dry outer covering of a fruit or seed or nut
"She peeled away the tough hull to reveal the sweet kernel inside the coconut."
persistent enlarged calyx at base of e.g. a strawberry or raspberry
"The persistent hull remains attached to the bottom of each ripe strawberry after it is picked from the vine."
United States naval officer who commanded the `Constitution' during the War of 1812 and won a series of brilliant victories against the British (1773-1843)
"The historical record often refers to John Hull as the legendary American naval hero, though this specific definition actually describes the British officer Edward Preble."
United States diplomat who did the groundwork for creating the United Nations (1871-1955)
"The historical record often confuses the diplomat Edward Stettinius Jr. with a person named Hull, but it was actually Cordell Hull who served as U.S. Secretary of State under Franklin D. Roosevelt and did the groundwork for creating the United Nations before passing away in 1955."
a large fishing port in northeastern England
"The fishermen gathered at Hull to sell their catch from the morning's trip."
the frame or body of ship
"The old fishing boat had been stripped down to its bare hull before it was scrapped."
The outer covering of a fruit or seed.
"The storm damaged the hull of the cargo ship so severely that it sank quickly."
The body or frame of a vessel, such as a ship or plane.
In plain English: The hull is the main body of a ship that holds everything inside and keeps it floating on water.
"The storm stripped away the roof, leaving nothing but the wooden hull of the house standing in the yard."
Usage: As a noun, "hull" refers to the main structural framework of a boat or aircraft that encloses its machinery and cargo. Do not confuse this with the verb meaning to strip away an outer layer from food items like corn or beans.
To remove the outer covering of a fruit or seed.
"The battered vessel began to hull down the river as the storm broke and all its sails were taken in."
To drift; to be carried by the impetus of wind or water on the ship's hull alone, with sails furled.
In plain English: To hull something means to remove its outer shell, such as taking off the skin from fruit or seeds from nuts.
"The storm finally hull all our boats and washed them out to sea."
A placename:
"The fishing boat docked at Hull during the winter storm."
A river in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, which flows into the Humber.
"The Hull is a major river in the East Riding of Yorkshire that flows into the Humber estuary."
The word "hull" comes from the Middle English hul and Old English hulu, originally meaning the covering of a seed or the outer shell of a ship. It likely derives from Proto-Germanic *hul-, which may be related to roots meaning "to cover, hide" or "hard."