A hulk is the abandoned shell of a ship, usually old and stripped of everything useful. When sailing vessels became too damaged or worn out to repair, they were sometimes left to rot in harbors or shallow waters. These hulking remains, their wooden ribs exposed and their decks collapsed, became known as hulks. In the 1800s, Britain even used old warship hulks as floating prisons, anchoring them in rivers where prisoners lived in miserable conditions below deck.

The word extends to anything massive and clumsy-looking. A huge, bulky building might be called a hulk if it seems awkwardly large. When someone hulks along or moves in a hulking way, they're lumbering heavily, like their size makes graceful movement difficult.

You might know the comic book character The Hulk, a massive green creature. His name perfectly captures the word's meaning: he's enormous, powerful, and moves with heavy, thundering steps. The character's creators chose the word to suggest raw size and strength rather than grace or agility.

The word often suggests something that was once powerful but is now past its prime, or something whose size makes it seem clumsy. A hulking football player might be strong but slow, and an abandoned factory might be described as a rusting hulk of its former self.