-up husk of a man.
- The supporting frame of a run of millstones.
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Verb
husk (third-person singular simple present husks, present participle husking, simple past and past participle husked)
- (transitive) To remove husks from.
Translations
Etymology 2
Partly imitative, partly from Etymology 1, above, influenced by husky.
Verb
husk (third-person singular simple present husks, present participle husking, simple past and past participle husked)
- (intransitive) To cough, clear one's throat.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XI, p. 181,
- Back on the veranda he said to Lace gravely, "I do believe that poor child's in the family way." Lace, tracing the pattern of the matting with his boot, husked, and murmured, "Yes — I think so.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XI, p. 181,
- (transitive) To say huskily, to utter in a husky voice.
- 2006, Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon, Del Rey Books, p. 5,
- The French captain did not immediately respond; he looked at his men with a miserable expression [...]; still he hesitated, drooped, and finally husked, "Je me rends," with a look still more wretched.
- 2006, Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon, Del Rey Books, p. 5,
See also
References
The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 2nd Ed., Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1978