shuck

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

shuck, n. 

 A shock of grain.  [1913 Webster]

shuck, n. [Perhaps akin to G. shote a husk, pod, shell.].

•  A shell, husk, or pod; especially, the outer covering of such nuts as the hickory nut, butternut, peanut, and chestnut.  [1913 Webster]
•  The shell of an oyster or clam.  [1913 Webster]

shuck, v. t. 

•  To deprive of the shucks or husks; as, to shuck walnuts, Indian corn, oysters, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  To remove or take off (shucks); hence, to discard; to lay aside; -- usually with off.

  "“Shucking” his coronet, after he had imbibed several draughts of fire water."

  "He had only been in Africa long enough to shuck off the notions he had acquired about the engineering of a west coast colony."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

shuck, n. & v. US
--n.
1 a husk or pod.
2 the shell of an oyster or clam.
3 (in pl.) colloq. an expression of contempt or regret or self-deprecation in response to praise.
--v.tr. remove the shucks of; shell.

Derivative

shucker n.

Etymology

17th c.: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

shuck

bark, bran, capsule, case, chaff, corn shuck, cornhusk, decorticate, hull, husk, jacket, palea, peel, pod, rind, shell, skin, slough, strip