noun

shuck

shuhk

noun

The outer shell or husk of something, such as corn or a nut.

"She sat on the porch pulling the shucks off fresh corn."

"The walnut shucks stained her fingers brown."

verb

To strip the shell or husk off something, such as corn or oysters.

"We shucked a dozen oysters for the party."

"He shucked the corn before boiling it."

Informal: to remove a hard drive from its casing so it can be reused elsewhere.

"He shucked the external drive to use it as an internal one."

How to Use Shuck

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishTo peel off an outer covering — corn husks, oyster shells, or a hard drive case.

Common pairings

shuck corn shuck oysters shuck a hard drive

shucked past tense, shucked past tense, shucks plural, shucks plural, Shucks plural, shucks singular, shucks singular

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Can you complete this real example?

She sat on the porch pulling the _____ off fresh corn.

Origin uncertain, possibly from an old dialect word related to "shell."

duck luck suck muck buck yuck puck huck tuck stuck truck pluck