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
- haunched adjective
- haunchless adjective
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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The Jungle Book
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Into the Wild
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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.
It’s unlikely that anyone was looking at a gray wolf tearing a chunk from a bison haunch and saying “That’d make a great dog.”
From Slate • Feb. 17, 2021
A spiral-sliced haunch of ham sheathed with fresh yellow rings is a staple of my Christmas dinner.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2019
It was bouncing around a little, but I was able to give it a shot in the haunch muscle.”
From Washington Times • Oct. 21, 2018
The lamb haunch was not at all to my taste, but, given a choice between eating it and foraging for a puffin egg, I know which I’d choose.
From The New Yorker • Jun. 11, 2018
It felt as heavy and unwieldy as a haunch of deer meat.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
