shuck

Origin unknown.

• IPA^(key): /ʃʌk/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ʌk

shuck (plural shucks)

1. The shell or husk, especially of grains (e.g. corn/maize) or nuts (e.g. walnuts).
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Library of America, 1985, p.46:

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

2. (slang, African American Vernacular) A fraud; a scam.
3. (slang) A phony.

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

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

   Shall we shuck walnuts?

2. (transitive) To remove (any outer covering).

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

3. (transitive, intransitive, slang) To fool; to hoax.

• shuck and jive

• “shuck” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

• Hucks, hucks