haunch

[ hawnch, hahnch ]
See synonyms for: haunchhaunches on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. the hip.

  2. the fleshy part of the body about the hip.

  1. a hindquarter of an animal.

  2. the leg and loin of an animal, used for food.

  3. Architecture.

    • either side of an arch, extending from the vertex or crown to the impost.

    • the part of a beam projecting below a floor or roof slab.

Origin of haunch

1
1150–1200; Middle English haunche<Old French hanche<Germanic; compare Middle Dutch hanke haunch, hip, German Hanke haunch

Other words from haunch

  • haunched, adjective
  • haunchless, adjective

Words that may be confused with haunch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use haunch in a sentence

  • The ravens hovered about the place and wise gray wolves sat haunched in a still larger ring without.

    The Way of an Indian | Frederic Remington
  • It was a big gray wolf, standing with back haunched and head down, watching and scenting something beyond.

  • Between the two is a marble-topped console, with haunched gilt legs ending in sphinx claws.

    The Doctor's Dilemma | George Bernard Shaw
  • A haunched mortise-and-tenon is made by cutting away part of the tenon so that that part of it will be much shorter than the rest.

    Handwork in Wood | William Noyes
  • Here women, light-heeled, heavy-haunched, pace up and down the flags in graceful gait.

    The Book of Khalid | Ameen Rihani

British Dictionary definitions for haunch

haunch

/ (hɔːntʃ) /


noun
  1. the human hip or fleshy hindquarter of an animal, esp a horse or similar quadruped

  2. the leg and loin of an animal, used for food: a haunch of venison

  1. Also called: hance architect the part of an arch between the impost and the apex

Origin of haunch

1
C13: from Old French hanche; related to Spanish, Italian anca, of Germanic origin; compare Low German hanke

Derived forms of haunch

  • haunched, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012