husk /hʌsk/noun 5verb 3forms 3 noun5 •The dry, leafy or stringy exterior of certain vegetables or fruits, which must be removed before eating the meat inside.A coconut has a very thick husk. •(figurative) Any form of useless, dried up, and subsequently worthless exterior of something.His attorney was a dried-up husk of a man. •An infection in cattle caused by a species of Dictyocaulus or lungwormThe symptoms of Husk are a constant cough, rapid loss of flesh, difficulty in breathing and, in the later stages, loss of appetite and diarrhoea. — 1876 •The supporting frame of a run of millstones. •(rare) A group of hares.Isn't it just like that in your average husk of hares. — 1994 verb3 •To remove husks from. •To say huskily, to utter in a husky voice.The French captain did not immediately respond; he looked at his men with a miserable expression [...]; still he hesitated, drooped, and finally husked, "Je me rends," with a look still more wretched. — 2006 •To cough, clear one's throat.Back on the veranda he said to Lace gravely, "I do believe that poor child's in the family way." Lace, tracing the pattern of the matting with his boot, husked, and murmured, "Yes — I think so. — 1938 formshusked · husking · husks
