MEANING
1. The dry outer covering surrounding some seeds, grains, or fruits.
2. An outer remnant left after the substance, life, or former strength of something has gone.
3. To remove the dry outer covering from seeds, grains, or fruits.
Use it for
describing a dry plant covering; distinguishing an enclosing husk from the seed within; giving a discarded object a brittle textureContrasts a dry protective covering with a hollowed-out remnant, while retaining the literal action of removing the covering. Writing functions: Emptiness / Outer Covering.
Words that belong together
- a corn husk
- dry husks
- a coconut husk
On the page
Dry husks rasped against the wall of the basket.
The floor held a scatter of husks but no grain.
The hotel was a husk of its former self, its polished sign facing an empty forecourt.
He returned from the journey feeling like a husk that had kept the shape of a man.
They husked the corn on the back step while the argument continued inside.
Word forms
- Base
- husk
- Past tense
- husked
- Past participle
- husked
- Present participle
- husking
Usage notes
Noun and verb. Noun plural husks; verb husks, husked, husked, husking; future will husk. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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