shuck

S1H4U1C3K5
/ʃʌk/Ireland, Northern England/ʃʊk/

noun

The shell or husk, especially of grains (e.g. corn/maize) or nuts (e.g. walnuts).

“Shall we shuck walnuts?”

UncommonScrabble 14

Meanings

shuck1

nounshuck (plural shucks)

plural shucks · alternative dialectal shock

  1. The shell or husk, especially of grains (e.g. corn/maize) or nuts (e.g. walnuts).

    There was no linen, no pillow, and when she touched the mattress it gave forth the faint dry whisper of shucks.

    1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Library of America, published 1985, page 46
  2. slangAfrican-American VernacularA fraud; a scam.
  3. slangA phony.
verbshuck (third-person singular simple present shucks, present participle shucking, simple past and past participle shucked)

present singular third person shucks · participle present shucking · participle past shucked · past shucked · alternative dialectal shock

  1. transitiveTo remove the shuck from (walnuts, oysters, etc.).

    Shall we shuck walnuts?

  2. transitiveTo remove (any outer covering).

    I will shuck my clothes and dive naked into the pool.

    1 more example

    [...] but what had actually happened was that the wheel of one of the coaches became detached from its axle, or, in the more expressive American argot, the train "shucked off a wheel near Everett."

    1941 April, “Notes and News: The Reason Why”, in Railway Magazine, page 182
  3. slangtransitivecomputingTo remove (an external hard drive or solid-state drive) from its casing so that it can be used inside another device.
  4. intransitiveslangtransitiveTo fool; to hoax.

shuck2

verbshuck (third-person singular simple present shucks, present participle shucking, simple past and past participle shucked)

present singular third person shucks · participle present shucking · participle past shucked · past shucked

  1. dialectalTo shake; shiver.
  2. dialectalTo slither or slip, move about, wriggle.
  3. dialectalTo do hurriedly or in a restless way.
  4. dialectalTo avoid; baffle, outwit, shirk.
  5. dialectalTo walk at a slow trot.

shuck3

nounshuck (plural shucks)

plural shucks

  1. EuropeanartsA supernatural and generally malevolent black dog in English folklore.

    Synonyms: padfoot, shriker

Shuck4

proper nounShuck (plural Shucks)

plural Shucks

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA supernatural and generally malevolent black dog in English folklore.

More synonyms by meaning

nounmaterial consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds

Broader
plant materialplant substance

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

shuck · noun, verb

  1. Middle Englishschulle
  2. Old Englishsċyll“shell”
  3. Old English*sċylluc
  4. Middle English*schulk(e)
  5. Englishshuck

Origin unknown. Possibly a dialectal survival of unrecorded Middle English *schulk(e), *schullok (“small shell”); either from Old English *sċylluc, *sċylloc, diminutive of Old English sċyll (“shell”), or alternatively created in Middle English from Middle English schulle, schelle (“shell, husk, pod”) + -ok, making it equivalent to shell + -ock (diminutive suffix) or shell + -k (diminutive suffix).

Full word history & related roots →

shuck · verb

From a dialectal variant of shock.

Full word history & related roots →

shuck · noun

  1. Old Englishsċucca“an evil spirit”
  2. Middle Englishshucke
  3. Englishshuck

Possibly from Middle English shucke, schucke (“demon, monster”), from Old English sċucca (“an evil spirit”).

Full word history & related roots →

Shuck · proper noun

  1. Old Englishscucca“evil spirit”
  2. EnglishShuck

* As an English surname, from Old English scucca (“evil spirit”). * As a German andJewish surname, Americanized from Schuck.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian вадя от черупката, баламосвам
  • вадя от черупката (vadja ot čerupkata)to remove the shuck from
  • баламосвам (balamosvam)to fool; to hoax
  • обелвам (obelvam)to remove
Catalan desgranar, esgranar
  • desgranarto remove the shuck from
  • esgranarto remove the shuck from
Czech slupka, lusk
  • slupkashell or husk
  • luskshell or husk
  • skořápkashell or husk
  • vyloupnoutto remove the shuck from
  • rozlousknoutto remove the shuck from
  • loupatto remove the shuck from
  • sundat sito remove
  • sundatto remove
  • shodit ze sebeto remove
French décortiquer, écailler
  • décortiquerto remove the shuck from
  • écaillerto remove the shuck from
  • écosserto remove the shuck from
Māori pāoraora, tiora
  • pāoraorato remove the shuck from
  • tiorato remove the shuck from
  • kōwhāto remove the shuck from
Russian очищать
  • очищать (očiščatʹ)to remove the shuck from
Spanish descascar, descascarar
  • descascarto remove the shuck from
  • descascararto remove the shuck from
  • descascarillarto remove the shuck from
  • mondarto remove the shuck from
  • desconcharto remove the shuck from

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with shuck

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

shook (without the foot–strut split)shook (without the foot–strut split)shook (without the foot–strut split)shook (without the foot–strut split)

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

shuck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shuck

MLA

“shuck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shuck. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shuck,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shuck.

Source: shuck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.