haunch
Americannoun
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the hip.
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the fleshy part of the body about the hip.
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a hindquarter of an animal.
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the leg and loin of an animal, used for food.
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Architecture.
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either side of an arch, extending from the vertex or crown to the impost.
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the part of a beam projecting below a floor or roof slab.
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noun
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the human hip or fleshy hindquarter of an animal, esp a horse or similar quadruped
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the leg and loin of an animal, used for food
a haunch of venison
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Also called: hance. architect the part of an arch between the impost and the apex
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of haunch
1150–1200; Middle English haunche < Old French hanche < Germanic; compare Middle Dutch hanke haunch, hip, German Hanke haunch
Explanation
A haunch is the back end of an animal — its rump and rear leg. When you walk behind a horse, it's important to stay far enough away from its haunches that you won't get kicked. You can use the word haunch for the hind parts of a four-legged animal or for the hip and thigh of a person. When you squat like a catcher in baseball, you sit on your haunches, and a cow with an itchy backside might rub its haunch against a fence post. The word stems from hanche, which means "hip or thigh" in Old French, from a Germanic root.
Vocabulary lists containing haunch
A Long Walk to Water
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Into the Wild
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The Jungle Book
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While most parents try to stick to the school advice on what should be included in a healthy packed lunch, Mrs Haunch said they see others struggling.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2022
Haunch of Venison, 550 West 21st Street, haunchofvenison.com.
From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2012
Haunch of Venison, W1, Fri to 30 Aug James Lavelle Mary Redmond/Sara MacKillop, Dundee Recent work by two artists who use industrial, commercial and consumer cast-offs to set up enigmatic sculptural scenarios.
From The Guardian • Aug. 20, 2010
His “winery” was called Doe Haunch and was a major family joke.
From The New Yorker • May 24, 2010
Resolved to give Father a Sheepscote Dinner, but Margery affirmed the Haunch woulde no longer keepe, so was forced to have it drest, though meaninge to have kept it for Companie.
From Mary Powell & Deborah's Diary by Manning, Anne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
