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.
For Ford and the Mustang Mach-E, it’s a pronounced rear haunch.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2022
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
One storeroom offered potted hare, haunch of deer in honey, pickled cabbage, pickled beets, pickled onions, pickled eggs, and pickled herring.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
