whelk
/wɛlk/ noun
Forms whelks welk whilk wilk
- noun Certain edible sea snails, especially, any one of numerous species of large marine gastropods belonging to Buccinidae, much used as food in Europe.
- noun (archaic) Pimple.
- noun A stripe or mark; a ridge; a wale.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English whelke, a variant of welk, from Old English weoloc, wiloc, wioloc, weluc, from Proto-West Germanic *weluk (compare Middle Dutch willoc, Dutch wulk), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, revolve”) (whence vulva and volute). Unetymological spelling with wh- from the 15th century.
From Middle English whelke, from Old English hwelca (“pustule, swelling”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one numerous species of large marine gastropods belonging to Buccinum and allied genera; especially, Buccinum undatum, common on the coasts both of Europe and North America, and much used as food in Europe. Whelk tingle, a dog whelk. See under Dog.
- noun A papule; a pustule; acne. "His whelks white." Chaucer.
- noun A stripe or mark; a ridge; a wale. Chin whelk (Med.), sycosis.
Etymology [OE. welk, wilk, AS. weoloc, weloc, wiloc. Cf. Whilk, and Wilk.]
Etymology [OE. whelke, dim. of whele. See Wheal a pustule.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “whelk”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details